David Krutko

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe we do have people out there that can do the job. Again, the bottom line is affordability. These houses have to be affordable at the end of the day so that people who rent them are able to afford to pay the rent. That is the other thing we are hearing in the House. They can’t afford to rent them. But, it has to be affordable so that these people are able to acquire them. So I am open to a bid process and go with the lowest bid that comes in. Again, it has to be affordable. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the reality of the Northwest Territories, the whole problem of logistics is a day-to-day problem. You have to depend on other sectors of our economy to be able to carry out our responsibilities. The timelines that we are facing are almost on track to what was projected out there. The Housing Corporation depends on sub-contractors and other contractors to carry out our responsibility of fulfilling our programs. It was the people on the other side of the House that raised the concern that we waived the BIP because of this contract. We reinstated the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there was a call that went out to all agencies and different departments to see where there was a problem with regard to accommodating professionals in the different communities. The communities that were picked were Tulita, Fort Good Hope, Norman Wells, Lutselk'e, Fort Resolution, Fort Providence and Fort Liard. Those were the communities that seemed to have the most systemic problem of attracting teachers because of the problems with accommodations. Those are communities that were picked for the first round, and there were other communities identified...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that’s one of the reasons we have to complete this report, is because we did have some logistical problems by way of transportation, barging, looking at sites for these units, gravel was a problem in some communities, and power hookup. Because of the timing of this contract going out, we also weren’t able to meet the timelines that we were looking at. So it’s been moved ahead. With that, we are going to look at the overall project itself to see exactly the hiccups that we did have so we could avoid them in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, until we complete our review, we can’t make that decision outright right now. We will have to do that review before we determine if we’re continuing on or not.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in case the Members don’t know, this facility was developed as a long-term care facility for the Sahtu and because the Sahtu is now in the process of establishing their own regional health board, there is still going to be a need for programs and services to be delivered in the Sahtu. So that’s sort of where the discussion is at, that that facility still has the ability to provide services for the Sahtu region. So that’s what the department or the regional health board is open to. That’s sort of the dialogue that has taken place today. We are still...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is not the only facility that we are having problems with in regard to occupancy. It has been unoccupied for some time. We still continue to pay the operational costs of this facility. This is one of the items that have been put forward to the government by way of doing an assessment of all of our capital assets that have less than 30 percent occupancy. So we are putting the word out there that we want people to be aware this facility is available. Again, the corporation is definitely looking for someone to let us know if they are interested so...

Mr. Speaker, the month of October marks the 30th anniversary of the NWT Housing Corporation. Since its inception, the corporation has made significant strides toward improving and supplying housing in the NWT.

Communities in the Northwest Territories have been visibly transformed over the last 30 years. New modern houses have replaced those lacking basic facilities, seniors are enjoying uniquely-designed facilities and public housing units have been renovated to provide safe environments for singles and families.

In 1974, we offered a total of seven programs. Today, the Housing Corporation...