David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are working with those clients. Like I mentioned, there are roughly 34 clients we are dealing with who are going to be seeing the bulk of this increase which will have an affect on them. We are working with them through our local housing authorities and also through our program officers and counselling these clients to make them aware how the increase will affect them and how they deal with their arrears. There is a way that you can pay off your arrears over a period of time or do a biweekly pay down of your arrears. We are working with clients to try to ensure the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, like I mentioned earlier, the whole idea of the phase-in over four years is so it would not burden the tenant with seeing a major increase in one year. They’ve phased in the rent increase over the first two years and now we are trying to conclude that. To be fair to everyone out there, we are trying to ensure that those tenants, some 34 tenants, who will be seeing a major increase at the high end, but we also have to realize we have one of the lowest tenant rates in the country. In most jurisdictions, it’s 25 to 30 percent of your income. In the North...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I don’t have an update on that matter, but I will sit down with the Member and give her a briefing on it, at the time I receive it. I do not have an update on the question that has been asked, so I will take that as notice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as all Members know, notices have been given with regard to the increases. Under the Landlord and Tenants Act, we do have to give three months' notice. The notice period has gone out and we are looking at implementing it April 1st. So it is based on the phase-in program. We are trying to conclude a four-year phase-in. We have two years left to go and we are in year three. So notices have been given, based on the rent scale implementation that has been put in place since 1995. So we are trying to conclude something that’s been there for 10 years. It’s...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the question with regard to rent increases, this is a project that has been implemented for a number of years that was a phase-in approach. They were looking at implementing it in 1995. They were supposed to phase it in over a four-year period, so it doesn’t have a big impact on the tenants who are in social housing. It was a system that was supposed to make it fairer and easier for those tenants to realize this is what the increase was. What happened was in 1997 the phase-in was put on hold and now we are bringing it back to conclude the last two years...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to put out a challenge to the youth in the Mackenzie Delta. Mr. Speaker, as a young leader and a young man 14 years ago, I can recall the elders of the Mackenzie Delta put out a challenge to myself and the other leaders in the Mackenzie Delta to set the example and be sober and be an example to others.

---Applause

I took up that challenge some 14 years ago and have been sober since.

---Applause

I would like to challenge the youth of our communities to stop drinking, stop the abuse with regards to alcohol and drugs, but also take on the challenge...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m glad the Member is raising these questions, because I believe as a corporation we have the opportunity to look into it now. We are reviewing our mandate, we are going to look at the programs and services we do deliver. More importantly, we have to be more economically-efficient in regards to how these units operate and bring down the cost of operating these units by endorsing more environmentally-friendly means of generating energy and also being able to use less energy than we are using right now.

One of the biggest cost drivers to the corporation is...

Mr. Speaker, at this time I can’t commit to that because I’m not aware of exactly what standard you’re talking about. I don’t believe that we do have programs and services to assist people with disabilities and ensure that we make them one of our high priorities when they come forward to access public housing. I cannot commit for the private sector or commit for any other agency that’s out there until we know exactly what the cost is of implementing this policy. I’m not aware of that policy, so I’ll have to look into it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, I would just like to reference my earlier comment. With our giving more authority to communities, that means if what they want is co-op funding arrangements with those local authorities to deliver programs by way of helping more of their clients, that is something that we are willing to look at. We are working towards empowering communities, especially the local housing authorities, to give them more responsibilities and give them more resources so they can do the jobs that they are there for. You don’t just set them up to manage something that...

Mr. Speaker, I hope to have the report concluded before we go to Fort Liard. We are scheduled to go to Fort Liard the 4th and 5th of November. So at that time when we have our public meeting, we should be able to inform the residents in Fort Liard exactly how we’re going to deal with this problem and, at that time, present them with aspects of that report. So we should have that report and have a briefing for the community at that public meeting. Thank you.