Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation continues to work with the local housing organizations (LHOs) in their rent collection efforts under the Public Housing Program. This work is intended to increase collection of rent and rental arrears. These funds are reinvested in community housing.

Mr. Speaker, the success of the Public Housing Program depends on a partnership between the Housing Corporation, LHOs and tenants. If each does their part, it contributes to the sustainability of the program and reduces the cost of living to Northwest Territories residents and it...

We’ll play a secondary role and the Community of Lutselk’e will play the lead role as they have the funding to allocate to applying dust suppressant to their road. We’ll be more than happy to work with the community and identify the best ways possible to make sure they get their roads done.

With the community’s invitation, we’d be glad to go in there and provide them with some technical advice and assist them in seeing how they can best budget their money for applying dust suppressant.

As part of our Shelter Policy review that we briefed committee on the other day, we had made a commitment to engage all the communities. I actually just had a meeting this morning with staff members and it is their intent to have regional meetings and meet with as many of the leadership in the communities as possible to get their input as to the best way to deliver housing in their communities and what improvements we can make.

We take our work very seriously and we want to make sure that we give everybody an opportunity across the NWT to engage with us so we’re not faced with situations like...

I’ve been up to Paulatuk, I’ve heard their concerns. The concerns I heard there weren’t so much tied to arrears as to the operation of the LHO. I can tell the Member and I think he realizes, that one of our senior management from headquarters has committed to going to Paulatuk and working with the folks up in the Member’s riding.

Again, I say, Mr. Speaker, the eviction process, when we get to the eviction process, that’s basically the last straw. They’ve been given every opportunity for time to enter into repayment plans and when we get to this stage that we’re at now it’s because they haven’t...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 8, An Act to Amend the Local Authorities Elections Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. I think in the communities that have put up a youth centre like Fort Resolution, I don’t think those infrastructure projects will go to waste. I think the communities themselves have the ability, through their O and M budgeting process, to allocate funds as they see fit, and most of the communities would have recreation workers.

As a department, as a government, we also provide $825,000 to all the communities across the Northwest Territories for recreation purposes. That’s on top of the O and M monies that we give the communities. So the community itself would have the ability to...

Thank you. I do agree that a solid investment in the youth will alleviate a lot of the issues that the Member has raised. Again, I think I pointed out before, it’s one of the reasons, as Members of this 16th Assembly, we’ve determined that the youth are a very important investment, and I think we’ve proven that with the amount of money that we’ve put into youth in the last four years. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories recognizes that shelter is fundamental to the overall long-term well-being of the Northwest Territories residents and is a major factor in creating sustainable, vibrant, safe communities, one of the priorities of the Legislative Assembly.

The GNWT continues to focus on ensuring, where appropriate and necessary, that there is sufficient supply of affordable, adequate and suitable housing to meet the housing needs of NWT residents. To guide housing activities that support this mandate, the GNWT has undertaken a Shelter Policy...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 19, Cost of Credit Disclosure Act, be read for the first time.