Michael McLeod

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...

Yes, Mr. Chairman. We have carried over I think 10 units because we are not able to settle the land tenure issue. That is still available. We will continue to work with the community to see if we could resolve it. But, Mr. Chairman, it is very difficult if the community refuses to acknowledge the federal lease, then we don’t have much choice. We are probably in a position where it is not going to be a concern because we have the ability to invest, carrying it over for some time may be quite challenging in the future. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, the communities of Dettah and Ndilo have been probably some of the communities that have been most challenging in the area of getting land tenure. We have been working towards a third-party entity and we have had a number of meetings over the last while with the communities. It looked like it was resolved. I believe we have brought that to the federal government’s attention. We still have to formalize that but it doesn’t seem that that will be accepted, so we have to go back to looking at getting a formal federal lease on these lands. The land might be something very challenging...

Mr. Chairman, the community of Good Hope has already done some partnership arrangement with the NWT Housing Corporation. We were able to develop a number of properties in that community. There is, right now, a desire to start working towards a more formalized agreement in terms of a universal partnership agreement, or a UPA, and will continue to work with them towards that and explain to them and make sure everybody understands what the agreement states.

Mr. Chairman, the 90 percent collection rate was the percentage we have been able to collect historically in the year 2004-2005. In 2005-2006, the collection started slipping in the area of rent collection and it dropped down to 76 percent in the year 2006-07. We are now back up to 87 percent collection in the area of rents. Jeff can speak to the mortgages and the collections.

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...

Mr. Speaker, I believe the Deh Cho connection was spearheaded by ITI and we’re certainly trying to do our part to promote and help out with this program that’s been in place for some time. The issue of highways across the Territories has been on the forefront for many of our Members as our roads continue to hit their mid-life retrofit needs. Highway No. 7 is no different. Highway No. 7. In fact, it might be a highway that certainly needs more attention. It was built many years ago and it requires an upgrade and new construction, as we all know now. Last summer we certainly had a lot of...

Absolutely. In the area of public housing, we really don’t have a lot of choice. We either have to look at lowering the cost of operating these units through energy efficiency or through alternate fuels or things of that nature or we really have to consider reducing our stock or raising our rents. Those are our options in front of us. The federal government has been reducing the investment and the support for operation and maintenance for public housing for many years. This year it’s three quarters of a million and it just continues to the point where in 2038 we will have no investment for...

I like to think that I was actively pursuing dollars, as a result of this investment in our Territory. We’ve also had some success in a Home Repair Program that was announced recently. We’re calculating what our share would be, and I think there’s an additional three and a half million dollars. Yes, we are pursuing any additional dollars out there. We’ve been to Ottawa. The Premier has also been travelling to make that pitch to the people in the federal government, to help us with the situation in the area of housing and the high cost of living in the Territories. Thank you.