Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions today for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. I’d like to follow up on the statement he made earlier today. I am pleased to hear of the delay in the application of the renewed rent scale for seniors housing, but I’d like some clarification from the Minister. It’s not really very clear to me. I’d like to ask the Minister what the purpose is of this delay and what is the purpose of the phase-in. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The purpose of the delay was we listened to what committee had to say, their desire to have those out there that have paid zero for so many years adjust to have them start paying rent now. So we listened to what committee had to say and some Members had to say. We listened to some of the comments from the NWT Seniors’ Society. Thank you.
Thank you and thanks to the Minister for that clarification. So I have to then ask the Minister if he has been listening to the concerns of the NWT Seniors’ Society and been listening to the concerns of Members, it should be no surprise to him that the Seniors’ Society in particular and Members have supported this.
The Seniors’ Society feels that they have not been adequately consulted. I see nothing in the statement and I heard nothing in the Minister’s answer that suggests that there’s going to be any consultation with seniors in this two-month period. So I’d like to ask the Minister what the Housing Corporation is going to use the two months between now and September 1st for. Are they going to use it for consultation or are they going to use it for any specific purpose? Thank you.
Thank you. We’re going to use that two months to give them an opportunity to prepare for a change in their rent come September 1st. We’re also going to use it as an opportunity, as I responded before, to work with a lot of seniors that are in public housing and give them an indication of what their rent will be and what they can expect to pay in the future.
Thanks to the Minister. Those goals are laudable. I appreciate what the Housing Corporation is planning on doing. There has been a specific request from the NWT Seniors’ Society for consultation with them and with other seniors, and I believe that I know at least some Members have suggested to the Minister that these two months from now to the implementation on September 1st, should be used to do some consultation and also to do some analysis of the impact on seniors. Why will the Minister not use these next two months or two and a half months to do that?
We know what the impact is going to be on the seniors. I have no problem in the next couple of months of sitting down with the NWT Seniors’ Society and getting some input from them. We know what the impact is going to be on the seniors. The seniors know what the impact is going to be on themselves. It’s going to be $35 a month, half of what we had originally intended to charge, come July 1st and next year it’s going to be $70 a month. If there’s an opportunity to meet with the seniors, I have no issue in sitting down and having a discussion with them. As far as an official consultation where we go out across the land, we’ve already done that. It’s going to cost us close to $60,000. That’s money that we can best use putting back into our units.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I hear that the Minister is willing to meet with the seniors. I would hope that he will live up to that commitment. I’d like to, I guess, ask the Minister: Will he take some initiative to contact the NWT Seniors’ Society?
If there are folks from the NWT Seniors’ Society who are listening to this broadcast, I would like the opportunity to come and meet with you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
