Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the concerns of the water and sewer infrastructure in Northland Trailer Park. It’s reached about as bad as it can get, Mr. Speaker. To put the problem into perspective, in the sense of comparative value, Mr. Speaker, Northland would be representative of a medium-sized community here in the Northwest Territories. If you want to lay it out in another way, 259 families probably captures in a similar comparison as maybe the community of Aklavik. Again, just as a comparative size of a medium-sized community. Mr. Speaker, we wouldn’t let a small community, a medium community go with infrastructure that doesn’t work anymore such as water and sewer. I mean, two weeks without it is certainly a shame.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs as to what is he willing to do as Minister, and the department as well, what are they willing to do to bring financial resources to the table to help deal with this collective problem that is affecting 259 families? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, Northland has the population of a medium-sized community but they are not a community. They’re a privately held corporation. As I’ve said a couple times prior, we’ve written a letter of support for the City’s application to try to access some federal money for some of the needed repairs at Northland. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member’s statement today, water and sewer is certainly a vital service needed by a lot of people and, quite frankly, I can’t imagine how they’re coping, to be fair and realistic. I mean, two weeks without this is beyond ridiculous. That’s not fair and I can only imagine what they’re struggling with.
Mr. Speaker, the time for talking on this particular issue is done and I think the time for writing letters is done. What financial contribution can MACA bring to the table to help support the City of Yellowknife in solving this particular problem? Because we have 259 families at significant risk the longer we wait. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, MACA doesn’t have the funding or the mandate to assist privately held lands to deal with infrastructure deficiencies. That would be a discussion that they would have to take up with the City. All I can tell the Member, as I’ve told a couple other Members that have asked previous to this, is that we are trying to assist their case, their application to try and access some federal money. Thank you.
Maybe it’s the weather that’s stopping the Minister from breaking the hard exterior of the answer, no, we’re not helping in the sense of funding, we’ll write a letter and that’s the best we can do. Maybe the 259 families aren’t touching a note. What about the approximate 600 children that live in that riding, in that small, medium-sized community that’s representative, as I probably said in a comparative value only, of the size of Aklavik? Mr. Speaker, is there no extraordinary funding that MACA couldn’t find for this particular issue to make sure that these 600 children, the 259 families are not continually put at risk? Thank you.
Northland is part of the city of Yellowknife. Any extraordinary funding would go to community governments to assist in dealing with some unforeseen events that take place in their communities. As much as we feel for the situation out at Northland, I point out again that it is a privately held corporation, privately held condominium and they usually put some money aside for events such as this. The only difference between this particular case and, say, an apartment building where they are selling condominiums, it is just on a bigger scale and laid out. It is unfortunate that some of the issues they are having to face out there. Again, we don’t have a mandate or the funding to assist those privately held landowners. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Quite clearly, water is undoubtedly an essential service. I can only imagine how these families have been in this inhumane sort of circumstance for two weeks being without those services. Mr. Speaker, the Minister said just a moment ago that many of these groups set money aside. Actually, the condo corp was established under the old Condo Act which actually did not require that condominium to set money aside to deal with these types of maintenance and infrastructure problems. Since that time, fortunately, I will give compliments to the updated act, which goes to the credit of the government. They ensured that those types of loopholes and gaps have been filled to ensure that condominiums must account for infrastructure money in that particular case.
Again, recognizing that this is an extraordinary circumstance and we have a lot of families at risk, would the Minister be willing to commit some financial resources in an extraordinary type of way in a one-time process to the City of Yellowknife so they can leverage further money and help with this particular problem that affects 259 families, at least 600 children, and it is quite a significant population that needs help and safety issues protected?
Mr. Speaker, there was a time when they had to put money aside to deal with unforeseen circumstances. You go to a private homeowner and right where the property ends, he is responsible from there into his house. If the sewer line goes or the water line goes, it is his responsibility. This is the same principle, just on a bigger scale. We do give money to all the municipal governments to deal, we give infrastructure money to deal with infrastructure issues within their community and I am sure Northland is being told that they are a privately held corporation, Mr. Speaker. We don’t have the funding or the mandate to provide funding to privately held landowners. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
