Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, this would be a great project to tuck under the belt of this Premier walking out the door and saying we accomplished some good stuff in the term of this Assembly. So, Mr. Speaker, will the Premier say today he will make sure this building is in the hands of the Yellowknife Housing Authority by the end of next week so we can get people into that building like we told them we would six months ago when we cut the ribbon in early March or in that period? Will he commit to doing that to make sure we start having people move into adequate housing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on the issues I was advocating many years ago was about the disabled barrier for disabled housing unit, and Minister Krutko, at the time when he was Housing Minister, initiated the project and just recently, in the spring, the new Minister of Housing, Minister Handley, had helped cut the ribbon in this facility. But, Mr. Speaker, the spring is long since past. We are bulldozing almost into the fall here and winter will be long gone. When will this facility be open? My direct question to the Minister of Housing is, when will this brand new barrier-free...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure where the Minister is getting his briefing notes, but I did check the land and, by the way, I got the information from your department. So you can make all the funny jokes you want; this is from your office. So, Mr. Speaker, in February 2007, the city expressed interest in reviewing options for purchasing the Con and the Rycon trailer courts. In July 2007, the city passed a motion to acquire the common areas of the trailer court and recommended MACA should offer fee-simple title to the existing leaseholders to them directly. So where is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I was reading my Member’s statement and I was starting to wonder, is the MACA department standing in the way of accessible lots and, therefore, affordable housing here in the city of Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, I have to try to figure out why the Minister of MACA has refused to allow the application to come forward by the City of Yellowknife to go to the public process, the interim measures agreement. So, Mr. Speaker, maybe the Minister can help explain to this House and to the City of Yellowknife where the transparent process has gone and why he refused...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When the Minister talks about it being a good investment, I wouldn’t argue that in any way. Has the department done any investment on their own to find out how long we keep some of these people that we provide student loans to? The reason I ask that is because I think it’s fabulous to work at bringing everyone’s education up and that works for society as a whole. I am just curious; once somebody takes out a student loan, they get their schooling paid for and they come back and get their years remissed, if it’s three or four years, do they say see you later? Do we ever...

Mr. Speaker, I wasn’t going to bother with the last question, but because of the Minister’s fine answer about we are ahead of schedule, well, maybe the Minister should revisit his briefing notes on this because it was supposed to open a year ago because it was planned to open and finish in October of last year. So maybe instead of his notes saying 2007, it actually says 2006. So the fact is the building is almost a year late from when it was originally supposed to open. People who are in this need said, well, it’s okay; we can wait. Well, March rolled around four or five months later and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I haven’t asked him this week, but it was just over a week ago they still didn’t even have the building in their possession to be screening applications. So is the Minister really sure that the building is in their possession so they can be screening applications in order to allow people to move into this barrier-free building that was designed for seniors and people with disabilities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I think the Minister just accurately coined out the problem because the fact is, he’s come up with a new process for land that’s already been requested and already been approved because, Mr. Speaker, it wasn’t that long ago that the City of Yellowknife applied for that area of land and it was okay because it went through the IMA, no applications came in from a third party interest to stop it. So the fact is, it was already heading over to the side of the City of Yellowknife with no problem, but yet the MACA Minister slows it down. It’s still going to the same...

Well, Mr. Speaker, the land request that came in a couple of years ago was cut in half by this department and once they came up with an agreement with the local folks, the aboriginal folks, they could have just, therefore, transferred the rest of it. But, no, they shelved it and sent it back and said apply some other day. Mr. Speaker, at the City of Yellowknife, the land cupboard is bare. They do not have lots available for affordable housing, Mr. Speaker. It is a very bare cupboard, but it’s just not that long ago we gave MACA six more positions to deal with land transfers specifically....

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT has an abundance of many things, one of which is land. What we don’t have is an abundance of affordable lots to build houses on, Mr. Speaker. I would like to discuss an issue with regard to the City of Yellowknife’s application for land and the process involved.

The City of Yellowknife applied for a transfer in February 2006, for six parcels of land, and all the land, with the exception of two properties, have been transferred. A year or more later, Mr. Speaker, in 2007, the city’s land application was returned, with MACA saying that they do not agree with...