Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have begun drafting a chronology of events. We’ll have it prepared and provided to the Members as soon as possible. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, in this whole initiative, our goal was to provide affordable housing to the non-market communities and our intention was to bring it to a cost where it would be affordable and people would like to utilize it. We contacted a number of different organizations and boards and agencies across the North and we did have a very positive response. We felt because we had an open bidding process that we would go that route. The manufacturing community does have an opportunity to bid on this, as does everybody else. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just got the package and it’s being copied right now and will be distributed to the Members. It’s in the works as we speak and I apologize for being late by a day. The commitment for Monday was a tough one to meet.

---Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my information tells me that we have had over 30 tenders picked up today and of those 30, 17 are from the North. Now we will consider, we have committed in yesterday’s question period, to reviewing this whole initiative with Cabinet on Thursday. There is going to be some concern because there are a number of tender documents being processed right now. However, if there is a concern raised by the Member needing more time, how much more time that is I’m not sure, we do have a real tight time frame in this situation. A portion of these units are intended to go...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I couldn’t say to a great certainty that it is different. We are having a number of developers interested in coming forward. First of all, the facility has to be mobile so that we can move it, however, for the rest of it there are some interesting concepts and designs being put forward that would allow us to build these units fairly close to what a normal stick built house would be, smaller and 16 feet wide, but it would also be mobile. So I think the concept that they are totally different, the building construction methods are different, and I think we are moving...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would have to seek the information. We were expecting these trailer units to last for the term that we have amortized, and for years longer than that, and that is a 20-year period. I don’t have any estimations to refer to, I don’t have that information in front of me. So I don’t know, I can’t say in any certainty. Our amortization and full cost recovery is based on a 20-year period, I can offer that much. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we demand the same quality, the same warranty conditions whether the contract is allocated to a southern supplier or a northern supplier. I am sure there are many owners or trailer owners or mobile home owners in different trailer courts in the NWT that would be very interested to hear that the houses that they are living in and are perfectly happy with are substandard, as the Member has indicated. These units meet a certain standard, they have to have CSE approval and we expect at least a 20 plus year life out of them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what was done in this instance was a general average of what it would have cost for mobile homes to be utilized. In terms of proving it would be more expensive, that's a very difficult task as the Member knows. All we can provide and use as estimates is a best-case scenario, which is a general average, and a worst-case scenario, and anything in between. There is potential for up to a 15 percent increased cost. We will provide that information to the Members. Thank you.

Thank you. As the request from the Member indicates, there seems to be some dissatisfaction with the communication. We are having a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, and it's something I will bring up for discussion. However, we have to keep in mind if this project is deferred by a month, we certainly will not meet the barge deadlines and, therefore, may not be able to go ahead. However, I will commit to the Member that I will bring it forward for Cabinet's discussion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there was a commitment made on Friday to provide information to the Members, and I have followed up and we're expecting that information to be here shortly. In response to the question on who made the decision, the initiative was developed in the 14th Assembly, however, the Cabinet of the 15th Assembly confirmed and it was to go ahead to proceed with this whole initiative. Thank you.