Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In a similar vein as my colleague Mr. Yakeleya, I have concerns about the Housing Corporation on how they do view this particular problem and deal with arrears, whether they’re rentals or, certainly, mortgage arrears.

In my Member’s statement today I talked about 76 percent is the collection rate at housing LHOs across the board, that is, to be honest and fair of course, and they need 90 percent in order to break even. Of course, housing arrears under the context of mortgages are at 40 percent. If you add those two stacks of arrears up, that’s about $26 million in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Rental arrears in public housing is a chronic problem for the Government of the Northwest Territories. When we reviewed the main estimates earlier this year, average rent collection was only 76 percent at a debt balance of $13 million outstanding. Collection needs to be at 90 percent in order to maintain the LHO, and that’s from the Minister as well as the department, Mr. Speaker. Clearly, we need action on these rental collections and certainly the arrears. However, if you think that’s bad, Mr. Speaker, well, mortgage collection rates are at 40 percent, so...

Clearly, this is an important issue. A summer student employment strategy is a very passionate issue, provided by the comments and questions by the Members of this House to the government. If the Minister of Human Resources is willing to accept a letter on behalf of all Members to encourage him to act upon this immediately, would he be willing to act upon it if the Members of this side of the House committed that strongly in writing to cause action right away?

Would the Minister be willing to commit today that his mandate would be to encourage his Department of Finance, both in the capital as well as in the regions, to hire more summer students if they could make those opportunities available for them?

Clearly, this is an important issue. A summer student employment strategy is a very passionate issue, provided by the comments and questions by the Members of this House to the government. If the Minister of Human Resources is willing to accept a letter on behalf of all Members to encourage him to act upon this immediately, would he be willing to act upon it if the Members of this side of the House committed that strongly in writing to cause action right away?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll be directing my questions to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger. I, too, am concerned by the summer student hire, or I should say lack of hiring thus far. My first question to the Minister of Finance is: the Department of Finance hired nine summer students last year; to date, how many students have they hired this year both in the territorial capital as well as the regions?

Would the Minister be willing to commit today that his mandate would be to encourage his Department of Finance, both in the capital as well as in the regions, to hire more summer students if they could make those opportunities available for them?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I slightly disagree, because we don’t actually know that 100 percent of people paid their rent. Now he’s said that 161 percent are paying, we’re getting 161 percent back. Whether that includes the rent and arrears, we don’t know that breakdown, and that’s the type of information that I think would be helpful for all Members specifically targeted to each LHO.

Mr. Speaker, the other issues I raised in my Member’s statement was distributing fairly the annual income for a particular tenant and their family to take out some of the spikes and certainly the drops in both their...

Mr. Speaker, it’s a real shame that I’m hearing this opinion from the Minister, and it’s very disheartening for those people who are trying to bring this project to life, again, supporting women who are at risk and who need an opportunity to stand on their own.

Mr. Speaker, this is more than just capital dollars; this also then leads into O and M dollars and programming dollars to make sure that this initiative does blossom and provide the types of focus and support that’s needed.

Mr. Speaker, the last question would be what type of community support, programming support and O and M support is...

Mr. Speaker, what we have here is particularly very clear, in my mind. We have another community organization stepping forward addressing what really, rightfully, should be a government responsibility.

Mr. Speaker, I would ask the Minister, again, responsible for Homelessness, specifically, will there be a contribution from this government towards this initiative, and if so, when and how much? Thank you.