Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As Members heard earlier today, yesterday we received word from the federal Minister of Housing, Honourable Elmer MacKay, that he was unable to get support from his federal colleagues to reinstate our funding for new capital costs in housing.
What this boils down to is, if we cannot get reinstatement of that funding, instead of building 372 units next year, we will only be able to build 153 units. If you spread that around the Northwest Territories, 153 units is not very many. That represents approximately $22 million.
We have to continue to try to get our funding reinstated. We have to continue to work together to try to solve this issue, or else we are going to have to try and find money from wherever we can find it.
In the housing needs survey, done in 1992, it is clearly spelled out in there that we are 3,584 housing units short in the Northwest Territories. That is a 14 percent jump since the 1990 survey, even though we did build 800 units.
We are constantly, since we have got the message back in March, hoping to stop the federal government from reducing our funding, and we will continue to do so.
Mr. Chairman, I will be very interested to hear, and take any advice from the Members that they can give me, their remarks on this issue. Thank you.