Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up on my Member’s statement with questions to the Minister of Housing. Specifically, I have questions for the Minister. The need for housing is acute throughout the Northwest Territories, as we heard, for all people on the ever-growing waiting list, but the need is even more acute for people with disabilities.
Can the Minister tell me how many clients on the housing waiting list in Yellowknife and the NWT are people with disabilities? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I think about issues my constituents come to me for help with, housing tops the list by a wide margin. A person with disabilities and on the waiting list for years, sleeping in stairwells or couch surfing, young mothers with two-year-old children homeless and on the waiting list since their child was born, waiting, wondering where they are going to sleep that night.
Currently, the waiting list for socially assisted housing in Yellowknife has more than 200 families on it and it is not getting any shorter. At a constituency meeting in Detah this week, I was informed...
Obviously, 894 people for our population is very shameful. We have to do a better job. When people who lack safe, warm, secure housing see unoccupied Housing Corporation dwellings with no tenants in them being heated through consecutive winters, they are understandably frustrated and feel that this is a horrible waste and an unjust use of scarce public resources.
So, what changes in policy are being contemplated? I thought we’d done this already. This is going on for years. What policies are being contemplated or will we finally act to make sure that in the face of the desperate needs we see...
Thanks to the Minister. I heard 894 people. I believe they would be families. People.
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Affordability issues for housing in Yellowknife increased by a whopping 65 percent over the last five years. Based on a lengthening waiting list, leaving disabled people and young single mom families in vulnerable conditions, it’s clear that the simple number of housing units is extremely inadequate too. This in a market community with ready solutions.
Mr. Speaker, let’s make the shameful public housing situation in Yellowknife a priority and look after our people. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister. I’ve always thought that a well-served people will generate their own economy and give their returns to government. The recent Localizing Our Economies forum indicated a huge amount of interest across the NWT in creating strong local economies that benefit the people of the North through local food and energy projects, as examples. Such projects need little investment, compared to large infrastructure projects and subsidies to boom and bust resource extraction industries, yet they create relatively many local lasting jobs that return perpetual benefits to our...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Finance. I would like to start by noting that the new debt limit of $1.3 billion contributes to financial potential. We need to move forward as a territory, but we certainly have to use this potential wisely, focusing first on our people and communities rather than servicing the global corporations that rarely are yielding the economic development we seek.
With this new flexibility, and recognizing the dire issues our people face, what are the Minister’s priorities in the allocation of these newly authorized opportunities? Mahsi...
Programs like the Tlicho Wilderness Training Programs, social initiatives such as Dene Nahjo and social supports like eradicating poverty, paying a living wage and ensuring a basic guaranteed income all pay big returns on local economic development.
Attendees urged Ecology North to make this an annual event. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in thanking all those who made this happen, and wish them the best of success with next year’s forum. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister again. I don’t disagree with many of his comments, although I think if he looked at what our paybacks are with the current interest with the investments that this government has been doing, he would find that, in fact, the costs far outweigh the economic benefits to the people of the Northwest Territories. They’d certainly benefit people outside the Northwest Territories.
To date, this government has failed to address the growing lineup for seniors care beds across the Northwest Territories. As we heard earlier today, waiting lists are longer and...
I have no problem with these funds, of course, going to infrastructure, but I hope the Minister will include consideration of the evidence, which is the faltering economy and raising debt and failure in many areas with the types of infrastructure we’re putting in place, as he makes those considerations. Although we’re making some progress in small communities, housing issues, for example, continue to plague us for a much worsening trend in Yellowknife. We have never had sufficient financial headroom to adequately address housing. Yet our disabled and young single mother families wither on the...