David Krutko

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’d like to thank the Member for his comments. I believe that we do have to encourage more people, especially with our growing economy or seeing people with more dollars in their pockets with the diamond industry and oil and gas industry. I think we have to direct people who are presently in that high-income range to get out of social housing and get them into the private housing market by way of our programs. We have the EDAP program, we have the DAP program, we work with the banking industry to get these people into a mortgage so they can own their own homes and be...

Again, Mr. Speaker, that request is a handful in regard to being able to accomplish all those goals in the short time that you are requesting, but I think it is something that I will definitely promise the Member that I will look into and see exactly where we are with a policy for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation and exactly what the cost to implement such a policy would be.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regards to those units that do go in, I've heard the concern from communities with regard to how we construct these units. Most of them have been pre-designed, or we've implemented designs that have been constructed in other areas. Again the whole idea is that we have to realize that because in the North a lot of our transportation is done by roads or by barges, through the winter road systems we have to be able to package these things in such a way that most of them have been designed through the programs we do deliver by way of homeownership and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know the Member raised this issue in the House before. We have completed our phase two report with regard to our needs survey. On page 7 of that report, it identifies that we do have 194 dwellings which have been modified for people with disabilities. So we do have that stock in house. Also, I’d just like to inform the Member that we also have programs for people in the private sector who can apply for a grant of up to $25,000 to renovate their units to make them accessible for people with disabilities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am sorry for confusing the Member, but what we are presently doing now, because we are looking at the mandate of the corporation, we are looking at our programs and services. One of the things we are doing is we are trying to ensure…Right now the programs we have are application-based. It is based on the number of applications that you’d get. Out of that, we determine allocation. So what we are trying to do is work with communities to determine how many clients they have in their homes that need these programs, and work with those people at the community level to...

Well, like I said, Mr. Speaker, we have hired someone to look at this problem and also make recommendations back to us. One of the problems that has been pinpointed to us is the flood that happened in Fort Liard a number of years ago, during which these units were flooded. Because of that, the basements underneath these units were flooded with water, which got into the structure and that is one of the things we’re focusing on. I know I heard a couple of other concerns about people’s basements flooding and whatnot. Again, moisture can cause mould. I think it’s important to try to avoid those...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said yesterday, we have committed to do a report back to the House in regards to ensuring that we analyze the efforts to date and that we will put forward a report and carry on. We still have other communities that have the same problem. There is a market challenge in other communities in the Northwest Territories. These are some of the communities. There are still communities out there that have this problem of accommodating professionals in our communities. So it is a problem that won’t go away simply by removing this program, but we will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I tried to explain yesterday to Members, there have been problems in regards to logistics and in regards to damage to these units in transportation. The damage has been fixed, but that was one of the main delays of the project. It was because the trailers were damaged being unloaded off the barges in Lutselk'e and also in Fort Good Hope. Those are the two communities that have not been occupied today because they are behind on the schedule. The whole project has not been delayed in regards to the people that are applying. Right now, as of today, we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the trailers that went to the communities benefited those communities. There are no trailers in Yellowknife, so the benefit went directly to those communities.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think the benefit was for the whole Northwest Territories on this one. The people in the communities benefit by way of employment, job opportunities and assisting the business community. We may see a downturn with regard to activity in our communities. So there is benefit to the local community and the Northwest Territories. Also, with regard to the notion that communities are benefiting over Yellowknife on this one, I don’t believe that’s the case. This is an initiative that has put some 60 beds into communities which weren’t there before. The way I look...