Robert C. McLeod

I’d be willing to provide Members with a framework for a plan. Obviously, we’d have to be looking at things like managing our portfolio a lot better, extending the life of the units we have on the ground.

Another part of the plan would be arrears collection. We have approximately $23 million in arrears across the Northwest Territories and that would go a long way in helping to alleviate some of the loss of revenue we have from CMHC.

We are working with our colleagues in Nunavut and the Yukon to approach the federal government, CMHC, and let them know the effect the funding will have on the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to welcome into the gallery a constituent of Inuvik Twin Lakes who also happens to be the mayor of Inuvik, Mr. Denny Rodgers. Welcome.

We do have a process in place. It may not be the one that the Member likes, but there is a process in place, it’s a work in progress.

I’ve been quite encouraged by the number of people that are coming forward to work out repayment plans, because they understand that they need to deal with their arrears, it affects their ability to access Housing Corporation programs and we are looking at reporting to a collection agency and people are getting evicted and terminated for not dealing with their arrears. So we do have a process in place, it’s been in place for a while. It’s one that does have some...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to think the motivation for these folks is to be able to stay in their own homes. It is something that we are working on. I have told the Member that this is an option we are seriously looking at.

Part of the problem, as we all know in this Assembly and the Assemblies before, the collection of arrears becomes very politically sensitive. Everybody says you should collect the arrears and then when you try to put the process in place to collect on arrears, all the Members start getting phone calls. So it’s one that we are pursuing. I can assure the Member that it’s not...

This is a privately held condominium. We would do what we can to assist whenever possible, wherever possible, and if it is possible. First of all, we have to hope that we never get to that situation, because it would be unfortunate for the residents of Northland Condominium Corporation, who is facing a huge infrastructure crisis. I appreciate the Member’s comments about the 2.6 percent population, but still it’s a privately held condominium corporation.

Having said that, we still as a community, and I mean the Northwest Territories, have to do what we can to assist them through tough times if...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Municipal and Community Affairs did support the city in applying for the federal infrastructure Green Fund. As far as we know, we’re still waiting for word back on the application. Minister Bob McLeod, when he went down to Ottawa, had an opportunity to reinforce our support for the city’s application to access funds out of the Green Fund. As well, Minister of infrastructure Michael McLeod sent a letter off to Ottawa again reinforcing our support for the city’s application.

I’d like to remind the Member that this is still a draft. We’re still consulting. As far as costs, we won’t have an idea of what the costs may be until after the whole consultation process is done and the report is then brought to the Minister for his review, my review, then to see if any further consultation is required. We’ll take the necessary steps to ensure that all the voices are heard, as far as this goes. I can assure the Member that we’re in a draft process right now and we don’t have an idea of what the potential costs might be.

Before I do that I would like to commit to the Member that I will start the dialogue with the leadership in Lutselk’e and then have discussions with the housing authority and the Lutselk’e Dene First Nation on some of the talks that we’ve had. Then once that’s completed, we’ll see where we go from there. If there’s a need for staff to have further discussion, then I’ll commit to the Member that I’d be willing to direct them to do that.

It was an interesting meeting we had in Fort Resolution, a very good meeting we had with the seniors in Our Great Elders Facility. They did raise the concern about the usage of that facility. I had a preliminary discussion with the Minister of Health and Social Services upon my return. The Housing Corporation do own the infrastructure and there is some concern in the community that this infrastructure is not being used as well as it should be. I’ve had some discussions to talk to the appropriate parties about how we can best make use of the whole facility. If that includes the four seniors...

I can assure the Member and ministry out there that it would not be my intent as Minister of WSCC to proceed with the regulations until all stakeholders have had an opportunity to have one last comment on it. Then as far as the financial part of it, those would need to be worked out. I can assure the Member that this is not something we will just implement without seeking feedback.