Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is one of those things I struggle to understand: budgets and the Housing Corporation budget. If we are required to amortize $14 million in assets, are we not then required to spend $14 million in the capital budget? However, I note that this capital budget is not $14 million. Can I get an explanation for why that is? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe we have a very large wait list. We have a lot of housing units. I believe we don't own a lot of them. I would like to build capital such that we can have GNWT-owned housing units in Yellowknife. Is the Minister willing to bring the rented units or the amount of units that we don't own into GNWT ownership in the Housing Corporation? Thank you, Madam Chair.

This gets to my entire point, Madam Chair. I'm looking at a capital budget, which the Housing Corporation goes and creates, which is undeniably based on how much it has to pay the authorities, how many staff the authorities have, how much staff it has, because it all comes out of one other O and M budget. Perhaps the Minister can look into that and come back with options of corporate restructuring. How many public housing units do we have in Yellowknife, and what is the current wait list in wait list in Yellowknife, Madam Chair?

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Minister is also the Minister responsible for Homelessness. Perhaps a bad name, Minister responsible for ending homelessness is the goal here. You have no staff presently for that title. You just have an arms-length corporation. Is the Minister willing to look into getting herself some staff for ending homelessness?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want the Minister to caution that they are not two departments: one is an arms-length corporation; the other is a department. Is the Minister willing to have a conversation with the Premier and bring back some options to Regular Members on corporate restructuring for how we fund housing in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Madam Chair.

I think that was a yes. I'm glad to hear that, and I'm glad to hear we are working with our Indigenous governments. Really, at the end of the day, what I am looking for is to give the vast majority of the land in Yellowknife North back to the Akaitcho and to keep a few leases in fee simple where my residents currently live. Can the Minister write to Akaitcho on what they would require to agree to land disposition of those leases?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my statement today, I spoke about electoral reform, but I'll get to reforming democracy if I can get a few yesses out of the Department of Lands first. My question for the Minister of Lands is: will he develop land use area regulations for the Ingraham Trail? Perhaps I can get agreement that this work can be part of phase 2 of the Public Land Act and regulations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know the GNWT everywhere and all of our departments, and all of our arms-length ones have a massive infrastructure deficit. However, the GNWT has a financial responsibility policy that sets out how much can go into capital and covered by O and M, part of that is that the amortization has to be spent and that's linked to not letting our deferred maintenance get too out of control. When I see that we have a $40-million deficit in bringing our current stock up to where it should be, it seems like those numbers have got out of sync. Is the Housing Corporation required to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. We had a bit of a conversation about capital management and I believe I heard, I forgot the put the figure down, but a very significant deficit, $40 million a year essentially, for the Housing Corporation to manage its stock. Is the Housing Corporation required to amortize its assets such that it is required to spend a certain amount in its capital budget every year, and if so, what is that amount? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Can I get the wait list, and can I get how many of those public housing units we own as opposed to rent? Thank you, Madam Chair.