Glen Abernethy

Mr. Speaker, I understand that there was some time limit on this and that this was a pilot study. This was also tied to the THAF funding which was originally cut and there wasn’t going to be any of it for this year, but the THAF funding has been extended for this year and next year. I am curious why it was tied to that funding originally. Why would we only extend this program for one year when we have the THAF funding for two years? Why are we differentiating between these programs and cutting off at 2010-11 when we have money until 2011-12?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services and are related to the respite program. It is delivered at the Yellowknife Association of Community Living. The association has received a letter from Yellowknife Health and Social Services saying that their funding for the 2011-12 fiscal year has been cancelled; therefore, there will be no respite program at this association. I was wondering if I could get the Minister to tell me if we could get that money reinstated to continue that program on for a longer period of time. Thank you.

I attended both Prospects North and the Anti-Poverty Summit the week before session, and what became really interesting and obvious to me is that for an Anti-Poverty Strategy to work and to be effective in the Northwest Territories, you’re going to need to engage business. Business is going to need to be involved. I don’t believe that Industry, Tourism and Investment is currently one of the members on our internal working group, and I’m just wondering, if they’re not one of the groups on our internal working group, could the Premier commit to getting a representative from ITI onto that working...

That’s good to know and I’m happy to hear that. I’m curious, will there be any sort of public awareness campaign or anything done to encourage the individuals who might be in arrears to come forward with this information in order to identify areas where they may, in fact, not owe large sums of money so that they can get back on a financial pathway, to a positive financial pathway? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During my Member’s statement I was talking about some of these perceived arrears that public housing tenants have in the Northwest Territories. As I said, there are some people that believe that a number of these arrears aren’t, in fact, real. I would like to ask the Minister responsible some questions about those potential arrears. Has any analysis been done within the Housing Corp to determine whether or not this is, in fact, true? Are there some individuals who have possibly unreal arrears or have we done any assessment to determine that, in fact? Thank you, Mr...

Alright. With that, we’ll take a short break and come back with Tabled Document 66-16(5) and Transportation. Thank you.

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We’ll call Committee of the Whole to order. We’re reviewing today: Tabled Document 4-16(5), Tabled Document 30-16(5), Tabled Document 38-16(5), Tabled Document 62-16(5), Tabled Document 66-16(5), Bills 4, 8 and 9. What’s the wish of the committee? Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on some questions from my colleague Ms. Bisaro on the Anti-Poverty Strategy. I was wondering if the Premier could tell me which departments are represented in the internal working group that’s working on the strategy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I was wondering if the Minister could give me a bit of a timeline as to when he thinks that work might be done and if those individuals are identified to have arrears that aren’t in fact real, what’s going to be done to help offset those arrears.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My statement today is very similar to that of my colleague Mr. Beaulieu.

Over the summer, since the last time we got together, I had an opportunity to travel to many communities in the Northwest Territories and I talked with a lot of different people, both on committee travel and other related business. One of the common concerns that became evident as I was travelling around talking to the different residents of the Northwest Territories is housing.

There were two issues that came up more than others and the first one was the number of vacant public housing units and...