Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Housing Needs Survey that was recently completed does show that the needs have gone up, and I’ve said in this House before that our capital budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal year will use the Housing Needs Survey to determine where we allocate a lot of our capital projects.

We do have a lot of units that are vacant right now. I think at last count we had 224 across the Northwest Territories and 130 of them are under repair. We did have quite a significant investment from the federal government as far as the Housing Fund goes, so we have 130 under repair and we have...

Thank you. The federal government’s share was exactly as the Member pointed out and the balance came from the municipal government.

I will commit to providing regular updates on our plans to deal with the Housing Needs Survey. We do have a couple of things that we’re working on right now. The investment that’s being made on housing repairs I think will bring the core need down, because adequacy is one of the conditions of the needs survey. I’ll make a commitment to the Members that I’ll provide regular updates on how we’re addressing the needs survey.

That is our goal. This was a gap in the housing programs that I’ve referred to in the past. We do have some people that are in the public housing system that are paying fairly significant rent. It is our desire to get them in. We have some options that we’re exploring for that right now. It is something that’s out there.

As far as the housing for staff goes, we have had real good uptake from a lot of the community groups that are looking at providing housing for staff. There is an incentive that we provide to them if they want to see that come about. They would be the ones that would be the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The role of volunteers in our communities is critical. Every day countless volunteers contribute to local schools, health centres, recreation programs, fire departments and cultural projects. In addition to formal volunteer roles, many individuals also help a sick neighbour, counsel a troubled youth, or share and pass on important cultural knowledge to others. Most of these volunteers work away quietly, knowing that their only compensation, if they think of compensation at all, will be a heartfelt thank you and the personal knowledge that they have helped make things a...

I will ask the staff if they will contact the Member every so often and if there is some pending applications, then maybe he would be able to assist with some of those. And, myself, I will keep in close contact with the Member and keep him updated on the activity throughout the summer. Thank you.

All successful and unsuccessful applicants have been notified at this point whether they were accepted or not. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to provide my colleagues with an update on implementation activities related to the Public Service Capacity Initiative.

This initiative includes a series of programs, all intended to strengthen and support the capacity of local government administrators as well as the leadership and governance capacity of mayors, chiefs and councillors so that they can provide effective direction and support to their staff.

Municipal and Community Affairs is leading the work on this initiative in full partnership with the Department of Human Resources, as well as the...

I don’t have the information available, but I will gather the information and forward it on to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as of the 2010-11 update, we’ve had approximately 16 seniors within Tu Nedhe that have applied for and approved for different programs in the Member’s riding. I would like to point out last year, or the 2009-10 season, we had approximately 37 seniors in Tu Nedhe that were approved for one program or another. Thank you.