Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there’s an old saying that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But I think with this ECE housing transfer issue, they are trying to invent that to say if it ain’t broke, let’s break it.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, we brought motions forward recently, asking Housing to take the ability to do the assessments for the tenants back from ECE because, Mr. Speaker, we have been hearing for months now that this is just not working. I don’t know what it’s going to take for the department to realize it’s not working, that they should transfer the money back to the Housing Corporation to look after the assessment themselves.

We have 30 to 40 forms that are behind people in an authority office looking to pay their rent, but they can’t pay their rent because these assessment forms are not done. It seems to be that this is very low on the totem pole and the government tries to justify it by saying we need one-stop shopping. Well, one-stop shopping is fine, Mr. Speaker. It's fine down south when you have a two-hour drive between point A and point B, but in a lot of communities we don’t have to worry about one-stop shopping. Who is this one-stop shopping supposed to be for? Is it for the benefit of the tenants or is it for the benefit of ECE or the Housing Corporation?

I still can’t figure out why they took that responsibility away from the Housing Corporation. They were doing a good job. It was good for the tenants because they were assessed. They paid their rent when they had the money. Now the housing authorities are having problems getting clear audits because they can’t collect rent for three months back because the assessments are not done. There’s not much blame put on the regional level, Mr. Speaker, because a lot of problems we do have in the government start at the top. I mean there’s 14 PYs assigned to this transfer of $32 million. Where did they go? They didn’t go to the regional level. I am sure they didn’t go to the regional level because they seem to be swamped with all the work that they have.

Mr. Speaker, it’s time for this government to realize that they did make a mistake. Be big enough to admit it and correct it for the good of the tenants who don’t have to be running all over the place. Thank you.

---Applause