Bill Braden

So 2010 and out. So, arguably, that is at least five years from now. That’s fine. It gives us a time frame now, so we have some ideas about cost, quantity and time frame.

Mr. Speaker, just about any other major infrastructure project that we hear about anywhere else in Canada or the world, one of the things that goes along with it is the investment in our own backyard if we are getting maximum benefit from this. Now, ATCO doesn’t have a manufacturing centre here in the North, at least at this time. Is it a safe assumption here that this proposal will include big time investment here in the...

Mr. Speaker, to continue with this line of questioning to the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation on the ATCO Novel housing proposal here, it is indeed, on the surface from a conceptual point of view, one of the kinds of legacy projects that we all anticipate could come out of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline project. It has great potential. It is one that we should be looking at with all seriousness but, to date, as my colleagues have pointed out, there are some very major gaps in the business planning approach.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell that we are going to have to wear out a few...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that was a pretty skinny answer. Maybe I will try it again. This Assembly and government went through considerable contortions to get the budgets passed, enable this to happen because we believed in the idea. We wanted to respond to those communities that were having problems getting teachers and nurses on site in our communities. The Minister has told us that a bunch of professionals are using them. That’s good. It’s great to see them occupied, but has the corporation managed to put together the costs or the availability of these for that target...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask some more questions of Mr. Krutko, Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. It concerns an initiative that is now in its second year, the market housing initiative. Mr. Speaker, this was something that this Assembly initially supported because it was designed to assist those communities that were having trouble attracting and keeping essential employees for GNWT services, especially Health and Education. We are now into the second and final year of delivering a total of 42 units to communities. What is the status on the...

Mr. Speaker, I am wondering why this particular Minister doesn’t get it, either. The committees and Members on this side are not the constituents or the clients of the Housing Corporation. There are some 23 local housing organizations administering 2,344 subsidized rental housing units. This is the constituency that the corporation should be talking with. We hear that Cabinet has to sign off on a mandate for the Housing Corporation before anybody else has the chance to talk about it. How can it be that this corporation has ignored the people who are really involved, and the real customers, in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for Mr. Krutko, Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, my colleague, the Member for Hay River South, delivered a rich inventory of issues that concern us about the corporation and the way it manages its mandate. Over time, they will, I am sure, get attention. The area I would like to focus on is one of governance, Mr. Speaker, and the mandate under which the Housing Corporation conducts the programs and the budgets that are before us. I wanted to ask the Minister with regard to the review of the Housing...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. One of the key messages included in the pre-budget consultation report that your committee had the pleasure of introducing yesterday was about the importance of early childhood development programs. We all know that this is an upfront investment. When we make an investment in our children, it certainly pays off down the road.

A number of organizations, including the NWT Status of Women Council and Alternatives North, made note of the need for this government to continue to lobby the federal government for a fair allocation of childcare dollars to the NWT. Mr. Speaker, as...

Okay. Can the Minister or his staff tell us, has this been an issue in the past? Have we had residents complain to us that they haven't had an opportunity to be heard, and that maybe due process was maybe a little rough on them? I am just trying to gauge, is this something that we should pursue, or is this something that is really inconsequential? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we know a lot more about this project today than we did coming into question period. The Minister has told us that a lot of this is contingent on the project going ahead, but still there are certain commitments that are to be expected. This is a big project and a very innovative one. We may have to change the way we do some of our business. Are we going to have to make some upfront commitments, potentially years in advance of delivery of these units, in order to live up to our end of this hypothetical deal here? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are getting a bit more information. Now we know that we have about 1,400 units with some $121 million potentially from the GNWT, and $90 million from the Government of Canada, plus land development costs. So that gives us some idea of the scale and the scope. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister has pointed out, the pipeline is not yet a given, as much as we all hope that it will be. What we know now is that things are a little on the hypothetical side. When could we anticipate that these units would begin to be made available and put on site? What is the time frame...