Frieda Martselos

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I am going to talk about seniors' housing in the NWT and speak once again about the Core Need Income Threshold. Twenty years ago, the NWT Housing Corporation created a seniors' housing strategy. The strategy was created to address the needs of seniors in a number of areas, which included over-crowded public housing units while families remained on waiting lists; a lack of proper senior housing; and a lack of public housing units built specifically for seniors.

In the 20 years since this seniors' housing strategy was implemented, the NWT has seen some improvements...

Madam Chair, that would be fine if it was owned by a northern business. I am very pro-business, and I believe in making sure that businesses survive in the North. When it's paid to an outside firm, these tremendous amounts, especially when we used to own the building, that is unacceptable. I don't know how people thought about these things, especially with the legacy building because we owned it. Now, we don't, and now, we are paying that amount of lease on it. We are using public funds, and that, to me, is very unacceptable. It's just a comment. I want to see what the Minister has to say...

Madam Chair, for clarity, the lease payments for Stanton, the main hospital and the legacy building that we don't own anymore, are part of this lease payment in here? Am I correct, Madam Chair?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I was just wondering about the utilities. I want to go back to the utilities line. When the Minister was answering the question to my colleague, this is under regional operations, and she was mentioning about the utilities of just over $2 million for Stanton, why would it be in this section when it's a territorial hospital, when we are doing regional operations? I just want to ask that question.

Will the Minister commit to removing or changing the current means test determining seniors' eligibility into public housing units?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell us if her department considers it a priority to help all NWT residents find adequate housing regardless of their income level? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In closing, the needs of seniors are diverse and unique, but our housing policies need to reflect that reality. We need to re-evaluate how we help seniors find suitable housing for their situations. It cannot be just about income. As I said last month, we need to consider something like a universal flat rate for all seniors in public housing. I will have questions for the housing Minister later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I understand it's past Assemblies that made these kinds of discussions. I hope that future Assemblies do not make the same mistakes, especially when you're not dealing with companies that are from the Northwest Territories. We have to stress that northern ownership is the ultimate when it comes to public dollars. I think that, many times, it's easy to grandstand on certain buildings, and red carpets are rolled out for these people who are not from the North. When it's a northern company, we always have to cross the t's and dot the i's and everything else to have a foot...

For clarity, Madam Chair, the lease payment for the legacy building is in this budget. What is the yearly payment for the lease for the legacy building that we do not own anymore? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister commit to bringing my concerns about the direct appointment process to Cabinet to determine ways to improve direct appointments to ensure greater transparency and accountability? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.