Wendy Bisaro

Thank you to the Minister for the clarification. I guess I need the clarification, then, on the money that is going to the communities.

The first priority is water treatment plants, and I have no problem with that. It then says the balance of the funding will be made available to communities to address their own priority projects. If I could get some clarification on how communities are able to use the $6.5 million they are going to get annually.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s good to hear, and I hope we can find a solution for housing in every community that currently has a problem. One of the options suggested by the boards in their letter was to allow regional boards to have the same authority as the local Yellowknife board and that they be given the authority to acquire and dispose of real property.

I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not this is something the department will or can consider and when we might expect to see a change in the legislation before this House.

I was very glad to hear the Minister finally mention the education boards. He mentioned a lot of different organizations and finally mentioned the boards that he is consulting with as well. That’s a good thing.

The Minister has received a letter from the regional boards, and there are a number of recommendations in that letter for the Minister. On a similar vein, I’d like to know what action the Minister is planning to take to address these suggested options, apart from meeting with these board chairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to add a couple of things to this debate. I certainly agree with all of the comments that have been put forward already. I don’t feel the BIP should be eliminated at this point. I do believe strongly that it needs to be revised and revamped.

I think one of the things that probably is not in the BIP policy at the moment are differences between large projects and smaller projects and between larger communities and small communities. The economies are very different in the small communities than they are, for instance, in the city of Yellowknife, and I think...

Mr. Speaker, thank you to the Minister. It’s good information. That was the kind of information I was hoping to hear, the response that I think…. Obviously, he has worked with the communities, and that’s the response they want to hear.

To the money that’s available for transportation infrastructure. I know we have huge needs in that area, but how will a community get their projects on a list, if there is going to be a list — that famous list we all know about. If the money is being handled through either MACA or Transportation, how are communities going to be able to indicate the urgency of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on a statement made by the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs earlier today and on some of the questions posed by my colleague Mr. Krutko.

I need to say that I’m extremely pleased this agreement has been signed. It allows us to go forward and get started on many of the projects we know this territory needs.

Part of the Minister’s statement was that some $140 million was going to critical transportation infrastructure. He also stated the government plans to make $6.5 million per year available to community government.

My question to the...

I’m pleased to hear that they’re discussing a female facility. But I need to point out that homelessness…. I’m not speaking about homelessness just from a Yellowknife point of view but from a territorial point of view. It’s a problem in all of our communities. I’d like to ask whether or not the issue of homelessness and reducing the number of homeless people that we have in our communities is going to be a priority for these social program Ministers in our ’09–10 budget?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke yesterday about homelessness and about the need for us to address it across the Territories. I was pleased to hear the Minister indicate yesterday that the social programs Ministers will be meeting to discuss options with regards to housing for the homeless. It’s recognized that having a continuum of housing is part of the solution to homelessness. My question for the Minister responsible for the homeless is whether these discussions, which are going to be held over the next weeks and months, will consider expanding the continuum of housing within the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke yesterday about housing needs in the Territories, and today I’d like to address a specific aspect of housing. It’s a topic that’s been mentioned several times already by Members of this House over the last weeks and months. That is the need for available, adequate and affordable housing for our teachers.

NWT teachers consistently face housing shortages, unsafe living conditions and exorbitant rent. Last year some 130 teachers were recruited to the North. Of those, 94 were replacement teachers, and 75 of those moved to our small communities. We experience a 20 to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister. It’s nice to hear that it’s important to the government. I guess my next question would be: if it is that important, if it’s going to be a priority, will the Minister be assigning more financial resources and human resources than we currently have to this problem?