Norman Yakeleya

I certainly appreciate the Minister’s willingness to work with the regional health board for the people in the Sahtu. Now that we have some indications from the federal government in terms of funding from the housing initiatives, I know we have a certain amount of time to use this funding. Would the Minister be able to work closely with the Housing Minister to see what possibilities are out there in terms of facilities that are needed desperately in the Sahtu in regards to facilities that I’m asking for?

Thank you. I look forward to that, Minister. Mr. Chairman, in the proposed budget, how he is going to rectify some of these issues, the houses are old. The assessments are done on a different level to pay for these units in terms of rental units. I can point out a few in my region that they said yes, we will look at this and we will do something. That is all they did. When I look at it, nothing has been done. That is why I keep bringing it up. So the answer I am giving to the…I am letting the Minister know that his answers are old too. He is saying yes. He is saying yes. I need to see where...

Thank you, Minister McLeod. I didn’t see that. It does have to do with the federal government. Maybe the Minister can explain it to me. Some people have been asking, how is it that we are in debt to the federal government under this Canada Mortgage Agreement here? We always seem to be in debt. How is that? That is my question, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement, I talked about the need for a wellness centre in the Sahtu region. I know the Members have been asking for this for a bit. I would ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if there was ever a report or study done on small communities in terms of facilities in small communities or regions that don’t have a facility like other regions that have facilities like the wellness centre.

I am on page 5-60. I hope my questions…They may seem like they are alluding page 5-60. Are we on 5-60?

---Interjection

Is it possible to also get an idea as to a description on the urban native fully targeted in terms of what the Minister and officials from the Crown corporation has said? I wouldn’t mind getting some information to read before I could ask a few more questions if I had to.

I certainly wasn’t aware of these numbers here as the Minister has indicated. These numbers that I’m going by were given to me by Housing here, so I hope that these new numbers can be shared with us.

The other question I have is on contributions and federal and territorial funding. I’m very curious as to why it here it says urban native fully targeted. Can I get a brief explanation as to what that is all about?

A couple questions on the local housing organizations in terms of the collections. Again, it’s been brought up by several Members that when the LHOs were in the old system, they were pretty successful at collecting rents and when they moved into the new system under the Education, Culture and Employment, the collection percentage went down quite considerably. I’m not too sure what the trend is now in terms of the collections. I say this because with the percentage of collections that go down from the local housing authority, that has an impact on their funding in terms of a surplus or a...

Support for the Homeownership Programs, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Fire damage repairs and winter road you had in previous years $187,000 and for ’09-10 there’s nothing. Is that just the way the funding is arranged with the Crown corporation here in terms of $187,000 not being in this year’s budget?