Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the past couple of sittings, we have heard from a number of Members who are concerned with how the Novel housing proposal will play out. While not diminishing my colleagues’ concerns, I would like to put a more positive spin on this proposal, Mr. Speaker. It is simple. I am in favour of any proposal that puts housing that is so desperately needed in the communities that I represent. I see the overcrowding. I see housing units that are no longer fit to live in and still being used because there is no alternative. Mr. Speaker, I have seen families forced out to larger communities because there is no place for them to live in their own communities. What is lost is the potential benefits of residents in the Mackenzie Valley and for this government.

The Housing Corporation will be able to replace a number of single family social housing units that have outlived their economic life with new and modern energy-efficient units. This will save money in the O and M costs that will be spent in fixing and maintaining other units. Families and communities with no market housing will have an opportunity to either buy a unit outright using conventional mortgage, or by accessing the subsidy program presently available to the Housing Corporation.

My colleague from Range Lake has pointed out on several occasions that these are well-constructed homes and you can’t really call them trailers anymore. They are about $200,000 anywhere in Western Canada. The other reality is once the initial pipeline construction is completed, there will be a lull in employment and business opportunities. The lull can be filled by work, preparing the building for moving the units to communities and renovating units for customers’ specifications.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to say that the life of politicians can be difficult at times. As Regular Members, we are called upon to hold the government accountable and ask the hard questions. I believe that sometimes we judge the department or corporation too hardly on past activities. The Novel proposal is big. The potential benefits are great down the Mackenzie Valley, both economically and socially too far to dismiss. We need to ask the hard questions on the project. We also need to have some faith and work with the Housing Corporation to advance this for the benefit of all people in the Northwest Territories that we represent. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause