Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When does the Minister anticipate that this work will be done, Mr. Speaker? Will it be done next year, the year after, the year after that? When do we expect the tender to be released, and the work to be done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to thank the Minister for offering a new kind of hope, a hope that comes from getting projects done, and making firm commitments in this House. Now, I would like to turn to the other issue of the security improvements. What is the status of them? Does he have any new information for the House today on those projects, which are significant in that the deficiency that they are designed to address resulted in an escape from the facility, an escape that brought an inmate into very close proximity with a residential neighbourhood?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. "We are the prisoners." Mr. Speaker, those are words spoken to me by my constituents who live next to the North Slave Correctional Facility. Over the summer months, they have been bothered by frequent noise late into the evening, and almost direct interaction with inmates, only a stone's throw away from their backyards, Mr. Speaker: catcalls from the inmates at their children and living in concern of a perceived unsafe situation, especially after last year's incident where an inmate escaped the facility.

Now, I know the Minister and his department have been diligent at...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Working with the Department of Infrastructure, as the Minister put it, is that work going to start now? Are we thinking post-2021 or is this still going to be a 10-year process of waiting the lease out? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I see that we are again paying to upgrade the Yellowknife courthouse. This is a leased building, and, over the years, I think we have spent a great deal of money reconfiguring and modifying this building, which is a shared judicial facility and an office building for the Department of Justice. That can be at cross purposes. Court facilities have higher security demands than, say, an office building, and oftentimes it is difficult for those two neighbouring purposes to share that space and adequately address the security needs of the building. I know this from personal...

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the official from the Department of Justice for that helpful clarification. With this fencing issue that has yet to be resolved, that the tender was not successful, what is the plan to deal with that? Is it to put more money into it so we can get it done, or is it to scale it down into something different? Can the Minister provide some more clarity about what this is going to look and where we will see it? Obviously, it is not in this budget, but where will this House consider that capital project, and how much is it going to cost? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am sure the Minister can guess where I am going to go with this. We have two capital items here: North Slave Correctional Centre Zone 2, building security control system renovations; and North Slave Correctional Centre, building, security control system integration. Let's hear more about that. Can the Minister provide some detail about why these are required and if they are related to the security improvements that are required due to the incident report from last year? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the Minister for that response. Is the Housing Corporation pursuing other capital projects with Northern contractors along the same lines as this deal? Is that feasible for the foreseeable future as we continue to build public housing units? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Housing Corporation initiated a celebrated deal of having northern businesses construct a number of housing units, and I would like to ask the Minister how the progress is going on that work. I believe it was around 50 units that were selected to be built here in the North, by northern contractors. What is the status of that work? Thank you.

We are hoping again. What are some of the options that are being looked at by the Minister? He is talking about revising a plan. I am of the opinion that there is no cost too great for public safety. If he could tell us what some of the costeffective solutions are that his department is looking at, I am sure my residents would be greatly appreciative of that.