Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I'm just looking for a bit of clarification. I'm going to just indicate what I think PATH is going to try to do.

So when a public housing unit is determined for sale and the tenant in that public housing unit has an opportunity to buy it and the house is valued at $100,000 and the corporation makes a decision to apply PATH, and the person is making under a certain amount so that the tenants get 48 per cent of the cost of the house, so one house worth $100,000 would be $48,000. I'm wondering if that $48,000 is budgeted or if it's just a reduction on what...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, earlier the Minister talked about a user-pay program. I was wondering if that would have any direct impact on the actual rents. It would seem that, at the first look, the power bills are fairly significant across many of our communities, and I was wondering if, once the NWT Housing Corporation moves that cost from their books to the tenant, that tenant will pay less rent according to how much more power they are required to pay. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Minister how many apprentices the housing associations have and if they are getting any support from another department to pay for the salaries of the apprentices? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 26118(2): Northwest Territories Main Estimates, 20172018, and committee wishes to consider the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation and the Department of Lands. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I was wondering if the Minister could advise the House when the current water licence for the Taltson River dam will be expiring?

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I talked about the Taltson River dam on the Taltson River. When the dam was built in the early 1960s, or maybe mid1960s, there were no public studies, consultations, or attempts to build relations with the people of Taltson River. Would the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation please describe the planning and consultation that would have to take place if the dam was proposed today? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that this committee defer further consideration on the main estimates of NWT Housing Corporation at this time.

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are a handful of trappers who continue to live off the land and a couple of outfitters who are still able to operate, but now, Mr. Speaker, one outfitter at the mouth of the Taltson River may be wiped out. He has built his business over years and employs at least six people each summer.

Mr. Speaker, at this point the NWT Power Corporation has refused to take responsibility for this problem. The Minister indicates the dam is too far away to have caused the problem.

This claim is not consistent with the traditional knowledge of the river and area. Ever...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that does clarify this, but I am going to just repeat it again. So we have got a $100,000 house, it gets 48 per cent off, so it is down to $52,000. The $25,000 incentive is added, and the individual has to go to the bank for the other $27,000 if the 52 per cent that is remaining in the cost of the public housing unit is more than $25,000. If it is less, then it is okay; if it is more, then the option is available for the individual to pay cash, like going to the bank, paying cash because he has got the cash. Or am I still hearing that rent-to-purchase is still...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, so I just want to make sure I understand this clearly.

So the requirement for the individual tenant who is at a certain income level and is purchasing a public housing unit then will take over the operations of the public housing unit almost immediately at the point of sale. So $22,000 is no longer needed by the NWT Housing Corporation to put in to the LHOs because that's the operating cost of the unit, and, in addition to that, that tenant has a requirement to go to the bank and pay their portion. By "their portion" I mean the portion that's not applied...