Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of contamination or safety or health issues in our units are always a very great cause for concern. We have standard procedures within the corporation for dealing with these issues. In this case, we have hired an environmental specialist to look at the situation. We would like to identify the cause of the problem, we would like to look at a number of issues that revolve around this whole mould issue. We are also looking at maybe upgrading our mechanical systems in the units which may be contributing to this whole issue. We take it very...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the mould problem in Fort Liard is an issue that is isolated to a number of houses that are managed through a co-management agreement with the community and a non-profit society there. These units were built in 1991 and they were transferred over to the NWT Housing Corporation in 1997, so the houses have been under our management, along with the community, for roughly seven years. The issue of construction and the issue of upkeep is something we're looking at. We are preparing a work plan. We are providing some of the costs and we're looking at what...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated, the Department of Transportation has been working on this issue for a number of years; I believe it is since 2001. However, we are trying to get national consensus from a number of different agencies, and everybody has to be in agreement with these national standards, and we can only operate as fast as those standards are set. We intend to try to get something done in the near future; we are near conclusion. The information that the Member is asking is usually provided at the time of issuing licences. We ask that these documents are kept secure....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I indicated yesterday that we have been working on this issue with a number of jurisdictions, and also the Canadian Council of Motor Transportation Administrators and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. We are trying to develop standards that will receive national consensus. We are doing a needs analysis and we have hired a contractor, and we expect those results very shortly. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I have a return to written question asked by Mr. Allen on March 31st regarding rent assessment or seniors in public housing.

The Member asked a question about a proposal on a flat rate rent scale. Mr. Speaker, a flat rate rent sale would involve the assessment of rents for seniors. Under the current system, seniors are not charged rent. However, seniors do make partial payments for power for their units. The Member also enquired as to whether it would be a major policy shift to begin charging rents to seniors. Mr. Speaker, this would be a major policy shift to reintroduce rent...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct. The Jackfish Creek Bridge in Fort Good Hope is fairly new. It was constructed in 1995. A big concern to us is this facility has experienced a number of problems in the last little while. So we do monitor all of our infrastructure. We have regular maintenance, regular inspections. However, we will step up those inspections, especially bridges of this nature. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue with the bridge in Fort Good Hope is something we have been working on for the last couple of days. We have sent engineers into the community to do inspections, and as of today we are still looking at our options. The first one is to create a bypass around the existing bridge, and the other one is to do something more long term. Until we come to a firm decision on that issue, we continue to keep the facility closed. Thanks.

Mr. Speaker, we have hired an environmental specialist to look at this whole issue. As I said earlier, we are compiling a report that will deal with the cost, the time frame, the causes and some of the solutions. I certainly will commit to providing that to the community, to the people who live in the units, to our partners in the…(inaudible)…Housing Association, and also to the Members as they desire. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am trying to recall if I ran across a mould policy…

---Laughter

I don’t believe we have a policy specifically dealing with mould. We do, however, deal with deficiencies in our units. There is a problem and we recognize that there is a problem in the Nahendeh riding. At this point we believe it's in Fort Liard. There are a number of units there that are causing concern, and we totally agree that there are health issues surrounding the problem with the mould in the units. We are looking at them and we have reviewed the situation in all the different units that are there. We...

Yes, Mr. Speaker. There is that issue. There are other issues that are a concern regarding security, and the issue of drivers' licences and the issue of using drivers' licences as identification documents. We are looking at it. We intend to proceed with the development of a new format. We’d like to have that in place at least within the next year. It is something that we tamperproof, bulletproof, digitize, and we will have something to present to the committee fairly soon, as we’d like to have this document in the works and out in the next year or so. Thank you.