Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I would like to thank the Premier for that answer. I think that that's great. I think it's great to have a senior person leading, you know, what is a very important renewal, and I look forward to the results of that.

I guess I have some questions a bit about where we think this renewal is going. I know we got the new statement and vision today. And I think the way I would frame the longstanding tension in the Housing Corporation is whether it is a social envelope department or whether it should be a corporation that is solely focused on assets and infrastructure. And...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I see there's one additional position in the executive. Can the minister explain what that position is?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the department has provided support through a variety of funding mechanisms for hide camps. In the past, I know they've supported the Dene Najho Urban Hide Camp which happens right in Somba K'e Park here in Yellowknife.

I'm just hoping the Minister can give me a total of how much money we have provided to support this area and exactly where one can apply, where the funding comes from? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke earlier today about the need to make sure that we continue to produce traditionally tanned moose hides. And one of my concerns in this area is I know many harvesters do not take the hide when they harvest a moose. It's quite a bit more work. Harvesting the animal to take the hide completely. And if you have no one to give it to or you're not willing to put in the weeks of time yourself, it's not really worth taking it out of the bush. And I'm just wondering if the Minister could look into some sort of incentive to make sure people try and take the hides from...

Madam Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Everyone has acknowledged that there is a municipal infrastructure gap, however, the most recent numbers on the size of that gap which provide a community breakdown versus the formula that are publicly available are from 2014. My question therefore is, can the Minister provide an updated analysis of the municipal infrastructure gap and the year it was completed based on:

What is the current municipal infrastructure gap by community;

What is the current municipal infrastructure gap by community as it relates to...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I appreciate the Minister having that conversation because, as I've mentioned many times, there's about $20 million in office space leasing that the GNWT has. There's another 700 or so units that income assistance essentially pays the lease for people. And then there's the other $3 million that the Housing Corp then leases. And I'm wondering if the Housing Corp has ever looked into offering a longterm lease to either a nonprofit or a dev corp so that they could use that money to probably leverage some more federal funding or, you know, leverage a mortgage or go build...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I recently saw that the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation purchased the 24unit Nordic Arms from Yellowknife School District 1. I was just hoping the Minister could update the House on what the plan for Nordic Arms is both in regards to its existing tenants and likely the transfer of it to public housing. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I, you know, what I envisioned happening here is probably not a onesizefitsall model. I think some Indigenous governments probably want to take over the LHOs and run that maintenance function. I personally, in Yellowknife, don't believe we need one at all. I would be happy to tender maintenance, either privately or to the municipality, to a dev corp, anyone, or in fact just bring them into the housing corp. And I know there's a lot of cost in having these LHOs. They each have an office. They each have staff. They each have admin. They each have a board. And...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I guess I you know, this happened long before I think any of us, even Mr. Martin. I'm just trying to understand if there's any reason why there is creatures of statutes that are authorities and then just nonprofit societies associations with different powers doing different things with different reporting structures and if there's any benefit to having these two different systems run on maintenance. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Previously, I know a number of local housing organizations have expressed their interest to be able to go and get money from the federal government. I know the Yellowknife Housing Authority would love to be able to submit to these various federal funding pools, but they are not permitted to. Can we just explain why we won't let these organizations get money? Thank you.