Bill Braden

Thank you, Madam Chair. This particular area, and it’s posted here for $4.666 million if I have it right, Madam Chair, is a fund that’s available for employers to tap to help bring their workers into trades and other skills. There is a reduction here of about $200,000. Not a significant reduction, Madam Chair, but I was wondering if the Minister could advise are there any areas here where employers are potentially seeing any reduction in this service. This program, which I would like to add is something that I’m proud of; I think Members are. I think it’s doing us very well to have this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The development of the Assembly’s position on housing is one that is very high up on the radar screen, very close to all of our constituents, no matter what riding we are from. We are addressing these needs, Mr. Speaker, through our voices here in the Assembly, through our research, through our participation in forums, in housing seminars, in meetings and workshops with our constituents and with the non-government organizations, Mr. Speaker, which are so incredibly valuable to the delivery of housing programs for those in need, for the homeless, for the disadvantaged...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to hear that there is going to be an open door on it. There is one particular area that has touched a lot of nerves, and that is those two words used in one sentence that can be very dangerous: “rent control.” It is a situation that we have had exposure to here in Yellowknife, and very recently one of our other larger communities has a situation that was brought to the attention of this Legislature. Is that something that this government will consider if there is strong public support and interest in pursuing that kind of a policy? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions at this point are for the Minister of Justice. Within that department is the responsibility for the Residential Tenancies Act. Mr. Speaker, the government has already committed to a review of this act and I would like the Minister, if he could, to give us a snapshot on when renters and landlords both can expect an opportunity to contribute to this review. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that costs would more or less be at the expense of the developer and then, of course, the occupants or the customers, but surely there are purely public infrastructure costs. Would we be potentially looking at, say, the need for a new fire hall or schools or parks or recreation? These are very distinct responsibilities at the territorial level. So I just want to get a sense, Mr. Speaker, what kind of obligations would we be looking ahead to, to perhaps enable this to happen? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the one target that is outlined in the document is that we can at least see the possibility of bringing our rates down below the national average before the end of this decade with the trends that are outlined in here, the incidence of sexually-transmitted infection. That is an enormous task. I wanted to ask, is this doable? Is this really achievable? Are we potentially setting up an unattainable expectation here? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am not hearing the kinds of things I would like to hear when it comes to really building a strategy that people can get onboard and have some faith and some ownership in. The strategy needs, Mr. Speaker, to say who is responsible, what will the work be, what are the measurables going to be, where are some targets and some budgeting. The information presented is very general. Will there be more advanced work on setting out some actual work plans to help us achieve some turnaround in this situation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A few days ago, the Department of Health and Social Services circulated a document entitled Sexually-Transmitted Infections, the Naked Truth – A Strategic Directions Document. It might just be coincidental, Mr. Speaker, but that document was circulated to Members on Valentine’s Day, February 14th. I don’t know if that’s a suggestion to us or not. The content of the document is quite disturbing. I salute the department for putting the information out. When we see things or indications in the transmission of sexual diseases, the rate of gonorrhea infection has gone up...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My reply this morning is perhaps not so much related to the actual budget documents before us, but to the process by which our Assembly puts together the business plans and the budget documents.

Mr. Speaker, we are proud in the Northwest Territories of our consensus system of government. We hold it up as something that is different, is suited to us, has deep roots in the traditions and the cultures of the First Nations of the North and that it is something that we want to protect and keep.

But you know this isn’t done easily or just at the drop of a hat. It takes work...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs some continued questions on the potential development at the sandpits in relation to the housing approach.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, affordable housing in any community is something that I welcome. I champion this initiative.

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But I also look for sustainable long-term compatible development. In this sense, Mr. Speaker, I wanted to ask the Minister if we’re looking at what has been suggested would be, say, a 400-unit, actually a satellite community perhaps, what obligations would MACA have in...