Wendy Bisaro

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 appreciate the information from the Minister that the short-term plan is going ahead. I would like to confirm with the Minister that the short-term plan is basically referencing August and September of 2008. Could he confirm that for me?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask some questions of the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.

I spoke yesterday in my Member’s statement about the difficulties encountered by regional boards in providing housing for their teachers or ensuring that their teachers have adequate housing. They have sent a letter to the Minister. It describes the need for available, adequate and affordable housing, and it talks about housing shortages, substandard and unsafe living conditions in housing and exorbitant rents.

I’d like to know if the Minister has any plans to tackle the...

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?

I thank Mr. Roland for answering the question. I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for homelessness: in recognizing that there is a continuum of housing needs — from people who have absolutely no home to people who are transitioning from no home to be able to go to work to people who need a place while they do work until they can afford enough money to rent their own home, and so on — whether or not that continuum of housing is part of the discussions that the social programs Ministers will be having.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues.

We’re not much closer to filling the need that exists.

In closing, I’d like to quote from the study.

“If the current GNWT policy on staff housing remains intact then there must be flexibility provided to Councils such as what is available to the Yellowknife District Education Authorities. If schools in the NWT are going to remain attractive to teachers seeking employment…then the need for housing must remain a high priority.”

Action needs to be taken and taken soon. I urge the Minister of Education to consider the recommendations of the study and...