Robert C. McLeod

The communities are continuing to do what they can to do control dust in their communities. The problem is we’ve transferred all the capital dollars to the communities, so they have the ability to make their own decisions. As a department, we have no infrastructure dollars left.

It’s a fairly new process. Communities are starting to buy into it. A lot of communities are identifying dust control as a priority and they are starting to put some of their funds towards it. We continue to work with the communities, with their infrastructure plans and identifying some of their priorities and even...

Mr. Speaker, I will follow up with the corporation. I know from the notes that I have, that the actual layout of the process is pretty well complete and it is just a matter of timeline. I will follow up with the corporation. I will communicate that to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In my answers to the Member for Mackenzie Delta before, I did say that there was no official appeal process right now, which is true. We are in the process of developing an appeals process for both those that have been turned down for the Housing Choices Program and those that are in public housing. We are developing an appeals process and we are just in the process of finalizing that. We will probably share that with the Members, and it will go out there and we will have a communication plan to make sure that all the clients, tenants and the regions have an...

We’re always reviewing how our programs operate and getting feedback from clients out there, and Members, as part of that process. Of course, we’d like to have an application process that’s as transparent as possible, because there are a lot of people out there stating exactly what the Member has said. They have concerns in that they apply and apply. And we hear about it, and obviously Members across the floor hear about it. We just want to assure people out there that we do want to be as transparent as possible. If they have issues with their application process, we’re always willing to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Obviously, there are challenges to some of the programs that we deliver. We are working to take steps to address some of the challenges, with the gap being one of the biggest ones, and hearing from Members across the floor is one that they have all identified. We have seen breaking it down in four programs has helped overall. We are spending a large amount of money on the HELP program, which is trying to get people into homeownership through a supportive lease-type program. We have about 228 of those units out there. There have been some improvements to the delivery of...

I have discussed previously that we will be looking at the rent scale and some of the issues that are raised by the tenants out there. I can commit to the Member that the process is in place and we’re looking at ways to work with clients to make sure that they are paying the rent that’s due and that the local housing authorities are receiving rents so that they can continue to operate. Because with the declining CMHC funding, the collection of rental arrears becomes even more important now and that gives a lot of the LHOs more funding and ability to deliver the programs and maintenance to the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The report, which I’m tabling this afternoon, makes no specific reference to the arrears that may have been accumulated during the period when the responsibility for assessments was with ECE.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document titled 2009 NWT Community Survey – Housing Component. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A lot of the larger communities that do have paving have identified or used some of their Building Canada money and some other funding, infrastructure stimulus funding, some have used that and they have identified paving as one of their priorities and put their money towards that. Some of the smaller communities had different priorities when this money rolled out, but are starting to see now that they are starting to identify chipseal as one of their priorities, dust control as one of their priorities and they are taking steps to address that. However, we will continue to work with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The chipseal program that was out a few years ago was part of the capital process when the transfer or the implementation of the New Deal, the money that went to the communities and then they determined their priorities and if dust control was one of the priorities, they identified and put the money towards it. We have seen lately in some of the plans that we are getting back from communities, a lot of them are starting to identify dust control as a priority and they are starting to put the funds towards it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.