Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Norman Wells Land Corporation identified a piece of Commissioner’s land that they were interested in. They approached MACA and made application. They were hereby approved for it, and I assure the Member, as I did the other Member, that all the proper processes were followed. The municipal government in Norman Wells had some concerns with it. I met with them personally. The deputy has met with them and the lands people have met with them. They’ve expressed their concern. But at the end of the day, Mr. Speaker, the Norman Wells Land Corp followed all the processes as...

Mr. Speaker, the department has already started some of the work in comparison to some of the other jurisdictions in the South and how they deal with the issue that we’re discussing today. I’m sure as they go into the NWTAC annual general meeting to be held in Tuktoyaktuk this year that they’ll have some information, because obviously they’re going to get questions on it, and as they normally do, they go there very well prepared and I believe they will be on this one too. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Obviously, the NWTAC, as the Member had mentioned in his Member’s statement, had passed a motion asking for the municipalities to have the authority to levy hotel taxes. That being the case, we obviously have to listen to that and do our consultations and see what support is out there. This was something that was tried, I believe, in 2000, to levy a hotel tax, and a lot of the stakeholders that were opposed to it at that time are now speaking out in support of it. It’s one obviously we’d have to have a look at and see how we can go forward from there. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I will commit to the Member that we will look at all the different situations. In a lot of the smaller communities, I think we rely a lot on the elders that are in there, because they seem to know before anybody else that a storm is coming and they warn folks. I can assure the Member that a warning system could be one of the issues that is looked at by this working group. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I blame that lapse of concentration on age. We will continue to monitor and work with the local municipal governments to deal with some of the affects of the storm that has been had on their communities. Obviously, now that this is over, they can go over the situation and see where improvements can be made. But I can commit to the Member that we will see what we can do as a department to do our part and work with the communities to ensure that they are well prepared in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 18, An Act to Repeal the Settlements Act, be read for the third time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government recognizes that improving the quality of housing services provided to residents will help reduce the cost of living in communities across the Northwest Territories. Today I would like to provide an update to Members on the work of the NWTHC and ECE in improving the assessment process for public housing rents, specifically our success in completing reassessments for tenants who wish to have a review of the rent assessed to them in recent years.

The decrease in rent assessments at that time can largely be attributed to an increase in incomplete applications...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. When putting together this act we depended a lot on feedback we got from standing committee, and standing committee had moved a motion to include this and we respect that so we’ve included it. Therefore, we will be voting against the motion. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, once again, the Norman Wells Land Corporation made application for the property and we entered into an agreement with them. The Town has had opportunities to voice their concerns with the deal. They have done so on a number of occasions. I pointed out to the Member before, I had personally met with council and my senior officials have met with council, so they have had ample opportunity to voice their concerns on the deal that was made with the Norman Wells Land Corporation on acquiring the Commissioner’s Land. Thank you.

Absolutely not, Mr. Speaker. We followed all policy as it’s laid out in the acquisition of Commissioner’s land. Thank you.