Tom Beaulieu

Mr. Speaker, I reviewed the budget and heard the Minister of Finance speak on all of the initiatives. I agree that there are many good initiatives in the field of wellness and many initiatives overall in the budget. I felt that, from the first budget that this government presented to us in the House here, we were quite a few million dollars apart in what we thought a good budget was and what they thought a good budget was. This last budget, I think we were so close that I think that this time, when we get back into the budget deliberations, it will be easy for us to achieve the budget that the...

I'd like to ask the Minister if he can commit to creating or developing programs that are targeted to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder that can be delivered in Corrections facilities on I suppose at this point it would be a voluntary basis, but if the Minister would commit to developing such a program. I think the money that was there that may not be there anymore would be something that could be used to develop these programs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can tell the Minster what we need in the communities I represent. I can tell the Minster that we need to address the home ownership of the seniors so that the seniors can remain in their homes so the seniors can age in place. That is the number one priority. That is the priority where people come to me almost every day. There are seniors coming to me almost every day saying, "I need my house repaired. I need my furnace done. I need this. I need that." That is where that comes from.

As far as the social housing portfolio goes, Mr. Speaker, the public...

These community development plans or community housing plans are something that could be done from a desktop. We have needs surveys. We know the lay of the communities. We have been dealing with these communities ever since the Housing Corporation was formed in 1974. We know what is there. Why are we sending people into the communities? We have 19 or 20 communities that have LHOs. We could use them.

We need to get this thing started. If it is going to take six years or five years to get all 33 communities done, by the time that we are done the last ones, the first ones would be obsolete. We...

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about an issue which is affecting more and more people in the NWT. This issue is wealth inequality, which can be described as an increasing wealth disparity that exists between our richest and poorest citizens.

Mr. Speaker, the NWT has the highest median personal income in Canada, at $50,000 per year. However, a closer look at the figures will show that the distribution of wealth among our people is not equal. Of the 22 communities that have income data, only four have an average personal income above $50,000, which means that all...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I move that the chair rise and report progress. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The NWT Housing Corporation probably has the best perspective of what is on the ground in all of the communities, comparing one community to another in order to allocate resources. Why are we waiting to have somebody agree, signing agreements, in order to do community housing plans? Planning is our responsibility. We need to do the planning. In order to do it, we don't have to just plan. We need to implement the work on the ground.

We have been talking about this for a long time. I started talking about community development plans in 2007. I asked questions in 2007 and asked this government to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation based on his Minister's statement today. I would like to ask the Minister why they are not developing housing plans for all 33 communities at once. Thank you.

Can the GNWT start working now with the elders, the remaining elders, that were from Rocher River to start developing a list of the families that were impacted as a result of the Taltson dam?

Mr. Speaker, my question was if the Minister was aware that there was an organized community on the Taltson River, but I will move on. I would like to ask the Minister, if he is aware that there was a community called Rocher River, an organized community, complete with surveyed lots, if the Minister would find a way to consult with the people that actually lived in Rocher River prior to construction of the dam?