Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are some concerns and there were some issues with some of these roofs. They were built in accordance with the National Building Code of the day, but we have been hearing some issues with the design of the roofs. Thank you.

We’re always trying to find ways to meet the needs of the residents of the Northwest Territories and this is one of the programs.

I’d advise the Member that the basic shelter concept policy is one that we’re renewing right now and to see if some of these programs would be able to fit under there. It’s a discussion that I would need to have. The Housing programs evaluation will be done very shortly and once we see the results of that evaluation, then we’d need to make some adjustment, if the will is there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Elders Home Program was about one of 17 different programs that were offered by the NWT Housing Corporation and in order to streamline the process, every one of the initiatives that was offered at the time would still fit under one of the four Housing Choices that we have now. Thank you.

The boarded up units are ones that there is an issue going on with those. I am not at liberty to speak about them right now. If there are no clients identified for some of the homeownership units, I can tell the Member there are six public housing units that will be going up in Fort Liard too. If there are no clients for the homeownership units, then we will need to have that discussion with the Housing Corporation and see how best we can put people in the units. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, washing our hands of anything is not something that we do. We provide money to the communities to look after their infrastructure. They have that authority. It is an authority that a lot of communities have wanted. We will work with the communities as far as coming up with the plan. We are always willing to work with the communities, Mr. Speaker. For us to come back and say, well, we are going to do this, I think it defeats the purpose of devolving a lot of responsibility on to the community. So, Mr. Speaker, the communities have it within their means to implement 911 service when...

Mr. Speaker, in a lot of jurisdictions across the country it is the municipal government that provides the 911 service and funds it themselves. That is a position that we have taken, is that the communities have the financial ability to implement 911 if they choose to do so. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 5, An Act to Amend the Commissioner’s Land Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill includes amendments that would require the posting of security on a lease of Commissioner’s land for a commercial or industrial use.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we understand the Member’s concern; it has been a concern raised by many Members before. We are trying to come up with and working on a strategy to work with clients to address some of the arrears and they can then qualify for some of the housing programs. One thing we want to be sure is that we need to have the engagement of the clients to come up with a repayment plan that is workable for them and workable for the Housing Corporation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We currently have 12 applications for the homeownership units in Fort Liard. We are just doing another intake as we speak. We will be processing the applicants and hopefully finding some that are qualified for homeownership. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we provide capital funding to the communities. We also provide gas tax funding to the communities. The seven communities in question that are mentioned in the report, between them they have $17 million in their capital infrastructure dollars and their gas tax money. They would be able to fund it. There is some concern from some of the other communities about a central dispatch not being in their community. They are just afraid that it would have the same effect as if you had to call the RCMP sometimes. They do forward you on to Yellowknife. So there is a concern with that too. But...