Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m just wondering, I see for Detah/Ndilo some major retrofits, but I’m wondering: is there a schedule for providing new public housing in Detah/Ndilo other than this fiscal year? I was disappointed not to see any there, and for Yellowknife, as per our earlier discussion.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment. I realize that despite the fact that I’ve been talking about this for over a year, that this has just been dropped into this Minister’s lap and I appreciate that commitment.

To be failsafe, governments have learned securities held must be in the form of bankable instruments such as cash or irrevocable letters of credit. Other instruments such as surety bonds are basically promises to pay. I note that the form of security is missing for Dominion Diamond $42 million environmental security listed in the tabled document.

After the...

Mr. Speaker, how can you allow the responder to only answer to $6 million out of $176 million here? I’m wondering why the Minister has failed to answer that question. I’m perplexed here.

Federal failures to collect securities such as this are costing the Canadian public $8 billion. In addition to hundreds of millions in failed securities with this government, Dominion Diamonds have baulked at a condition proposed by the Wek’eezhii Land and Water Board to include a 90-day requirement for compliance with any revised water board security requirements. This, apparently, is also the position of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This week is Small Business Week in the Northwest Territories. Small business contributes much more than revenue and services to communities; they strengthen the social fabric and cultural identity of the places we call home. They are strong sponsors and volunteers.

Yellowknife is blessed with entrepreneurs who provide services, goods and employment enriching our lives and being good neighbours. Weledeh itself is rich with businesses that produce healthy ripples throughout the community. The arts, recycling, outdoor guiding and recreation, clothing, furniture...

Thanks for that response. My last question is: Given the ongoing climb in utility costs and environmental costs, and I believe this government has committed to addressing both of those, has the department set out a schedule for converting all of our infrastructure to renewable energy like some annual targets and a long-term plan? I know we’re working by guess and by golly, and as we have resources and so on, but obviously, a bit of a methodical plan and some goals might help direct the resources needed to actually achieve this sort of thing. I guess I’d ask the Minister, do we have such a...

Mr. Chair, thanks for that update. I knew it was coming but I guess it’s not here yet, the new ones. In terms of the lifecycle renewals that we do, are they designed typically to meet those standards, as well, when we go in and bump up a building? Do we use those same standards for that work? Thank you.

It just seems a little bit caddy-wonky. On the surface it seems right, but given that there’s nobody there that can take advantage of those six homeownership units, they’re not really part of the public housing stock. Obviously, there’s a need there to replace the units where people already are. So I’ll just leave it at that. I don’t want to take up too much time on this, but I look forward to this Community Needs Survey that we’re getting a briefing on in the next week for further discussion. So I’ll leave it at that. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for that. Yes, that, I think, will be a key document and I’ll be very curious on what that shows for the communities I represent.

My last question here is how many homeownership units, I believe I heard the Minister say some of them were being converted to public housing recognizing that people don’t have the capacity to take advantage of those homeownership units. That’s certainly been the case in Detah and Ndilo. In Detah and Ndilo, how many public housing homeownership units have been converted to public housing over the last couple of years? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate this opportunity. Again, please forgive any overlap. I would like to start by just joining in on this love fest a little bit. I don’t want to be left out. I know the Minister is not used to these words, but all kidding aside, I think this department has really shown some progressive work and move to really tackle the issues. I think there has also been a happy coincidence with the return of housing to its proper home that has helped with collections and so on. I know the Minister fought hard for that under another hat. I think that has been a little bit...

I appreciate the Minister’s intent, but we are looking for performance here. We are talking hundreds of millions of dollars here in liabilities, and history, yes, we have history up the gazoo, Mr. Speaker, on failed collection of securities.

The two shortfalls I referred to in my first two questions exposed the GNWT to liability, as I mentioned, and amount to a backdoor subsidy to industry and a proven risk – a proven risk – to taxpayers. These securities are levied to cover real liabilities.

Will the Minister commit to vigorously pursuing these two outstanding, legally required securities and...