Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I’d like to say thank you for the comments Members have made, the suggestions, observations. Certainly I think everybody is very interested in the new federal funding that was highlighted in the budget. We still have to firm that up. We have a number that has been given to us as an indication of what the dollars are going to be flowing to the NWT. We expect to have those signed off in a couple of weeks and have that presentation to the standing committee, along with a number of other initiatives that were raised today that we are looking at making some changes...

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, again, I certainly agree with the Member. We have heard and we recognize that there is a need for probably a new type of housing design; a very basic facility, a very basic unit. Possibly something that could be built in the community. We are looking at ways to use this as an economic stimulus, whether it is log -- that is a question that we haven’t quite figured out yet -- stick built, and the other option that we are looking at for consideration is a modular. We have some communities that are saying we need units right now, so we are looking at all fronts, all angles. We will...

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to the issue of board reform, specifically how it will impact on the delivery of housing programs and services at the community, regional and territorial level.

As Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, my priority is to ensure that every community in our Territory receives support to improve its housing conditions. For nearly 35 years, local housing organizations have been the primary source of community input on housing matters and have been critical partners of the Housing Corporation in the delivery of programs and...

There are two completely different scenarios in the sense that the southern jurisdictions are able to accommodate new units on their reserve lands and Metis settlement lands because there is a federal government that is willing to under write it by way of a federal loan guarantee. We don’t have that luxury here. The situation is in the communities in the Northwest Territories that are on unsettled lands. That, I guess, is a possibility for those jurisdictions to go to negotiate at the negotiating table, Mr. Chairman. I am not at the negotiating table. We can explore different concepts, but...

I think times have changed. Historically, the NWT Housing Corporation was dropping houses fairly ad hoc and even on lands that we didn’t have clear title to or we had the rules that were quite broad. Three years ago we had the Auditor General lay down the law for us that require us to have, through the homeownership, a land tenure. Now they can either get that on IAB lands through the federal government or they can have their band acquire a lease from the federal government and sublease.

We thought we had a solution and we are not too sure if it is a workable one anymore, by having another...

Mr. Speaker, I am sure all the people in the gallery and all the Members in this House and all people listening on the radio and watching on television can feel the tension in the air. It’s so thick you could cut it with a knife right now and it has been for some time. Mr. Speaker, it really is a tough situation we are in. It’s tough for all of us. We heard from many Members here speak with great emotion and voice some real concern.

Of course, Mr. Speaker, I have to mention it’s really a strange situation we are in also, because usually a government’s confidence is voted on after they present...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The new housing trust dollars was announced a short time ago and we’re still working with our staff to come up with plans, and we’ll be drafting a letter that we’ll be submitting to the chair to request some time to make a presentation before we go out in the public as what we’re going to be doing. It’s expected that our dollars would be invested in the areas of homeownership in our public housing stock, and repairs and upgrades for energy efficiency. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, that’s going to be a very challenging commitment to make. We have, since this 16th Assembly came about ,we have, as a government, been investing a fairly significant amount in infrastructure. We’re close to the $300 million mark in the previous budget and we are looking at it again this time around. When you start adding all the different infrastructure initiatives in all the different departments including housing, some of the new housing trust money, comparing it to what we used to have, it’s probably triple. In 2001 I believe it was around $100 million; now we’re three times...

Mr. Speaker, that’s a, that’s a very good question.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, it’s always our intent and we always plan to spend all the dollars and proceed with all our projects that we bring forward as part of our capital budget. Historically, we carried over sometimes up to one-third and possibly more. Over the last while we have done some significant changes to the capital process where the timing of the budget approvals is done in the fall versus the winter months. We’ve changed the system so that we have better due diligence on the projects. We are now in the position where we can roll our...