Thank you. My question is for the Minister of Justice. Mr. Speaker, last May in the GNWT response to Motion 75-19(2), maximum allowable rent increase for private rental units, the government stated that the Department of Justice was going to undertake a review of the Residential Tenancy Act during the 20th Assembly. Can the Minister of Justice provide a timeline for when the departmental review of the Residential Tenancy Act will take place? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, yes, this is something that is in our business plan. The review will be done within the next 12 months. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister share how extensive that review will be and explain what sorts of changes will be considered? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm happy to provide some more information to the Member in written form about how extensive we are looking at the review. As of today, I'm not quite sure where things are in the process but I can commit to provide that to her. And some of the things that I can -- that I know will be considered are the recommendations made by the rental officer in their annual report, and those will go back a number of years. So there's many recommendations already that the department will be looking at. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain what the concerns that the department has or that the government has overall regarding the potential negative impacts that rent control may impose on the private housing market. Thank you.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. So this did come up in the last Assembly, as the Member mentioned. I was at that time the Minister of Justice as well. And when the topic of rent control came up when there was a motion in the House, we heard from industry, and we heard their concerns, and we heard about the uncertainty that something like rent control brings to investment. And so one of the things that I want to do in this government is bring more certainty to our policies, processes, laws and regulations, to help attract investment. And so what we need to do to lower the cost of rent is to address the demand and the supply issues that we're facing. So we need more homes. We need more apartments. We need more houses. We need more homes across the entire housing continuum. And somebody has to build those homes. They're not all going to be GNWT social housing. We need a significant number of market units as well, and we are reliant on the private industry to build those. And so I want to provide assurances to the private industry that we are not going to put roadblocks up that would prevent them from being certain of their investments. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Mr. Speaker, thank you for the answer. With that in mind with what he just said, can the Minister commit to making rent control regime included or part of the Residential Tenancy Act? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm sure the Member knows my answer based on what I just said but no, I cannot make that commitment. During the review of the Residential Tenancies Act, there will be opportunities for public feedback, and we will take that feedback and we will fully consider it. And so I expect that some of that feedback will be around rent control. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
