Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, if they are looking at an arena, then they do have to use that from their operation maintenance funding. We do have a small funding for youth centres. It is $500,000 a year that we provide, and that is specifically for youth centres. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If the Government of the Northwest Territories decides that it is better fitted within the Executive, I would not fight that. However, in saying that, I am the strongest advocate to actually keep it within the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, especially since I am the Minister and such a strong advocate and previous user of this program. I think that, in all honesty, it is best protected where it is at this point. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Unfunded positions are treated the same way as funded positions in that we look at the job duties that are needed for the position. We then do a job description that we submit to human resources for a job evaluation, and they do a pay grade.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We will do a review again, but currently, the only communities that can actually provide ground ambulance supports are those communities that have the infrastructure in place to be able to initiate the call and to be able to respond to a call. As pointed out before, since the New Deal in 2007, communities themselves make their own capital plans, and so within that, they decide if they want to do something such as building a fire department or an ambulance service or any of these services within their communities, or if they would rather use other services. At this point...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We'll take that into consultation. We'll take that under advisement. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It is well known within the Legislative Assembly that I am in the process of reviewing every single policy and program with the Housing Corporation. There are many that I think inhibit people from obtaining, maintaining, retaining their homes. I will be restructuring all policies with that goal in mind to house people.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, the policy is not to simply house as many people as possible. The reality is that we need to house people adequately and appropriately and consider their safety. I am not going to cram people into buildings without considering all of the safety needs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Due to the high needs of residents within the whole Northwest Territories and our current wait list to access public housing support, we will not be, probably, at this point extending our income threshold. So it would be for people who are at moderate to low income. I don't know the exact rate for Yellowknife, but I believe it's under $100,000 a year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would love to be able to stand here and say that we have all of the answers figured out. The honest truth is that we don't. However, I do know that the data shows that one in six households in Yellowknife are in core need due to affordability. That tells me that we have a serious problem with people being able to afford the rental accommodations in the Yellowknife area and, therefore, a rent subsidy program makes sense. It actually makes more sense than building more public housing when you do it on a costanalysis basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The last review to the Consumer Protection Act was last updated in 2011. However, it was only looked at in relation to the costofcredit disclosure, so that was the last time that the act was actually reviewed.