Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Frame Lake, that Bill 2, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 1, 2006-2007, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is going into a couple of areas. One, where the responsibility for subsidies for seniors in public housing, which now falls under the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment as we’ve transferred that program. There is another program within the Housing Corporation that deals with seniors in independent housing. I think the question on the work of the work that Mr. Dent is doing on the subsidies situation of the government would best be directed to Mr. Dent in this case. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Rockhill Apartments is an issue we have worked on with the Department of Health and Social Services and we have done some work with the Housing Corporation. The initial lease was entered into on a 10-year agreement, then another 10-extension. There has been work done on it on an annual basis. Public Works and Services spends about $50,000 in trying to protect the asset. Further to that, as part of the 2006-07 as part of our main estimates, our infrastructure acquisition plan within the Department of Health and Social Services; identified in 2007-08 is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to advise the House that the Honourable Joe Handley will be absent from the House today to attend the Council of the Federation meeting in Edmonton, Alberta. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s not too often I have an opportunity to stand up in this forum and recognize somebody from Inuvik. My new CA that operates out of my Inuvik office, Ms. Jennifer DeBastian.

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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the process we would follow when it’s an owned asset of our own, whether it’s a school or a health centre or a warehouse, if it is an owned asset we would go down the process of looking at it and we continue to do that, is just replace it with our own capital dollars and continue to own it. The government at one time reviewed the possibilities and actually sold off a number of its owned assets and looked at leasing more space. That’s something we continue to do as we review each situation, is do we do this. Ultimately, what we would have to decide is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the agreements that we have signed as a government to honour our commitments is something we take seriously. We will continue to work with the Tlicho Government and the agency to provide the services that are necessary through that agreement. There are a number of issues, of course, in our operating environment that have to be taken into consideration by all parties. I understand where the Member is coming from with the work with the elders, respecting the arrangements that were made in the past with them, and I have committed that we will try to work...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, if we do not show a plan to repair the immediate requirements that we’ve been instructed to do, then the occupancy, we could be terminated as early as this summer. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I think we can find in the past where we have, through this process, established capital programs whether it be renovation or replacement because of timelines and urgency if we had a failure in a facility would come through this process. Why can’t we go for office space leases at this point? We would need the authority of this House. We can’t just go out for space at this time for a lease. Right now we’re in an owned facility and to change that direction, again, the department would have to bring it forward and get that approval through the process...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess one of the areas that we are involved with and would continue to support would help any service provider in the Northwest Territories, is the subsidies that were granted by the CRTC for northern operators and long distance calls and operating those facilities. At this time, we have one major provider in the Northwest Territories for hard line services. If there are other companies interested in that, those types of arrangements would only help their operating structures. So the positions we would put forward, yes, in this case would benefit one...