Tom Beaulieu

Mr. Chairman, I move to report progress.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, that's good there's more crews, more efficient crews. However, the process of eliminating positions, whether they be casuals or not, at some point there are two less jobs in communities where there are two crews and there's one less job in a community where there is one crew. We are going through an exercise here at this point where we are talking about some half-time positions in Yellowknife, as an example. Some part-time positions in various communities across the NWT. We've been talking lots about the employment rates in small communities. Above all...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, on the waste reduction line, there is no more money left in there. Could I get an explanation as to where it was picked up? Mr. Chairman, I'm asking on the general page. I guess the plan is to go back to the general page, ask more questions? Okay. I will then defer my questions until we get back to the general page in this section.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have to change the way we do business. I was really struck the other day when I heard what some of the current Ministers said about budget years ago when they were Regular Members. They wanted to change the way we do business. I know they are honourable and determined people and they must have tried to change the way we do business in government.

Mr. Speaker, we have now spent months reviewing business plans, working on a budget we are considering in the House. We all had input into it. Even if we don't like it all, we feel we contributed to things that...

Mr. Speaker, recognizing that the Housing Corporation has a number of programs to address the housing needs across the communities, I believe there are four main home ownership programs. There’s market housing initiatives. There are other staff housing initiatives and of course, public housing also. I’d like to know if within the point when the Minister is doing the community housing development plans, if there’s any contemplation that perhaps it could change the programs and change the way they try to address core need at the community level. Thank you.

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister, NWT Housing Corporation, following my Member’s statement. I’d like to ask if the Minister feels that the Housing Corporation has an effective communications plan for the people that they serve, specifically, the public housing clients at this point. I hear a lot of people come to me and indicate that it was difficult for them to report their income and they’re having trouble with that because they would pay 30 per cent of their gross income towards rent. I know that hasn’t been the case for quite a few years that the maximum rent is...

Marci cho. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, everybody's talking about the houses on this side here with the Housing Minister. We're going to be asking the Minister of Housing. I too will continue with the NWT Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, the NWT Housing Corporation has the ability to touch on every aspect of our mandate. It can impact the economy by providing communities with local housing projects that will see five or six people in the communities trained and working on renovating homes. These projects can also look at employing the 18-to-30-year-old group as youth employment rates are very...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I don't know where the positions went to so I don't know if we're better off. I don't know if the positions were taken out of communities that had low employment rates and put in the larger centres that have more crews. Larger centres that have more than four crews that could within themselves create… If they had 20 firefighters, for example, they could easily go from four crews to five crews without any impact. Or if there's three crews and there's more people needed they'd have to come from some community. All I know is that the impact is felt by...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, just wanted to dig a little deeper into the reconfiguration of the fire crews and the loss of positions in the communities. I notice that there's still the same amount of firefighters and I knew that; the Minister had advised me of that. I'm wondering what process was used to determine that some communities would lose positions.

I didn't hear that very last part of the response. I'll continue on with my questions. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain why positions were cut from small communities where seasonal and casual employees have no other options to find employment in the small communities?