Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the 16th Assembly made a decision to change our capital planning process and approval of the main estimates. Now we approve our capital estimates in the fall session and the main estimates are being approved in the spring session.
One of the fundamental reasons for that was for the infrastructure departments to be able to take advantage of the construction season, logistical challenges such as taking advantage of the ice roads, and ensuring that we are able to construct in a reasonable time and allow for the contractors and service providers to be able to take advantage of the highway season. In most cases most of our raw materials go into our communities on ice roads. This gets a fair price by allowing the contractors more time to be able to bid on these contracts.
All the departments have come on board on this initiative except for one of the major infrastructures in this government: the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. I believe they are a major infrastructure department who should also consider this change.
In the last number of weeks going back to my constituents, elders’ homes are being repaired in March. Homes are being jacked up in the middle of winter. This has an effect on the foundations of those homes. I sat down with a 96-year-old elder in Fort McPherson who was sitting at home, had nowhere else to go, and was in her home while they were changing the windows in her unit because she had no alternative place to go. They changed the door on her house and then left the scene of construction. She tried to get out of her home and couldn’t because her door was blocked because the house had shifted. These types of things have an effect on winter construction.
I believe that we have to be realistic and have to try to take advantage of the main construction season, which should be during the summer months when we have warm weather and are able to jack up the house without having to worry about damaging anything like septic tanks and shifting houses.
At the appropriate time I will be asking the Minister of the Housing Corporation if the department has considered the changes that all the other infrastructure departments have done and if he will consider doing the same thing.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
