Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess when it comes to employment in small communities, that's something I guess I want to see. I want to see opportunities there for the people who are living there. When we look at that, it's more than just saying that we're going to create jobs. We have to look at the programs that we currently have in place and the institutions. We have the BIP. We have to use that properly. We have ITI programs, SEED, et cetera. We have the BDIC. We have community futures. We have the NWT Metis Development Corporation, which isn't part of the government. There are federal...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am not sure throwing $5 million at it is going to do anything if we just keep it, try to stop it from growing, because the problem is that our communities have aging infrastructure that we have to deal with and that is what we have to throw money at. I think that we are looking at trying to reduce the debt. I think what we should be doing is trying to just maintain it so it doesn't get any bigger and then try and grow the economy, try and deal with some of the other issues. And it gives us a little time to kind of regroup and really think about the issue. Just a...

Thank you. I guess it's part of the government's mandate, it's part of our priorities, so I see it's something that we have to initiate, whether it's, you know, writing letters or contacting the Indigenous groups and saying, "Okay, we have to sit down and talk about this, and come up with something to move ahead." Because I guess, in the territories, throughout the years, I suspect at one point in time it was mostly Aboriginal First Nations people here, Indigenous peoples, and as time went on more people, non-Aboriginal people, came in, came from the South to provide us with programs and...

Thank you, Madam Chair. It's hard to believe that she's that excited about it. When we talk about 100 units, is there a dollar value to those units? Like, I look at it and I think, well, 100 units, but is it 100 houses that have 10 bedrooms to them, or is it just a dollar value? I expect that we could have more than 100 units. With the way people's lives are changing nowadays, we don't need bigger units anymore, and so I'm expecting that the Housing Corporation will look at that.

The other thing, too, is we talk about the 100 units, but there is also the opportunity for developers in the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have any notes. Well, I've got a few little notes here I jotted down, but I guess, when I look at the mandate and, like I said earlier today, as I look at where we are fiscally, we are in a tough position; but, again, this is a new government, new ideas, new hope to make the NWT, I guess I could say "great again," but we're already great, so better with what we have.

My focus, I guess, is going to be on the economy and business. I think, with the 19 Members that we have here, we've pretty well got all the issues covered off. There is interest in every area, and...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I agree. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I agree. The communities have to do something themselves. We have been doing the same thing, the same way, for years. We have to reinvent ourselves somehow. I guess I think about Hay River, and I look at the bylaws, and I look at all that. People are looking for tiny homes, yet we say you have to build a house a certain size on the lot. Well, times are changing, and we have to make those changes. If we can do that, sometimes if you can maybe reduce the cost a bit, if that brings more people into the North, that's another $30-some-thousand for us. Those are the types of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will just be brief here on this. In the regions, we do have some regional authority there right now. Some of it is good, but the problem is that it depends on who the person is who has that authority. A lot of times, it lacks fairness. We see that. I see it in my community, and I suspect others see it in their communities, as well. I think that, when we look at devolving some of this, we should come up with something and put something in place so that we can monitor that. One way to monitor is that people come to us as MLAs and complain, but there has got to be...

This one, you can just say yes or no. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm kind of confused here, now. We're talking about 100 units. Is that 100 units based on developing and receiving funds through Indigenous groups, as well, or is that just 100 units based on GNWT dollars; just on GNWT dollars, yes or no?

Thank you, Madam Chair. With respect to if we decide to, I guess, sell off houses in a community, will there be a house there to replace that one? Will it stay in that community? Thank you.