David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the question with regard to rent increases, this is a project that has been implemented for a number of years that was a phase-in approach. They were looking at implementing it in 1995. They were supposed to phase it in over a four-year period, so it doesn’t have a big impact on the tenants who are in social housing. It was a system that was supposed to make it fairer and easier for those tenants to realize this is what the increase was. What happened was in 1997 the phase-in was put on hold and now we are bringing it back to conclude the last two years...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are working with those clients. Like I mentioned, there are roughly 34 clients we are dealing with who are going to be seeing the bulk of this increase which will have an affect on them. We are working with them through our local housing authorities and also through our program officers and counselling these clients to make them aware how the increase will affect them and how they deal with their arrears. There is a way that you can pay off your arrears over a period of time or do a biweekly pay down of your arrears. We are working with clients to try to ensure the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, like I mentioned earlier, the whole idea of the phase-in over four years is so it would not burden the tenant with seeing a major increase in one year. They’ve phased in the rent increase over the first two years and now we are trying to conclude that. To be fair to everyone out there, we are trying to ensure that those tenants, some 34 tenants, who will be seeing a major increase at the high end, but we also have to realize we have one of the lowest tenant rates in the country. In most jurisdictions, it’s 25 to 30 percent of your income. In the North...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I don’t have an update on that matter, but I will sit down with the Member and give her a briefing on it, at the time I receive it. I do not have an update on the question that has been asked, so I will take that as notice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as all Members know, notices have been given with regard to the increases. Under the Landlord and Tenants Act, we do have to give three months' notice. The notice period has gone out and we are looking at implementing it April 1st. So it is based on the phase-in program. We are trying to conclude a four-year phase-in. We have two years left to go and we are in year three. So notices have been given, based on the rent scale implementation that has been put in place since 1995. So we are trying to conclude something that’s been there for 10 years. It’s...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to put out a challenge to the youth in the Mackenzie Delta. Mr. Speaker, as a young leader and a young man 14 years ago, I can recall the elders of the Mackenzie Delta put out a challenge to myself and the other leaders in the Mackenzie Delta to set the example and be sober and be an example to others.

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I took up that challenge some 14 years ago and have been sober since.

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I would like to challenge the youth of our communities to stop drinking, stop the abuse with regards to alcohol and drugs, but also take on the challenge...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe it is important that we continue the dialogue from the first meeting held with the federal Minister. All the issues we raise here in the House he is aware of. He comes from a part of northern Ontario where they have a lot of housing issues; I think also because of being a former co-chair of the Liberal Caucus committee who looked at housing back in the '70s, along with the chair at the time who was Mr. Paul Martin. So because Paul Martin is now the Prime Minister of Canada and Mr. Fontana is now the Minister of Housing, hopefully the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know the question of the treaties has always been out there. I think one of the problems we have is that there was no written text with regard to that statement. It’s always been a verbal commitment that was stated. Until someone is able to prove that was one of the obligations in the treaty…You look at the treaties and the obligations that were made by Canada in the treaties, there was nothing in writing that refers to housing. Again, it comes down to interpretation.

For me growing up in Fort McPherson, before the Housing Corporation came around, everybody was...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regard to the Member’s question, I do not know. We can’t dictate to the private sector how they run their business. Again, we are a segment of the corporation in the Government of the Northwest Territories to provide social housing in the Northwest Territories, but when you start dictating to the private sector in regard to how they can run their business, we have to ensure that we are following national building guidelines by ensuring that they are able to operate their business without us totally interfering in how they do that. So, again, I will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m glad the Member is raising these questions, because I believe as a corporation we have the opportunity to look into it now. We are reviewing our mandate, we are going to look at the programs and services we do deliver. More importantly, we have to be more economically-efficient in regards to how these units operate and bring down the cost of operating these units by endorsing more environmentally-friendly means of generating energy and also being able to use less energy than we are using right now.

One of the biggest cost drivers to the corporation is...