Robert C. McLeod

Mr. Speaker, this has been a discussion that has been going on for a number of years. Seniors have been very fortunate in the past where they have had to pay no rent. It is still costing the Housing Corporation an average $16,000 to $24,000 a year to maintain these units. The thinking behind it is during the engagement process there were a lot of seniors that had expressed a willingness and they don’t mind paying their fair share. There are some that were reluctant to phone for maintenance services because they don’t pay any rent. Some of this was brought on by the seniors themselves. The fact...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have approximately just over 700 seniors right now that are currently paying zero. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are planning on implementing some of the changes to the rent scale on July 1st. As far as delaying any evictions until August, I’m not sure we would have evictions in place. If the Member is referring to the moratorium, that’s still going to go ahead on April 1st and between now and August. Let us hope that we don’t have any more people that are in positions where they’re going to be evicted. I think with some of the changes that are being proposed to the rent scale, people will find those changes very beneficial and it will address a lot of the concerns that...

I’m not quite sure what the theme is. I’d have to check on that. I know, I know, I should know what the theme is. There are people over at… If I talk long enough then they might get it over from MACA. I’ll just keep going for the next 10 or 15 minutes. Anyway, I’ll find out what it is and I’ll come in here and let the Member know.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to also recognize Mr. Charlie Furlong from Aklavik, and a former colleague and good friend to Judy and I, Ms. Sandy Lee.

I don’t think there’s been a minimum amount of funds. What we’re asking people to do again – I think we’re going back to the moratorium question – is to enter into a repayment plan, a fairly reasonable repayment plan and not just enter into it for the sake of keeping themselves in the unit, but to enter it with the intent to honour it and then they’d be able to stay in their units a lot longer. As far as I know, there really is no minimum set, but that may vary between LHOs. I can follow up and let the Member know.

Well, first and foremost our goal is to have our young people out participating in the games. We’ve been very fortunate in the past. We’ve always sent strong teams to the Arctic Winter Games and they’ve always been able to do us proud. Whether they win gold, silver, bronze or just the fact that they participate, they’ve done us very proud. I think one of the most important awards in the Arctic Winter Games is probably the Stuart Hodgson Trophy which is presented to the team that combines the best sportsmanship. I think that’s a very important award. The fact that our young people have an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The team is pretty well finalized. We have over 350 players, coaches and chaperones that will be going to Whitehorse from March 4th to 10th. We were quite pleased this year that we had over 970 athletes participating in the territorial trials, and out of those 970 there were about 680 from outside Yellowknife. I think that’s reflective of the good work that all the sporting partner organizations are doing in getting sports out into the communities. Everything is on schedule. Our team is set to go. They will be in Whitehorse from March 4th to 10th bringing back straight...

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide an update on the Shelter Policy review which began during the last Legislative Assembly and is now almost finished. The Shelter Policy review was a broad-based examination of housing in the Northwest Territories and was intended to provide a long-term strategic framework for housing.

Improving housing conditions is one of the key priorities of the 17th Legislative Assembly, and completing and implementing the Shelter Policy review was identified as a key component of advancing this priority.

The Shelter Policy review included broad-based engagement with...

The Homelessness Coalition put some good work into this. They came forward with a business plan through the Canada Economic Action Plan. We were able to free up some money to make a small contribution to the overall cost of the project.

I will be pleased to provide a briefing note on the whole situation of Betty House to the Member and Members opposite.