Robert C. McLeod

Mr. Chairman, when these folks are brought on board, there is usually a bit of training and they are given an update on all of the policies and that and everything that is expected of them. They are fairly aware of all of the policies as far as the Housing Corporation goes. Thank you.

I think the days of tenants leaving windows open and heat on are pretty well long gone. Maybe in a few cases there are some. If the Member is suggesting we raise from six cents to 12 cents, then he can bring that forward and we would be more willing to entertain that.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is one initiative that we’re quite fond of and it’s going along really well. It’s actually through the School of Community Government. It’s a public service capacity initiative. I’m sure that’s the one the Member is referring to, the $1 million that we’d approved to put into that. I’m not sure if I have the information with me but I would be able to provide Members with some of the communities where the money’s been allocated and some of the training that’s taken place in some of the communities. I think we have two small communities where they have like a succession...

Mr. Chair, I’ll direct staff to find out about the Societies Act and if that’s the case, then… Because we thought the letter that we were going to get from them was going to trigger the whole thing, but if they’re already a society, then, I mean, we have no issue of going into the community. We’ll direct staff to maybe go in there and meet with them and just give them a bit of a briefing or an update and then, I’m not sure how their bylaws would work, but if they were to elect their own board during a general meeting, but that would be up to them. I’ll commit to the Member that I’ll direct...

I’ll have Mr. Aumond speak to that.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s just money that we pay to the Gwich’in if we take any gravel or sand from their claim area. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, at this time there is no new federal money. I continue to have discussions with the federal government as to their investment in housing in the Northwest Territories. At this time there is no new federal money on the horizon. Thank you.

The answer is we do pay it and the LHOs would work with the tenants. Public housing tenants as a rule use less power than a lot of private homeowners. So the $30 or $40, or the $6, it all depends on the amount of power that they use, but if the Member thinks that we just pay it and not talk to these folks, well, I mean, that’s far from the truth. We do work closely with clients and if you notice a spike, I can’t speak for the LHOs, but if you notice a spike in power consumption, then you would have a discussion with those tenants, because it’s costing the tenants money too. So it’s something...

Mr. Chair, as I was saying earlier, we have three applications for this year. I think we had one from last year. In the Member’s community, one of the communities that we thought this would be best geared towards has not ever accessed the money. I would encourage them, because they would qualify for it or they would be eligible for it. I would encourage them to apply.

The uptake is not being where we thought it would be with the communities that we had identified that would have been able to access some of this funding. As I said, we have three this year and we had one last year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do try to make it a point and I will keep the Member up to date on any developments not only in his community but the other communities where we’re facing some challenges. I will keep the Members apprised of the goings-on in their ridings. Thank you.