Joe Handley
Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, there have been some delays since the ribbon cutting. Some inspections had to be completed. The units had to be furnished. That is pretty much behind us now. Applications have been taken. I understand those applications are currently being reviewed and there should be a decision on who gets to move into that unit very quickly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again I want to assure Members that the Novel housing concept is very much on the books. We're working on it; we haven't dismissed it. It may be less houses than what was originally contemplated; I don't know for sure yet because I don't think Imperial have really made a final decision on how they're going to manage the construction of this, but we'll keep it there. In the meantime, the only other major initiative we have is the affordable housing initiative. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to say that out of the estimated 530 or so houses over the next couple of years...
Mr. Speaker, the building will open as soon as the applications are reviewed and selections are made of who will go into that unit. I expect that to happen very quickly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I can’t say that I am really sure, really.
---Laughter
But my information is that they are reviewing the applications now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, while the concept of a housing manufacturing plant has been debated and discussed for a long time, some community corporations have looked at it. Without a steady confirmed market, it's very difficult to set up such a factory. We have to look at the benefits of doing it that way and moving modular homes or houses that are pre-built into communities versus building in the communities and building up the capacity of the development corporations. Up to now, the Housing Corporation has received more pressure to work with communities to build up the corporations in each community so...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I haven't heard that Imperial and other proponents have dismissed the idea of using Novel housing. They've not told us that. They are reconsidering how they'll build the pipeline, where camps will be located and where they won't. They may use less, but they have not said they will not. So that still remains a viable option. Mr. Speaker, the pipeline is scheduled to begin construction as early as 2010; no earlier, possibly later. We continue to work with ATCO on some technical issues. We still have not received a commitment from the federal government, so it has...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right; we’ve had a lot of meetings about this and I’m sure it's frustrating for people who attended meetings with myself with the Inuvialuit president, with the former Minister of DIAND, and in fact I think this was even discussed with the Prime Minister when he was here last week. Mr. Speaker, we will do everything we can, but I would expect that because this is a new expenditure, that this is something that would have to now go to the next government, but we will make that recommendation that they give it the same attention we have and make the...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m told that we have now received a framework for how the infrastructure money will be spent. The Department of Justice are reviewing that now. So I expect we should be proceeding quickly on this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was elected as Premier for the life of this government. This government is alive and working until the writ is dropped. Until that happens, then, yes, we will continue to pursue this negotiation. Now, Mr. Speaker, I might add that this is complicated a bit by the shuffle of Ministers in the federal system. Even as I speak today, I am not sure who is the lead Minister for the North, so there are some delays there. But, Mr. Speaker, we will continue to press on this. That is our job. We will do it for the life of this government. Thank you, Mr...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I can provide more detail. Mr. Speaker, as we’ve said before, there were six outstanding items between ourselves and the federal government and I won’t go through each of them, but I will say that there are only two that are still outstanding. One has to do with the issues around net fiscal benefit. The other one has to do with the amount of money that would be transferred when federal employees and services are transferred to GNWT.
Mr. Speaker, in the case of net fiscal benefit, we are not going to accept a bad deal. We’d sooner have no deal. The Prime...