Michael McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I always take all issues raised by Members very seriously and I certainly will, once again, take a look with our officials and with any input the Member would like to provide to this situation. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, once again, I think the Member asked this question in our last session and we can certainly take another look at it. The cost factor is something that concerns us and if there is a way to provide adequate training so that the operators and the people maintaining the airports in those communities could assure us that they’re either going to cover the cost or they’re going to avoid damaging these lights, we certainly would like to look at it. It’s something that I can understand the community wanting to have.

But I do want to correct the Member about Nahanni Butte. Nahanni Butte did...

Mr. Speaker, I can tell the Member that it is out there and it is working. The situation he’s referring to is a situation where the courts have already ruled. That would take approximately a year to a year and a half before we went up at that stage. Once the court has ruled that there is an eviction, it is very difficult to intervene. Up to that point, there are all kinds of opportunity to sit down and work out a solution to stay in a unit and I would be glad to sit down with the Member and explain it to him. Thank you.

We already have that process in place. Our tenant relations officers may not be social workers, but they certainly are trained and encouraged to work with our tenants to provide the financial information, to ensure that our tenants are aware of the risks that are involved by not paying their rent and, Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the Member that we don’t evict somebody for $32 a month non-payment. It’s usually a lot higher than that and we do allow for people to come in and start a repayment plan. That’s available to all our tenants. Many of our tenants that have somehow come in arrears and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not at all. We do have a plan and our plan is to spend $4 million on the Dettah road. We certainly can provide that information to the Member as we move forward. Thank you.

I want to thank the Member for the acknowledgement. Last year we didn’t have any money for this road and this year and next year we have a total of $4 million. As of now, that’s the money we have budgeted for investment and we will consider further work in other areas, as I mentioned earlier, for hard-topping the surface and possibly it may require further investment as we move forward. We have these dollars, this budget of $4 million currently that we’re focusing on. I have to state that this is the initial investment and I don’t have a final figure. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 14, An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think in this situation we certainly have to look at the long term. As I mentioned earlier, this has been a site that has been used by our department, by our ferry services for roughly 30 years. In that part of the country there is erosion of the soil, there is erosion of the riverbanks, and it has moved our landing so that it’s becoming a concern for some of the people who are utilizing the area for traditional harvesting of fish. I think we need to sit down and make sure that if we’re going to make any changes, it has to be a solution that’s going to be acceptable for many years to come. I...

I’d be more than willing to share all of the information that we have compiled in terms of investment and plans for the communities, especially in the Member’s riding. We have certainly been encouraging our regional staff to get into the communities, to talk to the leaders, to share our own housing programs, to share the specifics of all the different areas that we have in terms of support: with our public housing initiatives, with our homeownership programs, our educational programs, our financial counselling programs. As we move forward, we will be starting to develop lands for presentation...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the last while we’ve heard many comments about the number of McLeods in the House. So I’d like to welcome a few more reinforcements. Two of my sisters-in-law are here. I’d like to welcome them both: Melody and Evelyn. Thank you for coming. I’d also like to recognize Rocky Simpson from Hay River. Thank you.