Robert Villeneuve

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I just want to express my sincere condolences for the family and relatives and all the friends of the late Lorna Norn who perished in a house fire in Fort Smith earlier this week.

Lorna leaves behind three small children ranging from ages two to 10. Lorna is the daughter of Leona Poitras from Deninu Kue and was raised by Bill and Terra Norn of Deninu Kue.

Mr. Speaker, our prayers go out to these family members who all came together to raise an outgoing, very vibrant and well liked, and a very family oriented northern mother who was keen on providing the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. That makes sense now. Actually, I would say we are lowering the limit for anybody who is making over 30 percent, $1,000 a month. The limit is going to be coming down for what is allowable to be deducted off your cheque. Am I correct? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A quick question on the 30 percent limit, raising the limit to 30 percent of net income. What were we at before we raised it to 30 percent? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess one of the main reasons I was asking this question is because I was looking at some of the floor plans in some of these units, and, Mr. Speaker, in some of these units you’ve got bedrooms in these units that are 8 by 10. You know, like how functional is that? You can maybe squeeze a bed in there, Mr. Speaker. That’s the point I’m getting at.

---Laughter

You know, and anything else, if you want a dresser or anything, you’ll never have any room for it. You don’t even have any closet space in there. That’s the functionality I’m talking about. People are trying...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are to the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation in regards to the affordable housing initiative. I know we're in the eighth month of the first year of this initiative and I just wanted to ask the Minister about the economic sustainability to our communities with the whole affordable housing initiative and how vital it is to the economic sustainability. Out of the $33 million that's going to go into the year one for the 170 homeownership and public housing dwellings that the Housing Corp is intending to put on the ground in the next six...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would just like to talk about the community co-management agreement that the government, Municipal and Community Affairs, signed with the Deninu Kue Community Council two years ago. Mr. Speaker, this agreement has definitely lead to better financial management and better financial stability of the municipality as a whole. I commend the government on that, which was the true intention of the agreement in the first place, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, what has been overlooked, I feel, is the human resource aspect of this agreement. What I would like to see...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just for my own understanding, are we following a court order from the province of B.C. in writing off this debt? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a quick question on the debt on the workers’ compensation assessment for Northern American Tungsten Corporation for $101,871.80. Could the Minister provide some clarification on what that debt was for and why it’s being written off? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a quick question with regard to the total amount of debts that the government wants forgiven in this act. After these debts are forgiven, does the government continue to pursue payment of these debts? I think we just write them off here in the House for government accounting procedures. I know other government organizations that do forgive debts, like LHOs, for instance, after they are forgiven and taken off the books, they still continue to pursue payment of some of these debts. Is that what the government does today? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s good to know that they are reviewing other jurisdictions, because I myself have done some reviews of other jurisdictions and they seem to have kind of tossed this whole rent policy out the door and went on something like their taxable income for people, which would alleviate their level of anxiety of how much their rent is going to be from one month to the next. At least they don’t have to file their monthly rental claims every month and people are more in tune to seek meaningful employment for a given year given the fact that they know what they’re rent is going...