David Krutko

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, until we complete our review, we can’t make that decision outright right now. We will have to do that review before we determine if we’re continuing on or not.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in case the Members don’t know, this facility was developed as a long-term care facility for the Sahtu and because the Sahtu is now in the process of establishing their own regional health board, there is still going to be a need for programs and services to be delivered in the Sahtu. So that’s sort of where the discussion is at, that that facility still has the ability to provide services for the Sahtu region. So that’s what the department or the regional health board is open to. That’s sort of the dialogue that has taken place today. We are still...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is not the only facility that we are having problems with in regard to occupancy. It has been unoccupied for some time. We still continue to pay the operational costs of this facility. This is one of the items that have been put forward to the government by way of doing an assessment of all of our capital assets that have less than 30 percent occupancy. So we are putting the word out there that we want people to be aware this facility is available. Again, the corporation is definitely looking for someone to let us know if they are interested so...

Mr. Speaker, the month of October marks the 30th anniversary of the NWT Housing Corporation. Since its inception, the corporation has made significant strides toward improving and supplying housing in the NWT.

Communities in the Northwest Territories have been visibly transformed over the last 30 years. New modern houses have replaced those lacking basic facilities, seniors are enjoying uniquely-designed facilities and public housing units have been renovated to provide safe environments for singles and families.

In 1974, we offered a total of seven programs. Today, the Housing Corporation...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regards to the way the price came about and exactly who the client is, I would like to state again this is not staff housing on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories. This is a business decision that was made by the corporation to go into those communities where the business sector does not want to make that investment. We made the investment, but we will not go back into staff housing until that decision is made by the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Basically, the whole idea of the rates is based on an arrangement between the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated to the earlier question, we are going to do an evaluation of the project once the project is completed. The project has not been completed. Some of the units just arrived in Tulita just a couple of weeks ago. They were on the last barge. So until we actually have all the projects completed, the sites are being developed, the units are open for business, then we will have a better picture of how this program is working or not. Then through the reporting mechanism, we will look at what the problems were and avoid those problems from...