David Krutko

Mr. Speaker, the Member is getting down to a pretty detailed answer so I’ll take that as notice and get the information back to the Member if he wants to.

Mr. Speaker, I’ll try to be clear for the Member so he understands. There is a maximum subsidy that is given. I said 40 percent based on the value of the home. But again, it’s based on the client’s ability to pay. The affordability question comes in with regard to being able to pay the operational maintenance costs of the home and also ensure that their expenditure does not exceed the 40 percent that anyone should be able to pay for shelter. So because of those restrictions, those individuals who are in that area of more need, because of their income, receive more subsidy. So hopefully that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to recognize the Aklavik drummers who were here for us today: Mr. Andrew and Eva Gordon; Phillip and Laurie Elanik; Dean (Manny) Arey; Barbara Archie; Colin Gordon; and also Cecil Greenland. I’d like to welcome you all, and along with them I’d like to recognize my delegation from the Mackenzie Delta who are sitting behind me. My constituency assistant, Ms. Liz Wright; her sister, Alice Charlie; her sister, June Tetlichi, along with her son, Trevor Tetlichi; Karen Wright-Fraser; and also Cathy Moore from the Mackenzie Delta.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be speaking to the motion in regard to issues that have been raised in the motion. I think it is important to realize that the direction that was given to the corporation came by way of the Act Now document, in which a lot of those have been implemented. They did a special audit of the operation of the Workers’ Compensation Board, which was done by the Auditor General in 2002.

Also, they have done a reorganization of the Workers’ Compensation Board to allow for the recommendations that came out of the Act Now. The Act Now came by way of two phases. The first...

Mr. Speaker, North American Occupational Safety and Health, or NAOSH, Week will be held from May 1st through 7th this year. The goal of NAOSH Week is to focus the attention of employers, workers, the general public and all partners in occupational safety and health on the importance of preventing injury and illness in the workplace and at home. NOASH Week was first launched in June 1997 marked by an agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico.

For many years, responsibility for NAOSH Week activities in the North fell to the WCB. Six years ago, the WCB extended an invitation to...

Mr. Speaker, I have a return to oral question asked by Mr. Braden on Monday, February 28, 2005, regarding the Workers’ Compensation Board Appeals Tribunal.

How many cases are before the Appeals Tribunal today and what is the average turnover or turnaround in waiting times for those appeals?

The Appeals Tribunal currently has 23 cases before them. The average turnaround time has been 200 working days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, for the record, we are supportive of log home construction in the North. We do have a log housing initiative policy program and we have those pilot projects in communities to do that. So we are open to pilot projects and also to ensure that we do have log home construction. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated to the Member, we are open to pilot projects, if he can come up with the idea in regard to these square logs for home construction. We are hoping to use more of our northern products such as our trees for home construction. I think that we do have to work with communities and, as he stated, the homes have been built in the past and it is proven that you can construct homes with logs in the North. So it is something that we are definitely open to. So again, I’d just like to suggest to the Member if he could maybe come forward with some sort...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, entitled Act Now - A Report of the Workers’ Compensation Board Legislative Review Panel.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, like I stated, we do have a log housing initiative that is a policy within the Housing Corporation. So under that program we see any log homes being constructed that sort of follow the criteria of that initiative, because we have had problems in the past with construction of two-story facilities because of the shifting of the ground and also the logs not settling right. Because of that through, this new initiative we have basically directed people that want to build log homes that there are certain criteria they should follow. So if the Member would...