Michael McLeod

As our budgets shrink and the commitment for federal dollars falls off the table, we certainly have to look at being creative, and I welcome any suggestions from the Members. I’ll make a commitment to the Member, as he’s requested.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe we’ve…. At least I haven’t been involved in any discussion where loans would be provided on the basis that the Member has mentioned. I could indicate to the Member that we are right now reviewing our thresholds and different ways we can help homeowners deal with the projects that would enhance their homes in terms of energy efficiency. I could certainly include this as part of the discussion so that we can get a better understanding and see if there’s a potential to do something with folks that have dollars locked in and want to utilize some housing loans to help...

Mr. Speaker, we will commit. I know the Member is very eager to see these new initiatives starting to play in, and we’ll commit to doing something as soon as we can.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We just recently decided to move forward on this initiative. We still have a lot of work to do in terms of design and engineering reviews and things of that nature. This is probably something we could fast track, but we felt that in order to do a good job, we needed the time that we’ve allotted for our people to be able to dedicate adequate resources to it.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, it is something that we’d certainly like to consider. My direction to the Housing Corporation was to do a number of things on a number of fronts. One of the areas that had come forward from the Members was the concern over housing projects being left empty because people can’t get into these units because of financing situations — whether it’s low income or high income. We are currently reviewing the thresholds. We can make sure every threshold on the low end for the communities is able to accommodate people adequately. There are different income levels, different costs of...

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to update Members on an important initiative being undertaken by the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

As Members are well aware, the challenges of rising fuel costs and climate change have forced all of us to place a renewed focus on energy efficiency. One of the most important places where energy improvements can be made is in the home. As winter approaches, we encourage homeowners and tenants alike to explore the many options available to them to improve the energy efficiency of their homes and mitigate the high cost of fuel.

The Northwest Territories...

Mr. Speaker, the Member is right; we’re not here to try and invent anything new. There is a lot of stuff that’s off the shelf.

We want to take the time for our staff to be able to evaluate the best techniques that are out there. We want to be able to see what’s happening in other jurisdictions. We’ve already embarked on that. We have a general idea, but we need to be able to do further investigations and see what works best and what works best in the Northwest Territories. We’ve got to remember there is also a cost factor incorporated in going into this new design. We have to be able to analyze...

Mr. Speaker, I want to make a comment that we have had a number of discussions with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada regarding this program, which is an important program for communities across the North. We have 17 communities in the Northwest Territories that qualify.

As the Member has indicated, this is a $40 million to $50 million program. However, the bulk of the investment for this program goes into Nunavut and Nunavik. We get a small percentage. I think last year we got about $1.4 million of that revenue coming into our communities.

We’ve made a number of recommendations over the years...

Mr. Speaker, today, October 21, is National Students Against Impaired and Distracted Driving Day, NSAIDD. It is also the tenth anniversary of this national day that focuses attention, especially among teens and young drivers, on the serious consequences of driving while impaired or distracted. More than 500,000 students across Canada, including the Northwest Territories, are actively engaged in reducing impaired and distracted driving on this day of awareness. It’s encouraging to see that many young people are advocating safe and healthy lifestyle choices and responsible decision-making.

Regret...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly appreciate the comments of the Members on this issue. It is a very important issue, and it’s been an issue that the Department of Transportation has been looking at for some time in looking at the options that are possible within the area.

Given the location of where we live in the world — in the Northwest Territories — it’s important that we recognize we’re going to be the most impacted by climate change. It’s important that we do our share and lead by example.

Our government in the last while has been working hard to provide programs to provide incentives to...