Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I mentioned about the economic forecast in the Northwest Territories and some of the things that are going to be pressuring this government, pressuring the new government. I want to ask the Minister of Finance in terms of the go-ahead basis in terms of the fiscal forecast in the new coming years. Is the government looking at programs that could be decentralized, taking away things in the region to save on dollars to make things efficient and effective? That is the word that is being used around this table here to ensure that this government here could be sustainable in terms of preventing or initiating some of their programs they want to do as stated in the budget address here.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We know that there is a strong concern from small community MLAs, for example, about employment. We need to look at ways to assist small communities with employment. I think -- and I have had discussions with the Member for Tu Nedhe about some of the possibilities with just using existing resources -- the intention is not to centralize back to Yellowknife; the intention is to look at efficiencies. We have had discussions and a lot of work done, for example, on how many boards and agencies we have. We know that there is an opportunity coming with devolution that there is going to be 150 or so positions moving north from Ottawa. How do we structure ourselves as a government and the work that has to be done in a way that we would see, as the Premier indicated in one of his speeches, how we could get as many of those positions as possible outside of Yellowknife. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, in the budget I noticed that there is going to be $300,000 a year towards program performance review of GNWT’s policies on provisions for adequate, suitable and affordable housing in the Northwest Territories. I am not too sure how that money is going to be used in the performance review. I am wondering how this funding here is justified in terms of people are now being asked to be moved out of the house.
There are a lot of empty houses in the Sahtu. I went to Colville Lake, Fort Good Hope and Tulita. There are empty houses there. Here we are spending $300,000 to do a performance review. We just had an Auditor General’s report and now we need an extra $300,000 to do another review. Is this the type of initiative under efficiency and effective government in terms of spending this kind of money when houses are needed to be filled in the regions?
Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my budget address, the Minister of Housing, Mr. Robert C. McLeod, would be speaking to the House about the work that was going to be happening, moving forward with housing, the things that they are doing, how the review will be undertaken to address some of the issues that the Member has mentioned, the issue of community concerns with housing issues, the difficult decisions we have to make about trying to offset the CMHC funding that is diminishing yearly, what creative ways can we come up with to address some of those needs. We still have the challenge of $20 million, roughly, of arrears both in rental as well as mortgages, so there are a number of critical issues that will be addressed through this.
Yes, the Auditor General did a report. She instructed the Housing Corporation to do a number of things. The Members have raised the issue of housing repeatedly in every community we have all gone to. Housing is the number one concern, so that is going to assist us, through the Minister, to be able to address some of those issues. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I also mentioned about the regional gaps between the regions here. I want to ask the Minister here in terms of I am very disappointed not to see any mention in terms of justice in terms of RCMP in the communities where they do not have a detachment in the seven years since I have been asking this government here and the government before in terms of asking for an RCMP in our communities. Yet when we go back to our communities, that is one of the questions they ask. When are we going to get an RCMP detachment? We hear the same old, same old. I want to ask the Minister if there is any light at the end of the tunnel in terms of rectifying this issue for us.
Mr. Speaker, once again, as I indicated in my budget address, governments across Canada are moving full bore into fiscal restraint deficit fighting, debt reduction to address the very significant debt and deficits that most of them have, including the federal government. We also know that the federal government has given instructions already within their own departments about no growth at all. Departments have to absorb all of the costs for forced growth for collective agreements and any other costs. We know that we have programs in health, for example, that are worth millions of dollars that have one year left after which they are going to be looking at being sunsetted. We are going to have to make decisions. The opportunity for new money is going to be very difficult. I would suggest, however, the Minister will be coming before this House in the not-too-distant future, the Minister of Justice, and we will be able to have that discussion. We have no clear revenue sources or new pots of money that are coming available. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Time for question period is expired. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I request unanimous consent to return to item 9, oral questions. Thank you.
---Unanimous consent granted
Item 9, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
