Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Madam Chair. On my left I have Mr. Tom Williams, deputy minister. On my right is Ms. Eleanor Young. She is the assistant deputy minister of regional operations.

We do have some tenants out there that have very high public housing arrears. We try and work with them to ensure that they are entering into a repayment plan. We’re not asking them to try and clear off their arrears in a matter of a year, for those with really high arrears. We have some cases where folks have been paying on their arrears what they can afford over a number of years and we’ve had some success stories where they’ve been able to pay those arrears off. We wouldn’t want our tenants feeling that because their arrears are very high, there’s no end in sight. All we’re asking them to...

Obviously, we’d like to see the tenants take the initiative, those that are able to, to come in and speak to their local LHOs and work out a repayment plan. The tenant relations officers in all our LHOs do a very good job in keeping in contact with tenants. For those that have mobility issues or those that maybe have a language barrier, as I said yesterday, most of our folks in the LHOs are from the community, a lot of them can speak the language; however, we wouldn’t want that to be a burden to those that can’t understand English as well as they should. We would do what we can to ensure that...

Thank you, Madam Chair. As far as I know, we haven’t had any discussions with Enterprise yet on their desire to build an addition onto their office building. However, I mean, we have to be careful here. If we’re talking that they want to convert this into a school, then we may have to include the Department of Education into the discussions. I’ll commit to the Member that I will follow up on it and see if any discussions have been started and what’s the wish of the folks in Enterprise. We’ll get as much information as we can and I’ll share it with the Member.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Member is correct; there is a review that’s happening right now. We’re hoping to have the work completed by April 1st. When we do the budget session in May/June, I think that’s when we’re looking at the O and M budget for next year. Some of our findings we may be able to incorporate into the May/June budget session.

Yes, I would, Madam Chair.

Come April 1st, for those that haven’t entered into repayment plans, obviously, as much as we don’t like doing it, we will have to evict them. I’d like people to see this as another opportunity to enter into repayment plans; not only that, but honour it. We’re quite confident that we’ll have some folks out there that will come forward. Unfortunately, there will be some, as the Member said, who will just not come into the local housing authority. If they don’t come in, then, obviously, come April 1st they face the danger of being evicted. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We would encourage all tenants out there to go in to their local LHOs and work out a repayment plan with them. The LHOs are usually very receptive to folks coming in and trying to enter into repayment plans. Then once they do that, then we would encourage them to honour their repayment plan. That way, come April 1st, they’re not in any danger of being evicted. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It’s a discussion that the Member and I have had before. I’ve said the communities do a very good job in planning for and their buildings as up to standard, if not above standard, as possible. If the Member feels that we as a department or we as a government need to come up with standards that we set that the communities have to follow, even though they’re building all their buildings according to code and according to standards, because they realize it would be beneficial on their part and some significant savings, too, if they were to design their buildings above...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The money that’s been invested in the youth in the last Assembly – and I’m sure the commitment will carry on in this Assembly – has been increased like it never has been before. I’m not sure about the exact figure the Member is quoting, but I do know there are many opportunities for youth and communities to access some of the funding. We have different pots of funding that our youth are able to access or they’re able to access through their community.

I could look up the amount of money that’s gone to the Members’ communities and have a discussion with the Members so we...