David Krutko

Does committee agree that we have concluded consideration of Tabled Document 53, Supplementary Appropriation, No. 2, 2011-2012?

As we know, we have aging housing stocks in the Northwest Territories. A lot of it does need upkeep, and that’s where I’m trying to focus my question on. Those units need some improvements such as painting and the possibility of doing minor renovations and also replacement of, say, electrical fixtures. I’d like to ask the Minister if he could get his department to look at what is on the business plans for capital investment in those different communities and see if some of those investments could be used for the tenants in those units to maybe do some of that work and work off their arrears by...

Mr. Chair, just in regard to the Premier’s comments, he just said a couple minutes ago that there’s no money in there to bring other people to the table at this time. So how can he state now that, oh, you can come to the table anytime you want? Technically, there’s no money in this budget to have the people come to the table. That’s what he told us. There’s only money there for two groups and not for the other groups to take part. That’s the point I’m trying to make, is where is the money to ensure that those groups that have an ambition to take a second look at this have an opportunity to...

Highways, not previously authorized, $1.729 million.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all heard from the Member for Nunakput the concern with housing and people being evicted and also the amount of arrears that we have compiled over the last number of years.

Mr. Speaker, in previous governments there were two communities that seemed to have had a problem with arrears and all the other LHOs did not have the arrears that we’re seeing today. Yet, Mr. Speaker, some unique efforts were made from different communities, and I’ll use the community of Tsiigehtchic in my riding. They worked with the tenants to work off their arrears by demolishing old Housing...

That is my concern, is that we don’t seem to have the resources or the capacity to assist these people to get them to the table. We have money there to pay people that have signed on. I think it was $170,000, yet we are asking for $2.2 million. So there’s a small portion there for that consultative process, but what is there to find ways of working around the challenges we are facing? I thought we were going to be close in this process.

There was a bilateral arrangement back in December. Everybody met in Edmonton after Christmas. We came back to Yellowknife to get together and then basically...

More of a comment. Total department, not previously authorized, $9.709 million.

Next I have Mrs. Groenewegen.

Total department, not previously authorized. Mr. Bromley.

It sounds to me that you’re talking about one Aboriginal person represented on this panel of three. How do you pick the Aboriginal person that’s going to sit on the panel? What’s the process going to be used to identify that person or what’s the process going to be used to ensure that you have someone there that’s representative of the whole Northwest Territories?