Norman Yakeleya

I certainly look forward to the start of the potential sites that can produce hydro for the benefit of the people in the North here. The Minister has listed off some sites that I know very well, so it’s good to know that the Minister is up to speed in my region. I look forward to the results of the Sahtu hydro symposium. I mean, not only for our region but also for the Northwest Territories. I hope that we can move, once we have a clear plan and understanding as to what areas of the hydro that we wanted to look into and not be boggled down with various viewpoints as to which hydro or which...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Also, Mr. Speaker, the Minister did say that, when he heard the arguments of the high rental costs for the people who are in these public housing units, he doesn’t want to hear them anymore. Would the Minister then commit as part of the review to go into the communities to hear this issue here and have a big part of the consultation process, when he is putting together his team and people to come into the communities that want to know about how this government is going, to look at this issue in terms of going forward to reduce the cost of living for people in our...

Mr. Chair, I want to talk to the Minister about an issue here in regard to roads and the gravel access concept here. It’s been quite a good discussion amongst the Members here. I know that this is not the mandate of this department here. It’s really a MACA department mandate; however, Transportation has somewhat been involved in it due to the complexity of the Mackenzie Valley Highway road. It makes sense. Now you open the doors to this issue here. Would the Minister possibly consider with his Cabinet in terms of saying that we could look at a mandate for this department? That probably opens...

The work that they are doing to support the initiatives of the proponents to build the pipeline, these are positions that people here do go into the various other regions that the pipeline will be impacting, the communities that will be impacted by the potential pipeline.

Mr. Speaker, certainly I agree with the Minister, because the Minister, in his exchange with me yesterday, said he has heard the arguments and I think he said something like look at improving some of the way they do the rental scale. I think that is a good start in terms of how we start making some of these improvements. I hope with that type of discussion here that the Minister will look at ways to reduce the cost of living for public housing tenants. Will the Minister commit to finalizing the report and the recommendations early in the spring so that changes can be made sooner than later?

I think that will be something that’s good for our drivers on the winter roads as they need to continue doing the road improvements on all the winter roads here.

I wanted to ask the Minister about bridges. Is the department looking at considering the Oscar Creek Bridge just outside of Norman Wells? It’s on target for some different opinions as to the bridge, but the main question I have is: will this bridge be up and running? Right now it’s not being utilized. When can we see this bridge in operation, Mr. Chair?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Community Access Program, in terms of the program funding going out to the communities, it looks like it is fairly wide range of criteria to access these dollars for these projects here. I just want to look at the gravel resources here. I am just making my case now and probably in the next couple of months in terms of the gravel source for Tulita. They are looking for a gravel source. This would be similar to the scenario of the Tuktoyaktuk-Inuvik road in terms of their access to the gravel source, which happens to be on the proposed Mackenzie Valley Highway. The...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Housing advised the Members that he is undertaking a review of the maximum rent charged to tenants in public housing across the Northwest Territories. I think that it is a good start, but I urge the Minister to be careful about the purpose of the review and to get it done quickly. I also think that the Members should be given an opportunity to provide their views and concerns well before a report is prepared.

Personally, I don’t think the maximum rent charged to a public housing tenant has to be full cost recovery amount. I think when the local housing...

I do apologize if I’ve made a suggestion that it hasn’t been done. I will wait for the evidence to see. I was there about a month ago and I didn’t see anything. I stand to be corrected. I just want to make sure we have a facility for the elders and that it’s done. I will be happy. I will be happy if this is a reality in the Norman Wells Airport.

I want to say to the Minister and staff that people in my region, specifically Colville Lake, are very happy about the airport relocation. They’ve done some good work there. It worked really good this department with the cooperation of the Colville Lake...

Mr. Chairman, I think that is all I have for the Minister. I do want to thank him and to take him up on his offer in terms of getting some specifics on this issue here. I will see where I go from there. Thank you.