Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would then ask the Minister again, where are you at in the RFP process? How many units are you going to RFP for? Where are you at on that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Minister didn't tell me how many units were going to be built, he didn't tell me who the units are going to be for, so I'd like to ask the Minister again -- I hope this doesn't count as a question -- who are the units being built for and isn't the NWT Housing Corporation, in fact, going to buy these units? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, who is going to own this social housing facility for seniors, either at the outset of this RFP or at the conclusion or at the end of a period of time? Who is the owner? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I said I was going to ask about the transportation contract for the construction of winter roads, but in fact the Minister had already given us a pretty good commitment in a meeting this morning so I'm not pursuing that. So I'm going to go to Mr. Krutko instead, the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Mr. Speaker, there has been a project in the works in Hay River for many months related to seniors' housing. It has been called the Whispering Willows Seniors Complex, and as of late we haven't heard much of a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to know if the Minister, at some point, could provide us with some kind of documentation that shows this project in a capital plan anywhere. The other thing, Mr. Speaker, if the Housing Corporation's going to own them, they're low income units for seniors, have they done a market study to identify if there is a demand for them or not? Because I'll tell you something, Mr. Speaker, everyone knows, as my colleague referred to today, that most of the people who moved into the duplexes, whether they were low income or not low income or whatever they...

Just a brief point to the motion, Mr. Chairman, and following up with what Mr. Braden said, we would like to pride ourselves on making good decisions and having good judgment as Members of this House. This is taking away our ability to do that and I can’t believe that anybody feels good about this decision. I can’t believe that anybody on this side of the House feels good about it. Nobody on this side can feel good about it. I bet you even the folks at Public Works and Services don’t feel good about this, or at Education, Culture and Employment. I think anybody who had to be part of bringing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have two questions, then, as a result of that. No, I have three questions actually. How many units is this complex going to consist of, are they for seniors, and is the NWT Housing Corporation supplying the land on which these units are going to be built from this RFP? Thank you.

Well, that’s good to know, Mr. Chairman, because I still think that there is readily available land which is already zoned for the purposes of a building like this in Fort Simpson in a very prime location and I think that answer says that there is at least a small window of opportunity to have some more discussion on this. I think that’s what we should do. I mean, what you have to do is show a plan and maybe your plan is that everybody’s moving out anyway. Because you’re going to move into leased premises. I haven’t given up on that idea that that could be provided and delivered by a private...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation awards fixed-price contracts containing a specific scope of work to be performed for the construction of winter roads for resupply to northern communities. This was an unusual year this past year in terms of weather and conditions for winter and ice road construction. These are circumstances beyond the control of the Minister or the contractor. A bad year such as this past season makes the work of contractors potentially very costly and difficult.

The contractor has the option of ending the contract and pulling their...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So I need time to add up these numbers here, but, Mr. Chairman, I’d like to ask the Minister, did PWS consider what their costs would be, what their lease costs would be if they went out to tender for this space to be provided by a private developer? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.