David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we received roughly $35 million from CMHC for social housing. As was mentioned in the House, those dollars are declining over the next 30 years. We are seeing it basically decline to zero. So because of that, we are having to refocus our efforts through looking at our mandate, but also instituting our business plans and working with communities through partnership agreements. I believe at the end of the day the people that make the difference are people in communities at the frontline through the local housing authorities, those organizations to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Member for that question. Presently we are in dialogue and talks with the people from the AFN -- Billy Erasmus -- with regards to aboriginal housing in Canada. Like I noted earlier, I had a meeting with the federal Minister in Vancouver a number of weeks ago and I believe that the national attention that is on housing and homelessness is out there. I think because of that we, in the North, also have to realize that with these declining funds from CMHC, we have to find new ways of facing our challenges.

We are working with other agencies out there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, as the Minister, am definitely open to proposals from any community if there are projects out there that they feel would really make a difference to the housing challenges they face in the communities. I’m willing to look at that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe it is important that we continue the dialogue from the first meeting held with the federal Minister. All the issues we raise here in the House he is aware of. He comes from a part of northern Ontario where they have a lot of housing issues; I think also because of being a former co-chair of the Liberal Caucus committee who looked at housing back in the '70s, along with the chair at the time who was Mr. Paul Martin. So because Paul Martin is now the Prime Minister of Canada and Mr. Fontana is now the Minister of Housing, hopefully the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know the question of the treaties has always been out there. I think one of the problems we have is that there was no written text with regard to that statement. It’s always been a verbal commitment that was stated. Until someone is able to prove that was one of the obligations in the treaty…You look at the treaties and the obligations that were made by Canada in the treaties, there was nothing in writing that refers to housing. Again, it comes down to interpretation.

For me growing up in Fort McPherson, before the Housing Corporation came around, everybody was...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regard to the Member’s question, I do not know. We can’t dictate to the private sector how they run their business. Again, we are a segment of the corporation in the Government of the Northwest Territories to provide social housing in the Northwest Territories, but when you start dictating to the private sector in regard to how they can run their business, we have to ensure that we are following national building guidelines by ensuring that they are able to operate their business without us totally interfering in how they do that. So, again, I will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the trailers that went to the communities benefited those communities. There are no trailers in Yellowknife, so the benefit went directly to those communities.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think the benefit was for the whole Northwest Territories on this one. The people in the communities benefit by way of employment, job opportunities and assisting the business community. We may see a downturn with regard to activity in our communities. So there is benefit to the local community and the Northwest Territories. Also, with regard to the notion that communities are benefiting over Yellowknife on this one, I don’t believe that’s the case. This is an initiative that has put some 60 beds into communities which weren’t there before. The way I look...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe we do have people out there that can do the job. Again, the bottom line is affordability. These houses have to be affordable at the end of the day so that people who rent them are able to afford to pay the rent. That is the other thing we are hearing in the House. They can’t afford to rent them. But, it has to be affordable so that these people are able to acquire them. So I am open to a bid process and go with the lowest bid that comes in. Again, it has to be affordable. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the reality of the Northwest Territories, the whole problem of logistics is a day-to-day problem. You have to depend on other sectors of our economy to be able to carry out our responsibilities. The timelines that we are facing are almost on track to what was projected out there. The Housing Corporation depends on sub-contractors and other contractors to carry out our responsibility of fulfilling our programs. It was the people on the other side of the House that raised the concern that we waived the BIP because of this contract. We reinstated the...