Debates of March 15, 2018 (day 27)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation some questions on the new program, the fuel tank program. I think that is a very good program. It is good for the environment and very good for, even, insurance purposes.

I would like to ask the Minister if, in communities where most of the heavy materials are brought in by barge, if the Minister could, in advance, in communities that are barged in, particularly Lutselk'e, of course, for my riding, if the Housing Corporation would send several tanks into Lutselk'e in preparation to exchange the tanks some time as the current tanks begin to fail? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I will take that into consideration. It is important to learn from programs that we have offered in the past and see how we can make them better. We did learn through Housing that we need to work with the communities that don't have all-season roads and be more proactive. We will look at barging in fuel tanks to those communities that don't have access through the all-season road.

In many of the communities, we don't have private tradespeople. I would like to ask the Minister, in situations where there may be an inventory of tanks, and we have a tank failure that may be urgent or an emergency situation, if the Minister can work through the system and have the housing authorities' maintenance staff change the tanks at the community level?

I think we would have to do a community view. I think that we are looking at seeing how the local housing authorities can support their communities better, recognizing that they don't have available supplies, contractors, et cetera, for a variety of housing needs. We are looking at that.

I do have to make sure before I make a commitment in the House, though, that, if we are going to be doing that, my thinking is, and I may be wrong, that you need to have some kind of certification to be able to do that. I need to make sure that either the local housing authorities have that certification or we have some means to provide that certification, but I do commit that we are trying to look at how to address the needs of all homeowners within the communities.

One of the main things that the Housing Corporation is trying to prevent with the new program is, obviously, the potential for a huge environmental disaster, as we have seen situations where we have leaking tanks that have cost $250,000 to remediate, because it takes quite a hole to get the fuel out of the ground.

In my case, there is hardly anyone that can afford to actually pay for the costs of a full remediation if they have a complete failure with their fuel tank. Therefore, it could involve moving a home and so on and so forth. I would like to ask the Minister if the Minister would have discussions with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to see if the government can pay for such a disaster?

The Member is correct. We are looking at being proactive and to try to alleviate the need for huge environmental costs when fuel tanks leak. It is not only a costs issue; it is an environmental issue that we are trying to address. I can't speak on behalf of either departments, but I can say that I will direct the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation to touch base to try to work with ENR to actually see how we can address any fuel tank spills as best as possible.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for that response. Mr. Speaker, we have situations where individuals are beginning to discover the reason why they have the program, and that is because those older tanks do fail after a certain number of years. I would like to ask the Minister if the Minister could look at the possibility of helping individuals out where there is no tank in the community to install and they have a leak. It will take potentially a couple of weeks, because most likely, in situations like Lutselk'e, you would have to fly the tank in. Could the NWT Housing Corporation work with the local housing authority to maybe do something in the interim to stop a leak until a new tank can be delivered to the community? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am willing to work with the communities on this, but I can't do this alone. If homeowners actually have an issue where they have an environmental concern, they don't have a fuel tank or they may be having to take one out because it is not meeting the need now, and we can't get a tank in there, if they apply to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, we will try to do our best to try to alleviate any potential or spillage that is there currently, recognizing that they have to fit within the needs assessment, the income threshold, to be able to qualify for our programming.

However, tell people: if they have an issue, apply, because if you don't apply, if you don't let us know, then we can't provide any services. Anyone who has an issue, apply, and see if we can support them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.