Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I previously had questions for the Minister of Infrastructure regarding a building standards act. One of the problems is that it's not quite clear who this responsibility would lie with. Consistent requests from the Northwest Territories Association of Communities, the Architects Association, and many Members have been directed towards the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. My question to the Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is: will she direct her department to develop a legislative proposal for a building standards act in the Northwest Territories?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Working with a building standards act and trying to implement that in the Northwest Territories, I would have to be working with my colleagues. I know that we do not have one currently. We do use the fire act right now, that is up for review. I will speak with my department to see how we can work with this going forward because I know, looking at the building standards act, it's kind of complex. We deal with the fire regulations, the building codes, and this is all separate, and we don't have it actually located under one functioning act for the Northwest Territories. I will commit to the Member that I will be speaking to my department, and I will follow up with him with the results. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate that commitment to bring this forward to the department to look into it. The main issue with a building standards act is we all know there is a multimillion-dollar deficit in infrastructure costs to the NWT, and GNWT infrastructure is built to very high-quality standards, but, in the communities where there is no enforcement of this, every single person building a building has to decide between quality, and often we are building buildings that are the cheaper option, which means that the cost of living in our communities consistently rises. A building standards act creates an even floor that allows us to have efficient costs for our residents, so my question to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs is: will she bring this issue to the Cabinet table to make sure that there is a clear department, whether it be Infrastructure, whether it be MACA, that is responsible, so that I know who to ask questions to regarding a building standards act?
Absolutely, I will be bringing that forward to the Cabinet for discussion as I know going forward that we do have construction in the smaller communities. We need clarification on that.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
