Bill Braden

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to this bill, I will be voting against it.

Mr. Speaker, it is not too often that I oppose this kind of legislation. Mr. Speaker, this is brought before us, in fact on the recommendation of the Commissioner, and it is a serious piece of legislation for this committee, for this Legislature. But there are elements of this bill that I believe must be challenged. As I have done during debate in Committee of the Whole of this spending appropriation act, I want to take this final opportunity to air my objections.

Mr. Speaker, this is a bill for...

Okay. I guess this leaves me wondering, and I think it shouldn’t leave the communities wondering and the volunteers and the many participants in our sport and recreation system wondering, Mr. Speaker, why we are taking this step. It has been a torturous journey for the creation of this council, but we really have the thinnest and most skeletal of arrangements for how it is going to work. When can the Minister bring back to this Assembly a better plan and a framework for how it is going to work, and how we will be able to gauge its success? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. The creation of this council, it seems, is something very much driven by the government. The history was one of expectations and things that people from various sectors, various communities and regions thought should be in there but weren’t quite being delivered on. I would like to probe again just what is the mandate of this council and how is it going to improve the delivery of sport and recreation services in the NWT. The mandates, please, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Every northerner watches daily, nervously, as the world price of oil rises. It looks more and more like it's going to settle in the $50 U.S. a barrel range, and that means yet more dollars out of pockets for essential heat and transportation and fewer dollars for the other necessities of life. We look at a world suffering more and more from the effects of pollution from fossil fuels, how it affects our health and the environment around us, and we know that our northern regions, Mr. Speaker, are going to take the earliest and the most severe hit from global warming.

We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay, so there seems to be some momentum and some innovation here. The Minister has mentioned something about a 10-year plan. Is this something that has been put before the public or the Assembly and could the Minister tell us more about this initiative? Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we really have nothing more than another meeting scheduled among Ministers. If the Minister would like to expand on anything there, I’d welcome it at some point, but I’d like to know what other options is our Housing Corporation looking at to ensure that we will continue to have adequate investment in our housing infrastructure, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, new industry, unprecedented resource development and population growth are pushing our social infrastructure to the breaking point. Housing warrants our attention on an urgent basis. Our public and social housing system, Mr. Speaker, is built almost entirely on federal funding. Currently we owe $90 million in long-term housing loans to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. It costs us $13 million a year to finance this, Mr. Speaker, and just to give you an illustration on how dependent we are on CMHC, they contribute $12 million of this $13 million annual financing cost...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be speaking in support of the motion and I would look at the three tasks or the demands that we are putting forward in this motion, Mr. Speaker, as the areas that I would like to address. I think my statement reflected my deep concern for the first requirement, Mr. Speaker, and that is that we take on a much more urgent basis the sunset of the funding program that we have had in place with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation from $33 million, Mr. Speaker, this year in long-term mortgage assistance and O and M, and we’re going to see that drop, I think...

Mr. Speaker, the 2004-06 business plan outlines a goal to build between 750 and 800 units in the NWT over the next five years. This is under the affordable housing strategy. Now, this goal is about 18 months old. It’s the most recent one that I could find that’s before the public, Mr. Speaker, and I’d like to ask if these targets, 750 to 800 units over the next five years, are still in place. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To follow up on the theme today, my questions are directed to Mr. Krutko, the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. I was looking at the business plan for the corporation and reflecting on the diminishing funding levels from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which today amount to in the order of $33 million a year. These will sunset. My question, Mr. Speaker, is what lobbying efforts are underway now to restore federal investment in public housing in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.