Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to lend my voice again today to the plight of the 1,100 residents of Northland Trailer Park located here in Yellowknife. In March I last spoke of this issue as residents were faced with intermittent water services for weeks at a time, sometimes without water for a week, because of the aging infrastructure that continues to spring leaks because it should have been replaced over 15 years ago.
Of the 1,100 residents of Northland, there are approximately 600 children, there are day homes, there are elderly persons, persons with disabilities. Mr. Speaker, they cannot endure another winter of broken lines and intermittent water service. On top of it all, Mr. Speaker, is that residents can’t go anywhere. Why is that? Because CMHC has stopped insuring mortgage loans for homes in the park for over 18 months now. They’re prisoners in their own home. To add insult to injury, residents continue to pay property tax to the City of Yellowknife. Well, what is the assessed value of a property you can’t sell, Mr. Speaker?
Again in March I warned this government that if something was not done to replace the infrastructure this summer season, that with a new winter, routine line breaks would occur with much more frequency and, ultimately, would result in a catastrophic line break for the residents of that trailer park. The Government of the Northwest Territories might like to say it’s not our problem, but when that catastrophic water or sewer line failure happens, we will have over 1,100 people, 600 children, being displaced from their homes. It will be our problem, Mr. Speaker. We’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.
As far as residents and Members of this House are concerned, the file has been on a Minister’s desk in Ottawa for 15 months. How is this possible? Yes, there was an election a few months ago, but really, who is in charge of ensuring this file gets the attention that it deserves?
The situation is reaching the brink, Mr. Speaker, the brink of disaster. We can’t afford to let this issue just sit there. We need to take action and we need to find a solution to this problem, Mr. Speaker. Residents in Northland need to have some hope that someday someone will listen, and that someday they may be able to actually sell their homes and not live everyday in fear of a catastrophic line break that will lead them to having to leave their homes, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
