David Krutko

Mr. Speaker, I have a return to oral questions asked by Mr. Hawkins on May 26th and May 31st, 2005, regarding the Expanded Downpayment Assistance Program. Subsequently Mr. Hawkins inquired a level of assistance provided to clients in the city of Yellowknife under EDAP and whether applications had been turned away due to the lack of resources.

As of the date of Mr. Hawkins’ questions, 31 applicants for EDAP had been declined because they were not eligible for assistance. All declined applications were a result of an applicant’s ineligibility for assistance. At any given time there may be a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regards to the concerns raised by the community regarding this particular contract, they were going to have very difficult times acquiring the appropriate permits that are going to be needed to carry this out. Because of that, the delay of that project would have hindered the construction for this fiscal year. As I mentioned, there was also a negotiated contract request by the community, in which the support from the community came forward along with the support from the newly elected MLA. Because of those circumstances, they have changed. Because...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have a whole slate of processes that we can take. We can go sole source, we can go negotiated or public tender. The key component of what we are trying to do is build capacity to ensure that those dollars remain in the communities. You build capacity. You have tradespeople and the people that you need to carry out future projects. The biggest challenge we are facing in all of our small communities to date is we do not have tradespeople in those communities to carry out our activities at the Housing Corporation, and other businesses in regards to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize former constituents from Tsiigehtchic, Tina Norwegian, who works with the Status of Women Council, and a former colleague of mine in the House, Mr. Leon Lafferty, now a chief in Rae. Welcome to the House.

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Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I will get the Member the information he requested through the questions he has raised in this House and the ones that I have taken as notice. I will get him that information, but I will make it clear to the Member that I will ensure that we follow the ATIPP legislation and ensure that we protect the confidentiality of our applicants and that we do not release any information that could jeopardize their privacy. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I’d just like to point out to the Member that he did request information through an oral question. I took it as notice. The information will be coming, but in the Member’s question I would just like to point out to the Member that the information that he is requesting is barred because it’s confidential information. We cannot start releasing information from somebody’s application and where someone has been approved for these programs and expect to have credibility in the process.

So I would just like to point out to the Member that a lot of the...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will provide the Member the information when it comes available from my office to make sure that the list is accurate and we have the information. Timelines; we’re probably looking at next week or the week after. Thank you.

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Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I will provide the Member the information that’s appropriate to the question, but I will not provide information that is confidential. So I’d like to make that clear to the Member. The information that he will get is based on information that we can release, because we do have responsibilities through ATIPP legislation, which protects individuals' rights so that they know that their information will be held confidential. So I just want to point that out to the Member. I will get him the information that’s appropriate to his question, but I will not...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to recognize the vice-president of the Gwich'in Tribal Council, Ms. Mary Ann Ross. Welcome to the House.

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Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I took the information two days ago to the people at the Housing Corporation and asked them for clarification on the information that was mentioned in this House in regard to numbers that were mentioned by the Member. During that time, that is when they made it clear to me that those dollars were not expended in Yellowknife for new construction in regard to EDAP. So it’s a matter of the information getting back to the Member. I was in the process because I know that there is a confidential matter now that we have to consider that not having this...