Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that's not good news. Mr. Chair, I guess I often wondered because I don't get into the bills and so on, but I often wondered why so many people were having such a difficult time maintaining their power account, but it's so expensive in the small communities that it's difficult for the people to afford power. I felt that a user pay of a certain amount, like a flat rate for all user use, and I don't know, whether it be nine cents and whatever it was heading to was sufficient to govern the people to make sure that they are reducing their power usage, but it is not...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I wonder if the Minister could advise the House now of what the user pay is. I'll be a little bit more specific. I think it started at three cents per kilowatt hour for the tenants and then it went to six. I don't know where it's gotten from there. I wonder if the Minister could just give me a little history lesson on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, committee would like to consider Tabled Document 63-18(3), Main Estimates 2018-2019, with NWT Housing Corporation and Legislative Assembly as items under consideration. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I'd like to ask the Minister if there are other departments involved in trying to address the homelessness issue. As I see it, a big part of the homelessness issue is lack of employment. I'd like to know if there's any work that's being done to try to get people employed so they can find their own homes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I talked about the homelessness report done by the City of Yellowknife. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for Homelessness if there has been any progress made. The report was released in the spring of last year. From then until now, what progress has been made to address some of the issues in that report? Thank you.

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about homelessness in the NWT. Last year the City of Yellowknife released a comprehensive strategy paper titled "Yellowknife's 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness." The plan contains many facts and figures regarding chronic homelessness issues that are facing all of the NWT, not only Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight some of these key findings in the 70-page city plan, which includes topics such as migration, urbanization, rural homelessness, housing market trends, and housing needs, among others.

Mr. Speaker, the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I noticed that, under the transitional rent supp, there was a certain amount used at one point and then the budget was brought to a certain level. Has the Minister been able to get all of this money out the door? Is this budget fully utilized in the Territorial Rent Supplement Program? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I wonder if the Minister could advise the House if the homelessness assistance fund is fully utilized? Same page, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we shouldn't be compared to other jurisdictions at all. There are jurisdictions where it is common, right across entire provinces, to have 70 per cent employment rates across the provinces. In addition to that, the social housing program is designed for divestment, and it is targeted to divesting in the provinces, which is easy to do. There are many jobs down there. People are able to take over their public housing.

This government is initially trying to divest some units right now, 60 units, in fact, and now we are going to make it even more difficult for...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, is the vice president saying that the tenants will be paying their full power, full residential rates, as all living in residences? Does that mean they're paying their power from now moving forward as of 2018-2019? Thank you. Mr. Chair.