Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is for Minister of Finance. So my first question: Can the Minister of Finance provide a timeline of when elders with arrears and outstanding mortgages be completed within this fiscal year. With the high cost of living, especially in small communities, this will benefit many of our elders living on fixed income. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't provide a timeline. I can say that the Minister of housing and myself have actually spoken about this as recently as yesterday and that we are looking to see some solutions for this as quickly as possible. My hope is that there is a solution ready within this fiscal year. Obviously, at this point we've only had some initial discussions, the Minister and I, so I'm a bit hesitant to put that kind of a marker on it but I agree with the urgency. Thank you.
Thank you. Can the Minister provide information as to how many elders' arrears in writing off old mortgages files are completed. Currently, we still have many elders that their pensions are being garnished and they are on payment plans. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that type of information, particularly where they are already under some form of a garnishment by the GNWT for these arrears, that information is held by the comptroller general's office, and I would be happy to get that and make sure that it is shared in an appropriate way. I want to make sure there's not any sharing of information that shouldn't be made public. But certainly the Member can -- I can make sure that using the tools of this House that the Member has that information. Thank you.
Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Mr. Speaker, this is the same questions that I asked Minister of housing, so it still relates to finance, so do I need to --
-- ask the question (audio)
Okay. Okay, then, thank you. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, overcrowding is an unfortunate result of the ongoing housing crisis. Can the Minister commit to allocating additional houses in Tlicho communities aside from what is already allocated in the budget to deal with the overcrowding situation? Thank you.
That is a far stretch. If the Minister is willing to answer it, we will. If not, we'll have to bring it up there. Minister of Finance.
Mr. Speaker, I don't have the ability to allocate houses. But it does relate certainly to the work that myself and the Minister of housing are actively involved on, and there is shared responsibility in the mandate for the GNWT between Department of Finance and Housing NWT to work on the housing assessment. It's being led by housing. I know that Minister spoke to it yesterday. But the Department of Finance has been involved in support and certainly would be involved in support of arrears, dealing with arrears, and all of those issues in some ways do bundle together, Mr. Speaker, that they'll help improve the overall housing spectrum within the Northwest Territories. So certainly commit to continue working with my colleague and with the Member who certainly brings that firsthand knowledge of what's happening on the ground. So, again, I'll commit to getting those meetings moving, Mr. Speaker. Totally acknowledge the urgency. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
