Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve heard already today from other Members how much housing in the NWT is in difficulty. There are lots of problems: inconsistent application of guidelines, policies which are fine in theory but do not work in reality, people living rent free who have the means to pay, people quitting good jobs so their income stays down and their rent stays at a workable level, people have accumulated huge arrears because their rent assessments are incorrect or unadjusted, people denied public housing when vacant homes exist in the community, people unable to access adequate housing...

I guess I heard the Minister say that we will do that. Is there a timeline on this? I’ve heard this for quite a while. I would have thought that if the Housing Corporation was going to do it, it would have been something they would have considered and have started already. When might we be able to see these contracts split into two parts?

Just one last question, I guess. Part of my riding includes Sissons Court, which has quite a number of public housing units. I wonder if the Minister could advise the status of those units in terms of their repair or lack of repair, basically an evaluation of their need for how good are they. Do they need repairs? When are they likely to be renovated and retrofitted?

I appreciate the information. I would like to know, if I could, where in the city these two projects will be located.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also will be voting in favour of this motion and I have heard Members mention this idea many times in committee and the House, or in any number of meetings. I feel, like the maximum rental rate policy, this particular policy is also debilitating and it also is a policy which does not enable our residents. We want our residents to be confident, we want them to lead productive lives. We want them to contribute to our communities, but this policy doesn’t help them do that. Our residents can’t do that if the effect of housing guidelines such as this one is to keep our...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m really pleased to be able to make some remarks with regard to the Child and Family Services Act Review committee report. It was very exciting to me to be part of this process and I think that the end result is a very valid one and I think it’s an excellent, excellent result.

It was a year, pretty much, from start to finish for the motion to get through the House until we submitted the report. It was almost exactly a year and it was an exhaustive process, it was a very comprehensive process and I think the end result shows that it was well worth the efforts on behalf of...

I hate to tell the Minister I told you so, but I’m afraid I have to because that certainly was mentioned by Members on this side of the House before the amendments to the Commissioner’s Land Act came into force, that we really ought to have security for things such as these.

I’d like to know if the Minister could advise if we do find that there’s some value, if we do find that we can get somebody to remove these buildings and equipment for us, how much is that going to cost us. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In July of this year I heard a news report about the difficulties surrounding the cleanup of the old Treminco mine site outside of Yellowknife. I have some questions today for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs under whose watch this falls.

The gist of the news report was that Treminco had gone bankrupt and that our government could end up paying completely for the cost to clean up the site. This was after the government had auctioned off the buildings and equipment that were out at the mine site in order to try and defray the cost of cleanup. Contractors...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for his comments and I appreciate that he’s saying it’s going to be at minimal cost to us as a government. We’ve already incurred some costs; we’re going to incur more, from the sounds of things. I guess I would like to know from the Minister that should we not find a company who can remove these buildings for us, the bottom line is, is the government on the hook to pay for the cleanup of this particular mine site? Thank you.