Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm always willing to meet with the MLAs to discuss their concerns and bring it forward. As stated again, we are working with northern manufacturing firms to try to get them more competitive within the process before the spring request for proposals is released. The units actually that come up, I can't say, but I do know that there will be work to maintain them and to put them in.

The proponents that won were people the proponents come from the South Slave, the Beaufort-Delta, and the Sahtu. So they were awarded, the people that brought up the mobile homes. There will be jobs, as stated, to put them in and also to maintain them, and again, as I stated, we have 800 people on a wait list that are sleeping on couches and that are homeless, so we need to utilize the savings that we can to address the public housing needs that we have within the communities as well.

The reason that we took in the modular homes is because there was a 30 per cent savings by doing this, and that was looked at by doing the averaging of the proposals that came to us. We have 800 people on our wait list for public housing that are actually homeless and sleeping on people's couches. If we can save 30 per cent that's huge, to be able to transfer that over. The statement that it takes away jobs; there are still jobs. It's northern firms that bring the mobile units up. It's northern people that are used to put the units in. It's northern labour that's used to maintain these units.

The NWT Housing Corporation currently uses the BIP program to consider, which gives points. I'm sorry, I've lost the question. Sorry, Mr. Speaker.

As stated earlier, my goal is to ask the communities what they want in each community. It's not up to me. If I'm doing the process according to accreditation standards and best practices, it's not up to me to define what the community needs. It's for the community to define what they want. We will be making choices whether the federal government gives us extra money or does not. We will be trying to base the Housing Corporation’s programs on what the communities need individually. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, I really took heed of the 18th Legislative Assembly’s priority about wanting change within the government, and to be as transparent and as inclusive with the public as possible. The needs surveys that are provided every five years does give us the basic information, but we're actually looking for more information: a breakdown by community on what the people using the community -- the chiefs, the people, the LHOs, et cetera -- would like to see, and programs to be maintained, to be sustained, and to be expanded upon.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to take a moment to acknowledge all of the youth participating in the Arctic Winter Games to be held in Nuuk, Greenland from March 6 to 11, 2016. The 2016 Arctic Winter Games is not only an athletic competition, but also an international circumpolar celebration, which provides an opportunity for our youth to develop new friendships, talk about the wonderful assets of the Northwest Territories, and learn about other cultures. I'm extremely proud that 21 of the participants are residents of the Range Lake riding, and no matter how each of...

In all honesty, it is a question that I probably cannot answer. We are waiting to find out the negotiations that will be happening this coming week, actually, in Ottawa, with the Housing Minister and the definition of the budget coming down from the federal government. Once we get that funding and we know exactly what we're dealing with, or lack of what we're dealing with, then we will be able to develop a plan and start implementing program changes or upgrades.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the NWT Housing Corporation does use the Bureau of Statistics to provide survey information every five years, and we will continue to do so. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, through the Petroleum Products Program, the Department of Public Works and Services provides fuel to 16 NWT communities not served by the private sector. The department supplies fuel to these communities by truck during the winter road season and by barge in the summer. Prices for consumers typically change once or twice each year, in spring and in fall, after a new supply of fuel is delivered to the community. The wholesale price that the Department of Public Works and Services pays to buy heating fuel and gasoline in bulk has dropped over the past year. Recognizing that our...