Robert C. McLeod

As far as the actual mine site, we’d have to work with INAC -- because it is kind of a multi-jurisdictional issue -- on the actual cleanup of the mine site. The infrastructure I think is what’s in question here. I suppose if we were unable to find a contractor to remove those, then we’d have to go from there and see what actually it might cost us as a government to remove all of the old infrastructure, because they are starting to age and the longer we delay it, the more dangerous it becomes to have that infrastructure out there. So it is one that we’re hoping to have by the end of this winter...

This is one of the reasons that making the amendments to the Commissioner’s Land Act requiring security deposits would have helped us in recovering some of those costs. As far as the actual going after the contractors, I haven’t had that discussion and once I have a discussion with my officials, I’ll meet with the Member and relay those on to her. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Later today I will table A Clear Path Forward: The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs’ Strategic Plan 2010-2015. This strategic plan was developed through an inclusive process involving staff, partners and stakeholders. It is in sync with the 16th Assembly’s priorities and embraces the goal of healthy, sustainable communities.

MACA has a broad mandate involving a variety of stakeholders. The department aims to provide relevant, effective programs and services reflecting innovation, learning and excellence.

Given the many changes of the past three years, it was...

I’d be willing to provide Members with a framework for a plan. Obviously, we’d have to be looking at things like managing our portfolio a lot better, extending the life of the units we have on the ground.

Another part of the plan would be arrears collection. We have approximately $23 million in arrears across the Northwest Territories and that would go a long way in helping to alleviate some of the loss of revenue we have from CMHC.

We are working with our colleagues in Nunavut and the Yukon to approach the federal government, CMHC, and let them know the effect the funding will have on the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to welcome into the gallery a constituent of Inuvik Twin Lakes who also happens to be the mayor of Inuvik, Mr. Denny Rodgers. Welcome.

We do have a process in place. It may not be the one that the Member likes, but there is a process in place, it’s a work in progress.

I’ve been quite encouraged by the number of people that are coming forward to work out repayment plans, because they understand that they need to deal with their arrears, it affects their ability to access Housing Corporation programs and we are looking at reporting to a collection agency and people are getting evicted and terminated for not dealing with their arrears. So we do have a process in place, it’s been in place for a while. It’s one that does have some...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to think the motivation for these folks is to be able to stay in their own homes. It is something that we are working on. I have told the Member that this is an option we are seriously looking at.

Part of the problem, as we all know in this Assembly and the Assemblies before, the collection of arrears becomes very politically sensitive. Everybody says you should collect the arrears and then when you try to put the process in place to collect on arrears, all the Members start getting phone calls. So it’s one that we are pursuing. I can assure the Member that it’s not...

This is a privately held condominium. We would do what we can to assist whenever possible, wherever possible, and if it is possible. First of all, we have to hope that we never get to that situation, because it would be unfortunate for the residents of Northland Condominium Corporation, who is facing a huge infrastructure crisis. I appreciate the Member’s comments about the 2.6 percent population, but still it’s a privately held condominium corporation.

Having said that, we still as a community, and I mean the Northwest Territories, have to do what we can to assist them through tough times if...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Municipal and Community Affairs did support the city in applying for the federal infrastructure Green Fund. As far as we know, we’re still waiting for word back on the application. Minister Bob McLeod, when he went down to Ottawa, had an opportunity to reinforce our support for the city’s application to access funds out of the Green Fund. As well, Minister of infrastructure Michael McLeod sent a letter off to Ottawa again reinforcing our support for the city’s application.

Ideally we’d like to see a lot of our public housing owners become homeowners. If it means a particular unit they are in, we are always willing to look at those options. With all the homeownerships we have put in the Northwest Territories over the number of years, we are getting to the point now where the Housing Corporation is actually starting to repair a lot of those units that we gave to the people in the first place. So that is something that we are going to have a look at. There may come a day where we may have to determine are we just a provider of social housing and maybe ease away...