Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the Auditor General's recently released housing in the Northwest Territories report, there's some shocking findings, actually. And I think it deserves it's -- what the press are calling it, scathing, which is unfortunately all too often what we hear about Auditor General reports in the Northwest Territories. So as these findings were very similar from reports of 2008 and 2012, how is the Minister going to do something different? Because both times, housing has responded to these reports, they have failed to make progress. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And this is an easy motion to support, and I expect it will be an easy motion to pass. But it is fitting that someone who left such an indelible mark on the history of the Northwest Territories receives a lot of debate in this House about what he did.

Tony Whitford was not someone I knew as well as perhaps members of his family. I was, of course, much younger than Tony but, you know, I almost -- it's weird not to see him sitting at the table of this Assembly when in the 18th Assembly it was -- you wouldn't have a sitting of this House without Tony coming in for one day...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I've listened carefully to what the Minister of Finance spoke of in terms of working with a standing committee process, and I've listened to what the other Members have said both for and against the government -- sorry, the budget, rather, the capital budget, and I have some thoughts and some takeaways as well.

You know, the housing money is really seen, I think, by many Members as a centerpiece for this budget, and certainly for the last round of budget negotiations. My concern with this is we often get ahead of ourselves with ambitious capital...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And the RTA has -- I mean, it's almost a third rail in politics in the Northwest Territories. It is constantly brought up as needing reform and yet elusively remains unreformed. And the committee feels very strongly that this needs to change. And, you know, whether you talk to landlords or tenants, no one is satisfied with the way it's currently drafted. It allows a great deal of latitude, and perhaps too much latitude to the rental officer, to come to decisions without a lot of guidance that could be put towards a more tenant-centered approach, founded in the right to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think this is a very important recommendation, and the reason it's the first is it's a kind of paramount that underpins the rest of the -- well, the very essence of this report on housing as a human right.

When we looked at mechanisms to enshrine housing as a human right or officially recognize, it was a bit of a complicated task because even the federal government has legislation that acknowledges it as a human right but goes -- stopped short of actually enshrining it in human rights legislation, and committee was careful to draft this recommendation in such a way that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would think that that information would be readily available to the Minister, but the notice was indicated as medium risk. It was names, purchase numbers, insurance coverage detail, product types, service provider.

I tried to reassure my constituent that that was relatively low risk, but can the Minister provide some clarity that a medium risk is not something that will compromise this individual's health care insurance? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do want to point out that as long as it's unregulated, we cannot prevent harm. So if we want to do harm reduction for addictions related to gambling, we need to regulate this market. Will the Minister agree to meet with the responsible gaming council to learn more about how his department can do this? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm sure you're aware, as are everyone in Canada right now, but the Blue Jays are doing quite well in the World Series. And when all eyes are looking at sports, they are seeing one thing in between the innings, advertisements for sports betting.

And currently in the Northwest Territories -- well, hold on. Currently in the Northwest Territories, we have a gray market situation. There are a lot of sports betting and there are no regulations for online gaming. We brought this up on the floor of the House before.

Without that, there's no consumer protection...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the past, saying on outset we're going to fix these problems has always been the case. So follow through does remain important. But we have contributed significant financial resources for new buildings of homes in this Assembly. We're supposed to be on track for 211 new homes. So what confidence can the Minister give the House that that money is actually going to complete these projects and get those homes on the ground? Because this audit leaves a doubt in my mind. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It should come as no surprise that I too would like to recognize President Marc Whitford, a good friend and a great contributor to our territory with his leadership of the North Slave Metis Alliance. Thank you.