Michael McLeod

I’ll gladly take the information provided by the Member and follow up with our officials to see why it’s taken such a long time for a response to be provided to the Yellowknives Dene. We’ll also share that information with the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have standards in the NWT Housing Corporation that require us to review and assess our public housing units. We expect that we need to change the tanks at least every 20 years. We have our action plan where we have started doing.

In the area of private homes, we like to work with ENR to put the word out to private homeowners that they should assess and inspect their tanks on a regular basis to ensure there are no leaks. We have a program, as the Member has indicated, called CARE, that will provide for people in the lower income brackets to apply to replace their tanks...

Mr. Speaker, comfort is important for our employees, for our students. Safety is the bigger issue. In the case of the school in Inuvik we had a recommendation and assessments that the school should be replaced. In the case of our employees in Inuvik we have them housed in old warehouse buildings that were loaned by the federal government and converted to offices. There is an issue there, and also the Perry Building has been declared unsafe, unsuitable for use.

In the case of Diamond Jenness it needs to be retrofitted and it needs to be upgraded, and it also needs to be enhanced with a program...

Mr. Speaker, after the Member’s comments yesterday in the House, we did a follow-up. We are and we will be providing the reports to the Member if not tomorrow, then early next week. The reports indicate that there is no asbestos in the air. The air quality reports all report that the air is safe.

Mr. Speaker, the answer to that question is yes. Each community has a different income threshold, whether it’s the maximum or the minimum, and each income threshold is designed and calculated from the cost of living in that community.

Mr. Speaker, we have a number of programs that have been incorporated in the last while to assist the people across the North to get into home ownership or, in the case of repairs, to apply for repairs. In each case there is a threshold that is established. We look at calculating the maximum construction cost. We look at factoring in the interest rate, land costs, shelter costs, and we also then amortize that over a 25 year period.

For the most part, Mr. Speaker, it seems to be working well. In the last while we’ve had a huge investment in home ownership through the Affordable Housing...

I would agree that the private homeowners have a responsibility to look after their own homes. We have programs that can assist them if their income is not adequate to meet their needs.

We have embarked on a campaign to replace our tanks that are on public housing units, and we will commit to working with ENR to launch a public information campaign to make sure people are aware there is a limited lifespan that these fuel tanks will stand up for. There are other concerns. There’s condensation and other issues that factor in there. There could be a shortened life other than 20 years.

There are a...

Mr. Speaker, that issue has not come to my attention. I have not come forward with a plan to deal with the Yellowknives Dene. I have not been notified that there is an issue there.

Mr. Speaker, at the time of the community visit and the visit with the school and talking with the people there, including the principal and the MLAs, we had indicated that the school had been reviewed for a condition rating and that it was earmarked by Public Works as needing a mid-life retrofit. The price tag around that was, I think, $21 million. What needed to be done was a functional review, a program review by the Department of Education.

Since the time those discussions took place, the Department of Education has embarked upon doing that, and I think those discussions are underway with...

Mr. Speaker, in the case of the Diamond Jenness there has been a review done on the status and condition of the facility that recognized that there’s a need for a mid-life retrofit. We have identified a budget for it and have provided the recommendations to go ahead with the retrofit.

However, the school requires more than just a retrofit, which would bring it back to the same standards as when it initially was built. There is a desire from the community, from the education system to provide some upgrades in terms of programs; therefore, the functional review is being done by Department of...