Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a former resident of Aklavik and Inuvik, a good friend of mine, Mr. Frank Edwards Jr., better known as Somoe. Welcome, Somoe.

Thank you. There is always a danger that there are going to be some people that try to take advantage of some of the programs we have to offer. We have to do our part to ensure that this is distributed fairly and to those that are most in need. I think in such small jurisdictions in the Northwest Territories, working with the communities we all know the people in the communities that are in most need, those that are trying to get a good start in life. We feel that this is going to give them that good start, and like I said before, they can either graduate into regular market housing or they...

Thank you. This is very early in the process, so we’re not sure what kind of uptake we’re going to have on this. We’re looking at possibly 175 across the Northwest Territories initially, graduating them into quarterly sections. So there will be a continuous intake instead of doing all of them the first quarter and then having nothing left over for the rest of the year. So the initial plan is to try and assist at least 175 by quarterly installments. Thank you.

Thank you. We did provide a letter of support to CRTC to support the application that was going in there. We felt that we should do that because we wanted to look at our capabilities here in the Northwest Territories. So we’ve done that and that was done right away so the application could go in and we need to do our due diligence and not just sign on because everybody else has done it. We wanted to make sure we’re ready. We feel that now we’re in a fairly good position in taking advantage of the technology we do have with the hope that technology across the Northwest Territories will improve...

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the question because knowing a few of the media reports that were out there said we did not refuse to sign the deal and in no way did we say it is reliant on cell phone service across the Northwest Territories. That got some good play a few years ago, so I thought they played the same card again, but we did say, and I clarified in the second interview, that they did and thankfully they played it, was that we are going to sign on.

We are in discussions right now with the company. We are having some discussions with the providers in the Northwest Territories, so it is our...

I would be pleased to do that. I’ll have discussions with my counterparts and we’ll try to put all the information together with all the services that are provided to seniors. Because we are quite proud of the fact that, as a government, we do assist our seniors very well. I will put the information together and pass it on to all Members. Thank you.

Obviously, this government takes its role at trying to look after our seniors very seriously. That’s why a lot of seniors, for the last 16 years, that are living in public housing are not paying public housing rent, and a lot of seniors have sold their units to move into public housing because of that. We feel with the initiatives that we’re undertaking right now, it might keep more seniors in their own homes and free up public housing units for those that are really in need of public housing.

But as the Housing Corporation, I’ve relayed to the Member that we do have an emergency repair program...

Mr. Speaker, we have had some initial discussions as to some of the alternatives that might be available. We have to further those discussions and see, because we have a lot of athletes that take part in the ice portion, which I said before is a core part of the Arctic Winter Games. We have to try and ensure that they have an opportunity during the Arctic Winter Games season to gather and compete. Thank you.

Obviously, it would be to our benefit if we were to meet with all those that were able to provide some expertise and how we can best move forward on this. I would commit to the Member that as we look at developing this particular initiative, I will commit to meeting with the experts in this particular field.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a cause for some concerns; however, it’s a decision that’s made by the Arctic Winter Games International Committee. They make the decision and I think they take into account the location of the games and the fact that they don’t have some of the facilities. Obviously, we’ve relayed our concerns, because a lot of the ice sport activities and games are a core part of the Arctic Winter Games. It’s a decision that’s made by the Arctic Winter Games International Committee and we have relayed our concerns on to them. However, I’m expecting that we’ll be hearing a lot...