Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the comments by the Minister, but if we have over-expended in this particular item on our budget roughly the same amount two years running, I’d like to know from the Minister -- and I appreciate that we’re going to be making some plans to try and reduce the costs -- why would we not set our budget for the amount that we expect we’re going to incur? I know our budget keeps expanding, but we’ve overspent by about $3 million for two years running now, so in the next 2011-12 budget can I expect that we’re going to see a realistic figure for medical travel? Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I certainly look forward to seeing that Shelter Policy. If it is going to include the detail to which the Minister is referring, then it will be a valuable document and it will hopefully remove many of the roadblocks that our residents are encountering in regards to their housing.

I would like to ask the Minister if he can tell me when that Shelter Policy in all its detail will be available. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. The Minister mentions the Shelter Policy that’s being developed. I also mentioned in my statement that there were two commitments from the Minister in the last eight months or so. One was to look at rent scales and one was to look at programs. I don’t hear in the answer today, and I didn’t hear in the answers from previous Hansard, that the Housing Corporation is going to look at everything with the Housing Corporation, polices, procedures, guidelines, everything that affects how housing is given out, how it is managed and administered. Could I get from the Minister...

It’s my pleasure today to recognize Mr. Jim White, who is representing the Yellowknife Housing Authority. We all have housing in our Yellowknife ridings, so I know he works on our behalf. I’d like to thank him for that.

Following up on your welcome of Mr. Whitford, I’d like to say it’s good to see you here again.

I lied. I said I had one last question but I do have another one.

Quite often I’ve heard Members talking about the practice of putting out a tender for housing units and it’s put out as supply, ship and erect. I gather that has quite an impact on smaller communities in that businesses within the smaller community cannot do that whole contract of supply, ship and erect. So has the Housing Corporation changed their policy of tendering housing projects so that they could be split into possibly supply and ship and then a second contract for just the erection of the units?

And the other project, where is it located?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a couple of questions with regard to the housing capital for Yellowknife. I note that there’s a multi-unit building purchase and then there’s a 12-unit retrofit. I wonder if I could know how many units, first of all, are in that replacement for the multi-unit purchase and the location of that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, will be supporting this motion.

I spoke in my Member’s statement about the need for an evaluation of policies and procedures and programs within the Housing Corporation. If I understood the Member correctly, he stated that it will be another year before we get the completion of a Shelter Policy which should be all-encompassing.

I don’t believe that we need to wait a year before this particular policy change can take effect. I believe it was mentioned by my colleague Mr. Bromley that this is a change that is relatively easily done. I don’t believe that it needs to...

Mr. Speaker, we have heard many comments from Members, as we have gone through our statements and questions today, about things that are not working relative to the way the Housing Corporation operates and the relationships between the corporation and the people that are in housing, things like very large arrears, things like housing suitability in terms of number of bedrooms where you don’t have three bedrooms when you get your kids back. It doesn’t sound to me like a Shelter Policy is going to encompass the actual on-the-ground management of some of these guidelines. Could I get a better...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not surprisingly, my questions are for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, and you can let the Minister know that he’s almost done.

I mentioned in my Member’s statement the Auditor General’s report, and in particular, item number 59 from that report is a recommendation that states that the corporation should finalize its strategic plan as soon as possible. It goes on to say that part of the plan should be: “incorporate all the various elements of housing into a comprehensive northern Housing Strategy.” The management’s response did not indicate that a...