Bill Braden

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We were exchanging some views about the mandate of the Housing Corporation in my last turn, and there was a discussion about some of the commitments and the paperwork that’s on record regarding the evolution of this project. Mr. Chairman, I pointed out at least one of several documents dating back to April of 2004, which outlined the work plan for doing this. If I recall the Minister’s words, he said it was something I pulled out of my hat. It is not something I pulled out of my hat, Madam Chair. It is a document that the corporation circulated for committee to help...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is getting somewhere for me now. I guess I can say I’m not concerned right now with whether or not the federal government does approve this money. Of course, I’m very, very hopeful of that, but the business before us is how much money we approve and for what. Now there’s new information I think that has come across, is that the Minister is saying we can’t afford to build 118 houses with the allocation already requested here. So if I vote for this, what I’m voting for is 118 units, not 185. I’m voting to see 118 units built for $33 million and if the feds...

Okay. So then I want to go back to the opening statement then, Madam Chair, where the Minister said this ambitious plan is subject to continued support from the federal government. Then this plan is not subject. From what I've just heard, whether or not the federal government comes through with the bucks doesn't matter. This is the target that we're going to be proceeding with and that you're asking us to vote on. It is not subject to the federal government. Is that the way we should be looking at this now, Madam Chair? Thank you.

Madam Chair, so sort of best efforts on everybody's part, including the federal government, the previous government. We still have something in abeyance; it's not for sure. So I guess my own dilemma continues here, Madam Chair. The spending allocation by Treasury Board it's at the top of the pile. What are the chances that it's going to see approval before the end of our budget session, Madam Chair? Maybe we'll go at that. Let's take that angle. You know, if we, for instance, left the Housing Corporation's budget until the latest possible time, might we see approval of this federal...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Much of the money for new social housing and housing in non-market communities is predicated on the federal government providing a significant portion of the required funding.

With the recent change in government at the federal level, it is unclear when, or even if, the funding for northern aboriginal housing contained in the Kelowna Agreement or the Novel housing proposal will come to the Territories.

Members of the committee are concerned with the plans of the corporation should the potential federal funding for these new initiatives not materialize, Madam Chair....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Indeed the management of wildlife is something that is incredibly politicized and bureaucratized in the North. Let's take a look, just for instance, at the very, very unattainable NWT Wildlife Act that's been out for I think over a decade now in consultation and still has very little chance of seeing its way to the floor of this House. Mr. Speaker, to the caribou now, I wanted to ask the Minister, we're putting a lot of resources, we have a lot of very good expertise and we're putting a lot of money into finding out what's going on among the caribou. I wanted to ask...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. There is great concern recently, Mr. Speaker, with reported declines of caribou populations across the NWT and the Arctic. There are a couple of statistics here: the Bluenose West herd has dropped some 80 percent in size in the last 20 years. Mr. Speaker, the Bluenose East herd has dropped 40 percent in the last five years, and the Bathurst herd, one of the largest in the North, was reported to number 470,000 animals 20 years ago, but we are looking at a survey that was done in 2003. Their numbers are now 186,000, a 60 percent drop.

Mr. Speaker, last year, the Minister...

Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. There has been discussion among other Members about the Novel housing proposal, and I think I share with every other Member an expectation, a hope, that this opportunity -- it’s an extraordinary opportunity -- can become something that, indeed, we will be able to apply that will make a difference for our communities. It is exactly the kind of thing, Madam Chair, that we can and should expect as a legacy from the Mackenzie Valley pipeline and with that context, a fair amount of information has been circulated about it. It’s still obviously, though, kind of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. This new committee process, under whose direction is it operating and to what level will our government be reporting, Madam Chair?

An aspect that should concern the committee, Mr. Chairman, is that with some of this new information that’s been presented, we now have been assured the information that we can be certain of is that 118 units are going to be built for the investments stated in the Minister’s opening address, not 185 units as the Minister stated; 118. I’m concerned that the Minister is overselling the program and, again, when I’m asked to consider my vote for any allocation, I want to know what I’m getting for it. The Minister is not giving us straightforward information here compared to what he said in his...