Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I received several phone calls last night. I want to ask the Minister of Housing on the announcement of including elders on this rent scale. How many elders would be affected on this new announcement to have them start paying rent by July 1st?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have approximately just over 700 seniors right now that are currently paying zero. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, how many of these 700 seniors are in the Sahtu that there is going to be an impact by this announcement?
Mr. Speaker, I don’t have the numbers broken down as per region. However, I can gather that information and share it with the Member. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, first initial reaction for some of the constituents of mine were saying, what is happening? What is going on? Why are they charging rent now or planning to charge seniors this rent scale? What is the thinking behind these changes to the rent scale for the elders who are going to be paying rent if it all goes through on July 1st?
Mr. Speaker, this has been a discussion that has been going on for a number of years. Seniors have been very fortunate in the past where they have had to pay no rent. It is still costing the Housing Corporation an average $16,000 to $24,000 a year to maintain these units. The thinking behind it is during the engagement process there were a lot of seniors that had expressed a willingness and they don’t mind paying their fair share. There are some that were reluctant to phone for maintenance services because they don’t pay any rent. Some of this was brought on by the seniors themselves. The fact is that, with everything going on and declining funding and everything, it is just not sustainable anymore to be doing this. Our population is aging. We are looking at probably double or triple the amount of seniors by the time the federal funding expires. It is something that is just not sustainable anymore for the NWT Housing Corporation. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly what I have heard from the Sahtu elders certainly didn’t relay that message to me. Really it was the younger people who were working that want to make sure the rent scale was adjusted. Our elders in the Sahtu certainly didn’t convey that to me, and I don’t think that’s an accurate picture that the Minister is saying, that some of the seniors want to pay their rent. So, Mr. Speaker, I know the government may not agree with me, but I cannot sit here and agree with this principle of charging the elders rent coming in July. It’s just unacceptable, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know what to do about it, but why should I sit here and pretend that it’s okay to start charging or plan to charge our elders rent in my region when the cost of living is so high?
Thank you. I can understand the Member. He’s listening, obviously, to his constituents, and we didn’t expect this to be a very popular move, but it’s one that we felt needed to be made. There will be some adjustments.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
QUESTION 109-17(2):
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Last week I made great efforts to represent Fort Liard, the Nahendeh constituents, with Highway No. 7. I would like to continue and ask the Minister of Transportation about Highway No. 7 once again.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The condition of Highway No. 7 is important to the Government of the Northwest Territories and the folks who live in Nahendeh and the Deh Cho region. We certainly will be trying to set up a meeting with my counterpart, Minister Lebel. I will be in Ottawa from the 27th to the 29th, and I’m hoping to have the opportunity to sit down with Minister Lebel at that time. Thank you.
Thank you very much. It’s clear that our territorial government knows that they need to rebuild the road, but it’s got limited resources, as well as it’s clear, also, that Cabinet must address the northern transportation infrastructure and the financial gap that we have. Also, I’d like if the Minister would raise it with the federal Minister and also indicate that because of our low population density, it’s not a reason to defer projects and expenditures in our riding.
If we are going to grow our resources and our economy here in the Northwest Territories, an integral part of that is having a transportation system and infrastructure built here in the territory that is going to support the growth of our economy and lead us in that direction. We’ve been stressing this point to the federal government for a number of years and will continue to stress the importance of our transportation infrastructure to the federal government any chance we get. Thank you.
I’d like to ask the Minister what strategy he is developing, in that previous administrations have created documents, such as Connecting Canada and other documents. I’d like to know what the Minister’s strategy is when he’s meeting with the federal government, because the development of our northern roads, particularly Highway No. 7, is critical to the economic development of my region and the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
We are in the process of putting together another plan that will just lead again to stressing the importance of our transportation infrastructure here in the Northwest Territories and how we can avail ourselves of some substantial capital dollars to carry out the work that is required there. So I think the Member can look forward to us continuing to pursue that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Once again, the Prime Minister’s office is also aware of Highway No. 7. I had a resident of Fort Simpson advocating with the Prime Minister of Canada as well. So I’d like to ask our Minister and our government to do the same, to make it a highlight of the federal government and to press it in that light and give us at least one line in the federal budget with Highway No. 7. Thank you.
Again, I appreciate the Member’s passion for Highway No. 7 and the need to get those capital dollars that are required for the reconstruction of that highway. I will continue to work with the Member to see that that happens. Again, we are going to have to pursue capital dollars wherever we can find them. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
