Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the NWT, and more so the Arctic, can be a harsh environment to work in. I personally know this as I spent ten years working in Tuk offshore in the Beaufort Sea and on ice platforms in the High Arctic. We were always required to adapt to evolving situations and have a plan B, something MTS does not seem to understand.
Madam Speaker, can the Minister of Infrastructure tell me what led to the delays in community resupply for those communities serviced by MTS?
Thank you. Minister for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. So 2022 has been like no other year in the operations of MTS. The factors that have impacted MTS operations this past year were complex and interconnected. In addition to the regular risks that we inherit in this marine industry, MTS and the partners have faced significant labour shortages. MTS and the partners have faced shortages, supply chain delays, delays caused by floods both in Inuvik and in Hay River, and delays for the placement of our buoys.
Another unexpected occurrence happened when our fuel hoses were vandalized resulting in a six- to seven-day delay for our shipping season. I'm not going to speak to this further, Madam Speaker, because it's currently under investigation by the RCMP.
However, a postseason evaluation will be completed in the coming months but for now our focus at MTS and Department of Infrastructure is to get that fuel into Sachs Harbour. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, can the Minister tell me how many communities experienced resupply delays and will the Minister commit to providing that information in writing as well? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the factors that contributed to cancelling barge delivery in Sachs Harbour also caused delays in other communities and to clients, including some petroleum products that were destined for Inuvik are currently in Tuktoyaktuk. This fuel will be delivered by truck to Inuvik. MTS was also unable to complete shipment of material to the Sabina mine site. Arrangements are being made for delivery for that next year. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, can the Minister tell me how many and which vessels were providing resupply to the Arctic and coastal communities and which ones were servicing contracts outside community supply? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, through MTS we have five tug boats that were activated this season. There was one fully dedicated to the ISR resupply, two were assigned support roles for the ISR resupply. One was assigned to a dual role between essential resupply and commercial lake/river activities. And the fifth one, Madam Speaker, was dedicated to commercial customers. Those were the five that are out there. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, will the Minister commit to providing me, in writing, with a list of all MTS marine vessels working this past sailing season, along with the daily schedule of each vessel position as provided through the federal Vessel Traffic Management Information System? I would ask the information include the period from August 1st, 2022, to October 31st, 2022. Thank you.
Madam Speaker, you know, as part of our evaluation after the sailing season, this is something that we put work into. And I would be prepared to put this in writing for the Member. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today I want to bring up a big concern I have for a young family in the community of Paulatuk. I talked to the Minister last Friday. We didn't have the we didn't know there was a unit available. Now I know today there is a unit available, Unit 65 in the community of Paulatuk. They're the first on the waiting list. They don't owe no funds to the housing authority. Can the Minister commit to me today that they will be getting that unit? They're the first on the list. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Minister of Housing NWT.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. The unit that the Member is speaking about, it has been repaired. There were some issues with the water tank, and it required a lot of attention before it was to be occupied. A lot of work has been done. I will work with the board of directors and look at the allocation. And the Member is correct, they are first on the waiting list. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Minister has the authority to make that decision right now. Don't need to be talking to anybody but herself in regard to that. Madam Speaker, would the Minister commit to me today that she'd assign that Unit 65 over to the young couple that has a young baby living in a tent frame in the community of Paulatuk? It's minus 20. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I was, you know, wanting to hear from the board of directors, but the tenants are number one on the waitlist, so they are potentially next to be up for allocation. And I will follow up with the Member once we work with the board of directors. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I've been waiting for our Minister to deal with this for the last 13 months. That baby was one month old. Now we're at minus 20 in the community. They're living I'll be tabling documents today on what they're living in, Madam Speaker. The decision has to be made. It doesn't matter what anything everything goes downhill. She's got a Minister's notepad that says "Minister's directive." All she's got to do is write it "Unit 65 to be given to this couple;" it's going to be done. Would the Minister take the initiative today to do it? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. And I just want to reiterate that the couple is number one on the waitlist. There is a twobedroom that is available for them. I will follow up with the board of directors but I will put the political pressure for the couple. I don't want to see the circumstance extended to anything that is quite severe. They've been on the waiting list for the past few years. I will work with the department and, yes, they will be given Unit 65. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Final supplementary. Member for Nunakput.
Could she repeat herself if that was a "yes?" Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will be following up with the board, and I did say yes. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to congratulate my colleague for a "yes" on the floor from Housing. I think that's a great start.
Madam Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance. I'm wondering if the Minister of Finance can provide an idea of how much property tax arrears the GNWT forgives every year in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I certainly can provide that data. I don't have the number in front of me right now on the fly, but I can certainly commit to get that to the Member. And I'll have it before tomorrow if she wants to follow up on it. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister, for the commitment. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I've got the Finance website open in front of me, and just for everyone's sake Property Tax Arrears Program is designed to help residents who have property tax or residential lease arrears in the Northwest Territories. And so, given that information, I'm wondering if the Minister of Finance can confirm if Housing NWT clients can use property tax arrears to pay rental arrears? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the property tax arrears is for homeowners who are paying property taxes. So in that respect, someone who is living in public housing would not have access to that program. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm seeing here that it also extends to residential lease arrears. And so I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to what that difference is and if it also extends to damages incurred within residential lease arrears as well, and if that confirmation can be made. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, it's not my understanding that this extends to residential leases. Certainly if I am wrong about that, I will certainly correct myself going forward. And there was a second half to that question that has escaped me as I stood up. So I apologize, you might have to see if the Member wants to oh, damages. Damages, Madam Speaker; it's come back to me miraculously.
Madam Speaker, no, it wouldn't extend to damages. Again, it is really focused on property taxes and does generally extend to homeowners. So it is not well suited to dealing with arrears under public housing. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the Department of Finance might want to review their website then, because it does clearly state on the website that it is for residential lease arrears.
But my last question for the Minister of Housing is if this program doesn't apply to Housing NWT itself, to be able to use Property Tax Arrears Program to pay off arrears, what other process is available to Housing NWT to forgive public housing arrears? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I can certainly commit that the Department of Finance, which is where any loans or other matters that are forgiven, for example, student financial assistance, anything of that nature that is going to be forgiven as an obligation or debt owed to the government, does come through the comptroller general's office, and I will see that that office does connect in with Housing NWT to ensure that if there are programs underutilized or ways that we can support that department, that office, that we will do so. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. You were throwing me looking to the other side of the room there when you said that. My questions are for the Minister of Housing.
First, I just wonder if the Minister can speak a bit to how does the Housing Corporation review the status of maintenance and repairs on third party buildings such as Northview? We have a liability, as a government, to make sure that the housing that we're putting public housing clients into is safe, and from what I'm hearing I don't think that Lanky is. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Minister of Housing NWT.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. And thank you to the Member for asking the question. I'd have to follow up with the department in looking at our third party inspections and our third party operation and maintenance and how we actually work together. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I thank the Minister for the commitment to get that back to me. I can't stress enough how much of a responsibility that we have here.
Can the Minister speak to whether or not she is aware if Lanky Court Apartments is meeting all of our legislation or legislative codes? For example, is it passing fire inspections? Is it passing the building code inspections? Has environmental health and safety or public health been in to look at the building? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will have to get the information for the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, can the Minister speak to what is going on with the ongoing pest control treatment at Lanky Court? It's my understanding there has been different messages put out to clients there, threats of fines should they not be out of their apartments at the time, conflicting reports on whether or not the pesticides or the pest control methods are safe for people to use. Yes, any information the Minister could provide on that would be great. Thanks.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Housing has been working very closely, I want to say, with Northview. We have addressed several issues with our leases that we do hold with them as well too. The one that was most recent was a security issue that we did have. We have been working with Northview as well too looking at the pest control, and I am aware of what has been happening here in Yellowknife. I will have to follow up with the Member to get a further thorough detail on the reporting that has been received. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. And I do appreciate the Minister's willingness to get back to me. Can the Minister commit to going and spending some time at Lanky Court and actually going into some of these apartments? I have people that are in hotels due to mold. I have water pipes that are broken. There's people with cockroaches scurrying all over their stuff. And a lot of these people aren't even actually into the housing units yet. They're actually YWCA renters who are on housing waitlists. So I do think that the Minister and the department needs to get a better understanding of how terrible the conditions are. Our people deserve better housing than living in the slums that we're putting them in. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will have to follow up with the Member as well too. And I want to be very clear on the leases that we do hold with these third party and also holding them accountable. But not only that, that Housing is actually responding and we are working with these lease agreements that we do have and we are providing fair, adequate housing to our tenants here and throughout the Northwest Territories. I will have to follow up with the Member. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. Can the Minister share any comprehensive evaluation or other data that takes into account by needs assessments, best practices of Indigenous treatment centres in other jurisdictions, and client uptakes and outcomes of the departments preferred service offering to back up her claim that treatment centres do not work in the NWT? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister for Health and Social Services.
