Robert C. McLeod

As I said earlier, MACA is doing all it can and will continue and commit to working with the communities to identify their equipment and come up with any type of plan that they can. This is the early stage of the New Deal, and MACA is always willing help the communities come up with a plan until they’re to a point where the capacity is there to take care of all this type of information themselves.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As part of the New Deal the authority for capital infrastructure was transferred over to the communities. Along with that transfer came the responsibility for maintaining a lot of the equipment they have. Having said that, MACA does work with the community governments to establish preventative maintenance plans to ensure that equipment lasts for a while. There are also the community works advisers in each regional office to assist the communities in coming up with these plans.

Mr. Speaker, a priority of the 16th Legislative Assembly is to work with families, communities and schools to improve the physical and mental well-being of our youth. An investment in the development of one of our most important resources, our youth, will help us achieve that objective.

The Youth Secretariat, within Municipal and Community Affairs, continues to promote healthy choices and lifestyles by improving youth programming in the Northwest Territories. Two new youth officer positions have been created in regional centres to provide support for all NWT communities and improve our ability...

One of the things I do not intend to do very much is take questions on notice. I will commit to be briefed on a lot of the material that Members are bringing forward to me, including the questions brought forward by the Member for Nahendeh. I will get briefed on it, and like I said, I will be in a much better position to give a very good answer.

I would have to get more clarity on the Member’s comments on how we allocate the units. We certainly feel that our current system is fair. We base it on core need, and we try to balance the investment between public housing and home ownership. However, I would certainly need to have more discussion to fully understand where he would like us to embark with the new allocation.

We’ve had a community needs survey completed and presented in 2004. That was shared with Members of this House and the general public. We also had in 2006 a housing data census. The next community housing needs will be done in 2009. Mr. Speaker, that’s the information we use to allocate our budget, based on this information.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I haven’t been briefed on that particular issue yet, but I will let the Member know that I will get a briefing on it, and I will be in a better position to answer his question.

I’m pleased to sit down with the Member and discuss the concept he’s presenting. We do currently provide housing allocations and housing budgets based on core needs, and we look at the national average. We also look at what is the core need in each community. I fully recognize that the two communities that the Member represents are above the core need average, so I would be pleased to sit down and talk to him about it.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We just went through an exercise and review and a whole program change to look at our programs to see how well they are delivered and how well the communities understand the criteria and what is being provided. We reduced our programs to four programs. We think they’ve been targeted to a wide range of the population of the Northwest Territories.

The Member has indicated in his statement that one size certainly doesn’t fit all, and we agree. We’ve got programs that are targeted to low income families and communities. We have targeted programs for families who want to own...

Well, I will be here as much as possible. I will try and get a meeting lined up at the earliest convenience, because it really is just a short trip out to Dettah — 30 minutes, I think, one way. I’ll try. I’ll do what I can to make sure these meetings happen immediately. Thank you.