Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe the Minister is only partially correct. He is correct and I give him credit and I give the government credit in saying that the YK Health and Department of Health and Social Services has given extra money to Aven Manor so that they could take care of seniors with dementia, which I would argue is their job, but thank you very much for giving that money.

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Mr. Speaker, I would also say that YACCS is not looking for capital funding. YACCS is proposing that they will go out to the private market to borrow the money to build this facility...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the Minister of Health and Social Services and it’s further to my Member’s statement. Mr. Speaker, I believe it is very clear that the YACCS, which stands for Yellowknife Association of Concerned Citizens for Seniors, have done all the work. They have the vision in place, they have plans in place, they have a plan for the Aven Manor, they have a plan for Aven seniors’ independent courts and their plan is like a domino or puzzle. One has to work in order for the rest of the pieces to fit, and they have a long-term plan to have...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak today about the needs for senior housing in Yellowknife, and the need for the Department of Health and Social Services and the NWT Housing Corporation to partner strongly in meeting the objectives of the YACCS in Yellowknife who's excellent work in this area.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I need to know where the 59 percent that stayed in the North are located. Are they all in the communities, or is any of it in Yellowknife? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate his superfluous statement and principle about benefiting everybody in the North, but the Minister did not answer my question. I need to know who got the benefit of BIP. The Minister just indicated earlier that he reinstated BIP for subcontractors. I want to know who those businesses are or at least what work they performed.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to follow up on the questions that I had for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation earlier. Mr. Speaker, if I understood him correctly, he indicated that in fact the Housing Corporation lifted the BIP waiver. The waiver that they fought so hard for; they being Mr. McLeod and Mr. Bell. They told us the world will end if they didn’t get it this way, now the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation for the first time just now enlightened us that he, in fact, lifted that waiver for the subcontractors. To the same question, in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It never fails to amaze me how we get these morsels of information in the midst of question and answer period, because it never ever was told to me that BIP was reinstated. How nice to find this out as a surprise at the end of October. Anyway, Mr. Speaker, I think there are ample reasons to suggest that the Minister should really look into other modes of providing this housing, because this mobile home idea is not working. If they can’t even make it off the barge, I really think it is about time the Minister revisit this. Will the Minister revisit this? Thank you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It appears that the Minister is picking out only one of the problems. He said yesterday in Hansard, page 2196, and I quote, “we did have some logistical problems by way of transportation, barging, looking at sites for these units, gravel was a problem…and power hookup.” Mr. Speaker, I say that they had problems at every corner and every aspect. I have to ask the question, this decision was made in the previous Assembly. This was not a surprise. The Housing Corporation had at least two years to prepare for this. If they can’t figure out how to hook up power, how...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to take a few minutes to recognize and honour those in our neighbourhoods and communities who are victims of sexual abuse and who are suffering silently. I would especially like to honour the stories of those who are victimized as children and let them know we, as a society, demand and accept nothing less than zero tolerance against any kind of violence, especially when it comes to sexual violence or violence of any kind against our young and innocent children.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe there is any task more important for people who...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for correcting those errors. I have two sets of written questions. The first one is to the Honourable David Krutko, Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

How much money was budgeted and has been spent out of the budget approved for the market housing initiative as of October 15, 2004?

Describe the work along with the dollar amounts for which the Business Incentive Policy was waived and for which the BIP was applied in this initiative, respectively.