Kevin O'Reilly

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to make it clear to the public, then, the reduction strategy, or the fiscal strategy, of Cabinet is driving down the contribution to the Housing Corporation by $1.3 million. I do not agree with that, and I just wanted to get it on the record. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. In my Member's statement, I made reference to the Pembina Institute Report, "Loans for Heat: Towards a Yellowknife Energy Savings Program." Is the Minister aware of this report and are her staff using it as a basis for developing changes to the City, Towns and Villages Act to allow for the use of local improvement charges for energy efficiency? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are looking at the GNWT contribution line here. Last year, it was $81,702,000. The proposal for next year is $74,943,000. Can the Minister explain that reduction? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that. The $783,000 sounds like a lot of money. There might have been other money that had been spread out over three years. Is there some kind of a report, a formal evaluation of the project and the money that was spent? Is that something that could be shared with the Regular MLAs? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m try to be kind here, but just because the feds are backing out of funding our programs, it is not necessarily an excuse for us to pull the plug on them. I will just leave my comment at that.

I want to go down to a different line, rental housing in rural and remote locations. Last year, it was $783,000. This year, zero. Perhaps I can get an explanation of that one as well? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am looking at page 359. There are a couple of reductions on this page that I would like to better understand. Let's start with transitional supportive housing. The revised estimates for last year were $600,000. Now it is down to $375,000, so can the Minister explain the reduction here? Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I really sincerely thank the Minister and her staff then for pushing that along. She knows that I've been urging her: that's the sort of document you should be taking to Ottawa. I know you've got to work closely with the Yukon and Nunavut governments, but that's the kind of proposal that should be taken to Ottawa. We've taken enough road proposals to Ottawa; now let's start talking about people.

So does the Minister intend to table this in the House before the end of the session? Is that the plan? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess I'd like to start just with a general comment on the Minister's opening statement, where the budget for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is going to be reduced by 9.5 per cent in one year. I think that says something about the priority that this government is placing on housing.

I understand some of that reduction is related to reduced funding from the federal government, but not all of it. I think that's a sad statement about the priorities of our government, quite frankly, that you can find money for other big infrastructure projects, but when it comes...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So although the programs, some of these may have been completed, I think there's still a big need out there. I know of a condo just literally almost next door to where I live on Forrest Drive that was looking for assistance with putting in a wood-pellet boiler. So it sounds like there's still a need for some of these programs. You know, have we replaced all of the compact fluorescent or old-style light bulbs throughout the Northwest Territories? It just sounds like that there's a number of needs still here to continue these programs.

So can someone from the department confirm...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think that is all I have got for that page. Thank you.