Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the consolidation of the human resources function is something that has happened government-wide. Every department gave up human resources people. Besides the human resources people, has there been any reduction in the staff at headquarters as a result of this transfer of money to ECE and the recent contracting out by the Housing Corporation? Thank you.

---Applause

Clause 2.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Seven percent in headquarters and five percent in the district offices; just doing the math, not to challenge the Minister, but that is 12 percent not 10 percent. This is a capital-intensive corporation. The money should be going to capital. There are not a lot of operations issues. Of course, might I also say I have no issue with the staff located in the districts. I’m talking about the staff in headquarters, and I’d like to know the number. Thank you.

Okay. We will resume with that after a short break.

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Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. I want to know how the capital money and operating costs of these facilities was spent, and so completely missed the needs of the community. How much did the marketing housing initiative cost? How many units are empty, and how many is the Housing Corporation subsidizing the cost of because they failed to have an accurate business plan or market analysis plan formed before jumping in with both feet?

When was the last time the Housing Corporation performed an analysis of their rent supplement units that were built in communities at 20-year...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development met on October 11, 2005, to review Bill 9, Municipal Statutes Amendment Act. This act makes minor amendments to the Charter Communities Act, the Cities, Towns and Villages Act and the Hamlets Act.

The committee asked for an explanation of the new amendment that deals with transferring unpaid service charges to property taxes. The amendment will allow a municipal taxing authority to recover any outstanding bills or fines that relate to real property and charge them against property taxes. A homeowner, for...

Thank you for that, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that. We’re trying to think outside the box here in terms of how to address this problem because we don’t want people to see our communities as having a lesser standard of living or quality of life because of lack of medical services. So those are the kinds of things in discussions we’ll probably have in our communities. I’m glad to hear that response, and I’ll certainly pass that on in Hay River, that maybe we’ll have to do some recruitment as a community on our own, quite apart from what the Minister does. You know, I can’t think of...