Joe Handley

Mr. Speaker, we know one thing for sure and that is that the BIP does not save us money. We don’t know if it costs, how much it costs, and so on, but we certainly know it does not save us money. In terms of increasing opportunities for northerners, trying this out, seeing if it works, if we can get affordable housing out there and we get more housing out there, then that all means more business for somebody. Whether it’s business people in Yellowknife or others who may do the work that’s necessary in setting up these units, we don’t know. Our objective here is to get more affordable housing...

Mr. Chairman, first of all, the negotiator on devolution we have had on contract for a year-and-half or two years now. It was at the same time, as you may recall, the federal government contracted David Pederson to negotiate for the federal government. I expect our negotiator on devolution will be with us until we complete the devolution negotiations which are scheduled for 2005. This one would appear in the list of contacts for the government. I'm not sure the exact name, but it would be in that list. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, when the Senator first raised this issue, he did contact me. At that point, I did tell him that I had received no advice from Members that this should be a priority. We have other things that we wanted to focus on. Unless I hear otherwise, then I will continue to give him that same message whenever I speak with him. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, the travel budgets, this is the budget, not the actual travel. Sorry, I have the actual travel, not the budget. This is the actual travel for 2001, $739,764.04; 2001-2002, $772,333.49; 2002-2003, $705,212.26; and for the 2003-2004, in which we’ve exercised a fair bit of restraint, came to $413,337.18. Mr. Chairman, if we go to the budget, last year we had a budget of $934,000 for 2003-2004. As I mentioned earlier, we’ve exercised a lot of restraint and I’ve cut that down so we’re not going to spend the $934,000. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, the travel and transportation -- and I'll give the broad categories, Mr. Chairman -- $602,000; materials and supplies, and this includes office supplies, publications, printing, minor equipment supplies, promotional presentation items and so on, $210,000; purchased services includes telecommunications, delivery and courier, advertising, postage, conference and meeting expenses, $209,000.

Mr. Speaker, certainly comments, questions, advice from the regular Members is probably the most effective way we have. All of us, 19 Members, are receiving advice on a daily basis from our constituents and I am sure they are going to be very quick to tell us if we are getting off base. That is the main source. We met with committees on any legislation or business plans and we expect that we are all hearing from the people we represent in those situations. We go through tremendous consultation on some legislation. For example, the Wildlife Act; that one has had a huge amount of consultation...

Mr. Chairman, if someone is on salary with us, as regular staff, then they will be included in compensation benefits. If they are someone who is on a limited term contract for a specific purpose or on an ongoing contract for some purpose, then they would be under contracts. So we differentiate based on the status of the individual. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, homelessness is a complex social problem. It does not lend itself to a simple solution or quick fixes. There are a number of departments involved in addressing different aspects of homelessness: Education, Culture and Employment, Health and Social Services, Justice and the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. To ensure that we move forward in the development of a coordinated response and to optimize scarce resources, I have assigned the lead responsibility to the Minister of Health and Social Services, the Honourable Michael Miltenberger.

A coordinated response to this...

Mr. Chairman, the three-year average for travel was $700,000. This year our travel is down because the Tlicho negotiations are completed. Then we have also, in the department over the past couple of years, taken some dramatic efforts to reduce the cost of travel by buying excursion tickets and reducing the number of people travelling and so on. We anticipate continuing to exercise that kind of restraint in the future as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With me are Liz Snider, secretary to Cabinet for a couple more days, and Carl Bird, director of corporate services. Thank you.