Robert C. McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the Member that all Housing homes that are built are inspected by the Housing Corporation and are signed before we take responsibility for these units. When we get the unit from the builder, there is usually a warranty that comes with these units. I can assure the Member that we just don’t take the keys and walk in without the proper inspections. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can’t wait for the next episode of Holmes on Homes when he credits Mr. Hawkins with some of the information that he shared with him.

Mr. Speaker, real estate sales are regulated under the Real Estate Licensing Act and there really is no provision in there right now for mandating a warranty on homes. With so little time left in this Assembly, I am not sure we would be able to do it within the life of this Assembly. But if it is something that the Member feels strongly enough about, we could put it in a transition document for the 17th Legislative Assembly to consider. I...

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we are always looking at new technology that is out there and see how we can incorporate that into some of the design of the houses that we have. I still believe that you can have a house using regular wood frame and material, that as long as you maintain the unit properly and build using moisture-resistant standards, you can still have a fairly mould-free unit. We have to also understand that, in the climate that we operate in, it is awfully expensive and it is not as easily accessible as a place like Toronto where there are millions of people and thousands of places...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The standards that we use today are basically mould-free construction. There is moisture-resistant gyproc that is used in the washrooms, and all the proper ventilation that is needed. When they move into a brand new house, they can be assured that it is a mould-free unit and if they continue to maintain the unit as it is supposed to be, it will always be mould-free. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I can explore that, but being the most expensive purchase someone will ever make in their life, they would take the necessary precautions to make sure they have somebody go and inspect the unit before they buy it, and most reputable and good builders will have a warranty on their product because they are quite comfortable. You look at a lot of the builders we have here in the Northwest Territories. They all live here amongst us. It is to their benefit to have a good product that they warranty, because you may run into them and you would have them come and fix the unit or anything...

Mr. Speaker, I will ask the department to have a look at the different types of construction and some of his concerns that the Member had raised.

I just want to point out again that the construction that we use nowadays are construction standards that are acceptable if the units are maintained properly. There are lots of different reasons you can have mould. We can get into that discussion today or I can share them with the Member, but part of the responsibility is on the builder, obviously, and some of the responsibility, again, is back on the tenant. I will ask the department to have a look...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to see Mike Holmes building a house in Sachs Harbour at 40 below. Then he will see blue wood.

---Laughter

Actually, I don’t know what BluWood is. I will find out and I will get back to the Member and will share that information with him and all other Members. I can assure the Member that...(inaudible)... construction practices, if we’re able to incorporate them into our designs. Thank you.

I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome a constituent from Inuvik Twin Lakes, Ms. Val Robertson. Welcome.

We will consider that. We also have to be sure that as far as community searches go, if we get a couple of applications for reimbursement from the community, then it’s unfair to one group or the other if we approve one or the other. So I would have to review the whole situation and see exactly what happened in the situation in Fort Liard and I’ll communicate with the Member and then hopefully we can get a resolution out of this. Thank you.

The contribution funding is typically provided for a community-organized search of a prolonged length and duration, and the public search by the RCMP has concluded and the community government has incurred expenses related to the community-organized search. However, we did have, I believe, a couple of requests. I’m not quite sure of the amount of the expenses. I don’t think I’ve seen that number personally yet. So I think it was one of the reasons that it was declined, because we had had a couple of requests come from the community of Fort Liard. Thank you.