Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Nothing further.

That’s fine. As far as page 5-39 under DIAND, we have two commitments for Sahtu and the Gwich’in and their land claim issues for $4,000 each, total $8,000. Could the Minister explain our role in those two?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to continue talking about the concerns of arrears with my favourite Housing Minister, the Honourable David Krutko. Mr. Speaker, if a person in market housing is being kicked out because they can’t afford to live there anymore, and obviously they owe arrears because that is what we are talking about, and they owe arrears so they can’t be put on the list, as the Minister clearly says, then where do they go if they are being kicked out of market housing and they can’t get on the list for social housing? Where do they go? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would this Minister look into that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are still missing the point on this issue, Mr. Speaker. I have a constituent out there who is in public housing right now. I can tell you if he wasn’t in public housing, his arrears as they were a few months ago, which were $2,000 or $3,000…This is a single guy with four kids and I can’t imagine him paying market rent forever. When he qualifies for public housing, he wouldn’t get in on this system. So how would he be able to afford to get into public housing if he has to pay his arrears? I think the policy is truly discriminating…

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am still very concerned with this issue because I feel we are discriminating against those who are in most need. We are discriminating against them because they owe some money. I want them to pay the money back, but if they are prime candidates for social housing, they obviously are not prime candidates for market rent. Mr. Speaker, if they can’t pay market rent and we are forcing them to pay market rent, how are we ever going to get our arrears back? It’s perplexing. It’s like trying to push a rope. We are not going to get the money back. What we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time, I, too, wish to express my condolences to the fallen RCMP and their families. Mr. Speaker, it’s not too much to ask, as this Assembly has done, to take a moment in silence as we truly express our concern for what has happened.

Mr. Speaker, there is no way I can express in such a way to say the RCMP are truly a pillar in our communities. There is a connection in every way. They represent role models to the young, they keep us safe at night, and they protect our families.

Mr. Speaker, I will say in closing that the RCMP truly are a symbol of Canada in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am trying to avoid names of places, but it may make it simpler. Mr. Speaker, you rent out of one of Urbco’s Garden Apartments right now in the public market and you are being kicked out of that. Maybe in the past, maybe you were from Fort McPherson, for example, just to pick a place, and you were in social housing. You had arrears but you moved to the city and you got an apartment in Urbco, like I said. But Urbco has now kicked you out, like I said, and you can’t go to social housing and you can’t qualify. Would the Minister look into making this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister was absolutely right on his answer, but that was not the answer to the question I was asking. I am saying that you are in market housing, you are renting from the private industry and you are being kicked out because you can’t afford to live there anymore and you are not paying your costs. So you are in private housing, not public housing, not social housing owned by the authorities. I am talking about private housing, you are being kicked out. In the past, you owed arrears to the Housing Corporation. This is what I am talking about; you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s not a question of not being fair. No one is suggesting that anyone needs to jump ahead of the queue. There is a priority system that they go forward with. We can’t even get them on the list to get them in the priority system. So, Mr. Speaker, that’s the question I need the Minister to answer. Will he look at the system to make sure we can get them on that list? If they are in desperate need, they need to be on that list. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.