Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today, I thanked the Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Housing Corporation for meeting with a couple of constituents who have issues around affordability of housing in Northlands Trailer Park. People on fixed incomes are finding it difficult to pay the local improvement charges and condo fees. Can the Minister briefly describe our current housing programs that may provide some assistance to residents living in Northlands? Merci, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No one outside of government was actually consulted during the preparation of this bill, and no one in Hay River was consulted? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Recently, I had two constituents contact me with regard to housing issues in Northlands Trailer Park. About 1,100 people live in this area of Yellowknife. This neighbourhood has a long and complicated history. It was developed around 1977 by a private developer and was turned into a condominium corporation in 1989. At that point, the infrastructure became the responsibility of the corporation. In 2010, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation stopped offering assistance with mortgages in this area due to the poor condition of infrastructure. A deal was reached...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the response from the Minister. Just so I understand this, the issue is the federal money is not flowing perhaps as smoothly as we would like. Is that a problem of them getting money out the door? Is it a problem of us invoicing? Any sort of overall conclusion there would be helpful to know. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I would appreciate receiving that level of detail. Whether, you know, ITI has that information now or not, and I understand this is a big piece of work that our government has committed to do on the mandate. We also want to make sure that we get it right and that you know there are opportunities for everyone to participate, including NGOs. More of a comment than anything else. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess I would hope for something a little bit quicker, but I will take the Minister's word. Can the Minister tell us how long this contract runs for? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think I heard "look at it" at the end there. Is the Minister committing to do the work and providing us with the information? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am not sure if my colleague from Yellowknife Centre asked this question or not, but can we actually get a copy of the contract that has been signed, then, even if it has to be provided on a confidential basis to the Regular MLAs? I would like to be able to compare that against what was called for in the RFP, and what the original New Day program was doing. Can he provide a copy of that contract on a confidential basis to the Regular MLAs? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I recognize that the Minister is under no obligation to actually respond to the questions, but I don't know how to make it any clearer. The formulae that are in here that start with kindergarten: can the Minister change that to JK, plug in the projections that he has, and give us the cost estimates, what those calculations actually are? Can the Minister commit to do that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and I want to thank my colleague who asked some of the questions that I had here, but I just want to understand how this agreement was reached. This was the Department of Justice approaching John Howard directly. Is that how? Again, thanks, Mr. Chair.