Michael McLeod

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.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t what we can do about his current photo.

---Laughter

However, I have indicated that we are reviewing it and it is something that is a concern. We take it seriously and we have a contractor who is looking at this whole issue and will report back to the House as soon as we have those documents. Thank you.

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Mr. Speaker, our current driver's licence was developed 15 years ago. We are reviewing it now with our partners. Currently it is still acceptable as a driver's licence, and that’s what it was intended for. We do not have timelines at this point. We are reviewing it, and we also are doing a needs analysis of whether we should be changing it and that will come in due course. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I have a couple of points with regard to the question raised by the Member. First of all, the students who are required to leave their community to attend school still retain their principal residence. The six-month requirement only applies to social housing programs. Social assistance also assists people who move to a new community or require housing in a community, and there is no residency requirement on income support. We have to recognize that there is a shortage of housing in all the communities. Our core needs assessments tell us that. It’s not really fair for us to allow...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In most of the communities across the Territories, we are working with the LHOs to develop a partnership agreement. Our approach from the corporation’s standpoint is that we work together as a team. For the most part, under the partnership agreements, the social housing program delivery falls under their authority. Although we set the general terms of what the requirements are, we also try to work so we give some room for those partnership agreements to incorporate some of their loan standards. We also have some communities that we work directly with under management...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have that at this current moment. We have hired a contractor to provide a needs analysis to give us what we need in terms of a new driver’s licence and what it should entail. We are looking at a digital type of driver’s licence. However, our current driver’s licence is still acceptable in Canada and if there is any outside requirement for this document to be used as identification, then we have problems. However, then maybe we should be looking at a passport instead of trying to use our driver’s licence. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our department, along with all North American jurisdictions, is participating with the Canadian Council on Motor Transport Administrators and also the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators to develop new acceptable standards. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, we will look at that. It’s something we continue to review. The availability of units is an issue that we are always looking at ways to try to address. We’ve tried different things over the years and will continue to do so. We will review the situation raised in Hay River and report back to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have the historical detail as to how the six-month rule came about. I believe it’s an NWT Housing Corporation rule that we requested the LHOs to follow. I would have to double check that, however. In every case we try to ensure that the rules that we put in place are consistent, although I can’t say with any certainty whether that’s something that came directly from the corporation or LHOs. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this afternoon I would like to call the Assembly’s attention to the important work that CARS observer-communicators do to maintain safe and reliable air transportation at our community airports.

The community aerodrome radio station program, better known as CARS, provides essential weather and runway information to the aircraft and pilots serving our small communities. In recognition of the contribution that the observer-communicators make to safe air navigation in and out of our community airports, the Department of Transportation presents awards every...