Robert Hawkins

That certainly puts the average person, whether they’re single income, double income, whatever the case may be, at a significant disadvantage because, as I cited today, they’ve had increases of 16 percent in Yellowknife that have been quite regular over the last few years and certainly have a single example of 33 percent rental increase at an apartment unit. That’s barely affordable if it’s affordable at all. What is the Minister willing to do to put support behind the average family that’s out there trying to rent and get by at the same time?

Thank you. Would the Minister be willing to forward something on that he is able to dig up, to my office, because I have heard from accountants in the community that they are not quite sure that this is a debt that we should be shouldering, considering it is a liability we are carrying on behalf of someone else and they are also paying. I would kind of like to take a serious look at it and to get some information to compare to some information I have been told. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, time is of the essence. The Residency and Tenancy Act does not come open every time to discuss the elements of what it means. Mr. Speaker, the Minister will tell you that landlords can raise the rent only once a year. Of course, the Minister will be right about that fact. I will tell you that the way the law is written today, the landlord has every right to raise the rent to whatever percentage they want to. Mr. Speaker, don’t be fooled. Some do. Mr. Speaker, let’s not call this rent control. Let’s call it fair protection for working families trying to get by. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the detail. Has the department ever sought a secondary accounting position to find out if we should be carrying that liability directly on our books? Because it is being paid separately by another agency, such as the federal government. I mean, it would seem obvious to me that we shouldn’t have to wear that liability if it is being fully funded. It was created by someone else and it is being paid off by someone else. It just seems odd that, with all due respect, our Housing Minister is just taking what our Finance Minister is saying is the truth and that...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Has the Finance Minister changed since that original question came forward and how much work has been done from a legal/accounting perspective to see if that is actually accurate? Thank you.

Thank you. I am just trying to get a sense of it. Was that a power bill cost or was that how much the person pays or was he referring to kilowatts, 600 kilowatts? If he could explain that a little further as to what the actual person pays. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The issue, really, the key word here, is to “consider” and what this does is facilitate that type of discussion in a committee. Although laptops and BlackBerries were broken out into two separate, distinct paragraphs here, the intent, as I recall the Rules committee, was to allow us to facilitate this opportunity to have them within that type of committee. Ultimately, the committee itself will have the overbearing position of being able to say, look, this is going to be an allowable device or not. By the Assembly here approving this doesn’t mean that a committee can’t...

Does that have a ceiling amount or is it just six cents no matter how many kilowatts they use? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that this committee recommends that the Board of Management and the Office of the Clerk examine the issues related to:

(a)

the purchase of laptop computers for Members;

(b)

planning and installation and additional infrastructure to support the connections; and

(c)

planning for the changes to operational procedures and websites to support the increased use of e-documents in committees and the Assembly and return with a plan and schedule to develop and implement the changes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a relief that at least people are taking an eye to this concern and maybe it’s not so bad in some areas. I am certainly glad to hear that. What does the department do when it comes to power consumption? I mean, in the context of power bills, do they take a look at those and monitor those and say you have four people in your house, how come…Do they compare that to an average household usage somewhere in the range of 700 to 1,200 kilowatts a month? Do they do that type of analysis? The reason I am asking this is if they are funding public housing and people aren’t...