David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I echo the sentiments of my colleague Mr. Braden, Member for Great Slave…

---Applause

…on the lack of consultation on behalf of the government in this expenditure of $3.4 million. Basically, Mr. Speaker, what amounts to a black hole, as Mr. Braden referred to it as, but we don’t know what this is going to cost us, we don’t know where we’re going to get the money from and, Mr. Speaker, it’s very irresponsible of the government to put forth a plan when they have no plan, Mr. Speaker.

This bill has $16 million in spending and $11 million of that, Mr. Speaker, is...

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Thank you, Mr. Premier, for that. I know the meetings were on equalization and on the territorial formula financing agreement, but did you have an opportunity to again address the issue of setting aside our resource revenue in trust for the citizens of the Northwest Territories? Did you have a chance to discuss that with the Prime Minister on this trip to Ottawa? Thank you.

Agreed. Thank you. If there is no other business in front of the committee, I will rise and report progress.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I just had a few comments on the Premier’s report on his Ottawa meetings. I just wanted to ask the Premier if he had the opportunity to look at setting up meetings with the leaders of Canada’s opposition parties, especially the Conservative Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party of Canada -- Mr. Layton and Mr. Harper -- and if he didn’t meet with those two gentlemen on this trip, when he might be looking at meeting with them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod. I am just wondering what steps the government is currently taking to address the chronic lack of available land for development in the city of Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, am going to vote in favour of this motion. I just wanted to quickly go over a couple of points. The first one is we want the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation to identify and recommend viable options to sustain our long-term public housing investment. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to mention to the Minister I don’t want that to come with a huge price tag attached to it. I think there have been enough studies and reports and consultation done over the years that we should be able to come to grips with some of these options without...

Good question.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Minister, for your response. The Minister spoke of a process that has been started by his department working with both the aboriginal government, the Akaitcho, and the City of Yellowknife. He says that work has begun on this agreement to set aside some land for development and to try to work together and cooperate on a long-term plan for the city of Yellowknife. I am just wondering when we might expect some dates or some of this work to be concluded and for the City of Yellowknife to have some surety on available land. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the price of residential land is determined by the location, cost of development, and supply and demand. Before you have houses, you have to have land to put them on. In Yellowknife, the cost of land has gone through the roof because of the lack of supply and an ever-increasing demand. People are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to live in cramped townhouses with no land just to put a roof over the heads of their families.

Mr. Speaker, they are the lucky ones. Others are being forced out of apartments that they can no longer afford because of...

I think in his role as Minister of the Housing Corporation, that’s something that he’ll need and something that Regular Members do appreciate. As well, I know the president as well with the Housing Corporation is new in his role, and as Regular Members we look forward to working with the new Minister and the new president to try to address some of these serious concerns. Again, I am supporting the motion that is before us today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.