David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to have an opportunity to recognize the families of the people we are going to be acknowledging at 12:00 noon with the unveiling of the quilt. Excuse me if I mispronounce your name, but I would like to recognize Jamie Clease of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Welcome, Jamie.

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I have Ruth Oyukuluk from Arctic Bay in Nunavut.

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Also with us is Walter and Florence Daniska of Vancouver, British Columbia. Welcome.

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Also from the Workers’ Compensation Board we have Marie Wilson, director of policy, planning and...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled 2004 NWT Community Survey, Community Housing Needs, Detailed Results, Report No. 2, October 2004.

Mr. Speaker, I think that is one of the problems that we're having, trying to get this unit taken over by someone else. We will not take on the responsibility of the O and M. We want to dispose of the asset by way of selling it outright, or basically working out some sort of a long-term lease agreement. But we do not feel that we can afford at this time to continue to pay for the operational costs and have that ongoing responsibility. We would like to offload that responsibility to an agency or organization to take that on.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the facility is an asset of this government and because it is unoccupied, we are looking at offers right now. We’re open to discussing this matter with anyone who wants to come forward with a reasonable offer. It is open for proposals for which they should maybe contact the president of the corporation to open a dialogue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a young man who has been a Page in this House and who used to work for the former Premier, Vital Manual. Vital is up in the gallery.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are open to finding a usage of that facility. If the Member is right, that facility was designed for an alcohol and drug treatment centre and the usage of it is restricted because of that. So the purpose of the facility does meet that goal. Like I said earlier, we are open to proposals and we’ll definitely look at anything out there right now because we are paying for this facility. It’s unoccupied and it is a $300,000 cost to the corporation just to keep the place heated. We are open to proposals.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to the Somba K’e Lodge, we are looking at proposals. We have put out calls to different non-government organizations and are considering looking at usage for that facility. It is presently unoccupied. We’re paying somewhere in the range of $300,000 for the operational costs of that facility. We are looking at proposals from different organizations, the people in Detah and Ndilo and also we’ve been approached by the Salvation Army. So we are looking at offers right now.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regards to the community housing cooperative, we are working with the community. We have identified money in next year’s budget to do a maintenance program in regards to the mould problem, and also to bring that building up to certain standards so we are able to occupy the whole building. There is a report on that particular project. I thought you were talking about the programs in general. So we are looking at that. We have a plan in place. I will then share that with the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not aware of this study being done in Fort Liard. We based our information on lead surveys that we have conducted on that. That is how we allocate our budget.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I am willing to sit down with the Member and go over the plans for that particular project. Thank you.