Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a number of initiatives underway that deal with the issue of energy initiatives and also mitigating climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The greenhouse gas strategy that is being developed by the government would be looking at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We all know that transportation is probably, as the Member indicated, the largest sector in terms of producing greenhouse gas emissions, so that is the area we would be looking at.

As I said earlier, MACA is doing all it can and will continue and commit to working with the communities to identify their equipment and come up with any type of plan that they can. This is the early stage of the New Deal, and MACA is always willing help the communities come up with a plan until they’re to a point where the capacity is there to take care of all this type of information themselves.

Mr. Speaker, a priority of the 16th Legislative Assembly is to work with families, communities and schools to improve the physical and mental well-being of our youth. An investment in the development of one of our most important resources, our youth, will help us achieve that objective.

The Youth Secretariat, within Municipal and Community Affairs, continues to promote healthy choices and lifestyles by improving youth programming in the Northwest Territories. Two new youth officer positions have been created in regional centres to provide support for all NWT communities and improve our ability...

One of the things I do not intend to do very much is take questions on notice. I will commit to be briefed on a lot of the material that Members are bringing forward to me, including the questions brought forward by the Member for Nahendeh. I will get briefed on it, and like I said, I will be in a much better position to give a very good answer.

I would have to get more clarity on the Member’s comments on how we allocate the units. We certainly feel that our current system is fair. We base it on core need, and we try to balance the investment between public housing and home ownership. However, I would certainly need to have more discussion to fully understand where he would like us to embark with the new allocation.

We’ve had a community needs survey completed and presented in 2004. That was shared with Members of this House and the general public. We also had in 2006 a housing data census. The next community housing needs will be done in 2009. Mr. Speaker, that’s the information we use to allocate our budget, based on this information.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I haven’t been briefed on that particular issue yet, but I will let the Member know that I will get a briefing on it, and I will be in a better position to answer his question.

I’m pleased to sit down with the Member and discuss the concept he’s presenting. We do currently provide housing allocations and housing budgets based on core needs, and we look at the national average. We also look at what is the core need in each community. I fully recognize that the two communities that the Member represents are above the core need average, so I would be pleased to sit down and talk to him about it.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We just went through an exercise and review and a whole program change to look at our programs to see how well they are delivered and how well the communities understand the criteria and what is being provided. We reduced our programs to four programs. We think they’ve been targeted to a wide range of the population of the Northwest Territories.

The Member has indicated in his statement that one size certainly doesn’t fit all, and we agree. We’ve got programs that are targeted to low income families and communities. We have targeted programs for families who want to own...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have to provide the detailed evaluation at a later date, as soon as I can get that from the department.

I can tell the Member that MACA is working with the community of Fort Resolution in particular. They are initially looking at changing their status from a settlement to a hamlet, which will enable them to own assets. They will be able to get a lot of money from the New Deal. They’re also planning on going into Lutselk’e later on this month to meet with the community there to see what options they can put together for them.