Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member has raised an issue of concern to the Government of the Northwest Territories and that is the broader issue of land use planning as it affects the Northwest Territories and the need to have a better and broader government-wide policy in this area. That is something that we are committed to doing in the coming weeks and months. As well, we are going to be working with the regions to follow up on their efforts for regional land use plans. We are looking closely at the recommendations of work yet undone and we will be encouraging the federal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these programs are being administered and delivered as we speak. There have been some rough patches that have been acknowledged and recognized. We are working to fix those. I am aware of the concerns of the Members and the Member for Mackenzie Delta in particular. We are working on the concerns as we speak. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the government shares the Member’s concern. As I indicated, Education, Culture and Employment has been working with the Housing Corporation. We are engaged in a process as we speak, going across the North community by community to make sure that we have a process that fits in every community in terms of doing the proper assessments. The program hasn’t changed, per se, but we are committed to doing that. I am committing to sit down with committee to review how we intend to move forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I acknowledge the Member’s good advice and will commit to make sure that the meetings are advertised with enough advance notice so that people have every opportunity to attend. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that is the intention. The intention was to have it completed, as the Member indicated in his Member’s statement, by this fall. That timeline has now been advanced to winter. I will keep the Member fully apprised as we get a draft of that done that can be shared with him. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ll commit to review the Hansard to get a clear understanding of the Member’s questions so we get it right, and I will get that information for the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don’t have that particular technical information at my fingertips. I will commit to providing it to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize one of the best constituency assistants in the business, Ms. Denise Yuhas and my executive secretary has been with me all of my ministerial days, Ms. Ingrid Hoffman. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the timeline that we are working towards is to have it concluded by the end of this week. Every community will have been visited by a team of folks from ECE and the Housing Corporation to talk to the community folks involved in this program delivery to try to work out a tailor-made approach in each community. When that result is in, we will be coming forward with the plan to committee to show how we intend to move forward on this issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the most part, the Housing Corporation has become the landlord. Those programs are administered through Education, Culture and Employment. We have been working collectively together to make sure that we come up with a way community by community to do the assessments with a one-window approach. But the issue the Member raised is one that is on the table before Cabinet and will be dealt with by the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you.