Floyd Roland

I probably should have referred it to the Minister of the Housing Corporation so he can give the actual program detail, but in this case I’ll confer with the Minister of the Housing Corporation to see what initiatives may be undertaken when it comes to dealing with folks on arrears, if it’s a pre-payment plan or does it have to be paid off in full. The issue, again, becomes more specific to the unit. If it is a matter of cleaning, then that falls under the homeowner’s responsibility, and, as Minister Lee pointed out, there is a process to make that water system safe again. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Because it does affect a number of departments, the Department of Health and Social Services does do the testing. The maintenance or repairs from that point on depends again on if it is public housing, then the Housing Corporation is directly involved. If it’s a private homeowner, the homeowner then would be required to do that maintenance. They can qualify for support through the Housing Corporation, but that, again, depends on the program criteria and if they’re eligible and if they’d had support previously on other initiatives. So depending on the scenario, a number...

Thank you. That is our goal. In fact, every business plan since we identified that money for the Legislative Assembly, we push the departments to show progress, and not just internal progress but to get projects on the ground and put in place. So the wind turbine technology that’s been looked at has been delayed for a year. We were expecting it this year but it will go ahead in the next year, I believe. The area of biomass, we’re looking at, as we have already done, some exchanges for heat in a number of our facilities that will need replacement of boilers. As well, we’re still working with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The work on the Power Corp review was undertaken by the Executive. It wasn’t a direct initiative out of the Power Corporation. I’ll have to look in my notes, but I’ll get that information to him before the end of our session. Thank you.

Thank you. We all know that the newspapers are like gospel, I guess, to certain corners of our Territory, but at the same time we’ve also learned that the quotes that are taken at times can be stretched a little, and I can speak from my own experience as well.

This area has had much debate. In fact, when it was first brought to the 16th Legislative Assembly, it was publicly put out there as well and there was even support granted at that time. Since people have had a look at that more, there were issues raised, concerns raised, we pulled it back based on discussions with Members, had another go...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have, in fact, held by our conventions that we have put in place, the conventions when this policy was first put into the system in the 15th Assembly. Since the 16th Assembly and our initiatives -- and I must say I thank the Member for being kind, because when I came up to that vote, there was a little more to it than just communications and we all know that. The other area of the work and the policy since coming together as Members and renewing our relationship and working together, we hold to that. We continue to work with that. In fact, the supplementary health...

Mr. Speaker, one of the other initiatives that has been undertaken not necessarily by our government but the federal government on the Food Mail Program, we are expecting to hear some news on that. I know Minister Strahl has been working under that initiative, so we are waiting to see what the final outcome of those discussions would be and what that might do for the constituents of the Northwest Territories that use that program.

The other area, again, is within our own initiatives. The cost of energy in our communities is something that we are undergoing and could have a direct impact as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the area of the cost of living in our communities, there are a number of initiatives that we are undertaking. Some of it has been highlighted today in Members’ statements; the electricity review, for example. The effects on the commercial rates would then be passed down to the customers in many of our communities. That is one of the biggest things we are looking at doing.

The other area, as the Member has highlighted in his Member’s statement, would be a little more difficult to deal with in a sense that how a business operates when someone wants to go in and cash...

Mr. Speaker, there are a number of avenues that can be undertaken by individuals and, again, it would be a case-by-case scenario. If there is, for example, private homes, the Housing Corporation could be of assistance, depending on the situation. As the Member pointed out, if there are arrears that come into play, then individuals can sign a prepayment plan that may be able to make them eligible for applying again, but I’d have to further confer with the Minister of the Housing Corporation on the specifics.

I would say that maybe here’s an opportunity that we can put the Member and the Minister...

I can name probably in the neighbourhood, let me see, how many thermal communities will go into that zone? About 22 communities. Now, I know the Member feels that’s just a shuffling of the deck, but that is real lower costs in our communities that will be spread out to the commercial base and to the customer base and the overall cost of living in our communities. Structurally as the Power Corporation and as the Government of the Northwest Territories, we know we need to increase our rate base in the sense of more people and more businesses in the Northwest Territories and to invest in these...