Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to say that I appreciate the Member for Thebacha saying that finally we're getting some good, open, public debate here today. I don't like the idea of trying to rush it. It is a commitment of $5 million by this government. There are a couple of things.
I did talk to the bank managers, that's correct. I didn't talk to the vice-president of the Royal Bank. Maybe I should have given him a call and I would have found out something. I didn't have that opportunity. However, I did have the opportunity to talk to the different bank managers and phone the bank managers. By the way, when I was living in a community outside of Iqaluit, it's how I arranged my mortgage because they were in there doing mortgages. Maybe that's something we should think about also.
I think that's a major concern. If the Minister could confirm to me that the sale of X number of houses or the revenue generated would go back into the coffers of the GNWT to attack the accumulated deficit to help out the needy and the poor, then maybe I could support the motion. However, at this juncture, I don't think that the Government of the Northwest Territories should be entering the private marketplace when we have commercial lenders. If Mr. Todd can speak to the vice-presidents of the banks, maybe he could say, Mr. Vice-President, can you help us do more mortgages in our communities. Maybe that's all it will take. I don't know. In these fiscal times, we can't afford this, that and the other thing, and I don't know if we can afford $5 million.
The other thing, of course, is we've spent how much money on the MIC so far, as Mr. Todd said. We've had it in the planning stages, we've spent X number of dollars on it already. That's my feeling. It's been my feeling since the beginning and it's nothing new. Unless the Minister can prove it to me, then I can't support it. Or, if he can give me some conditions where I know that the revenue generated from the income, the net profit, would go toward the betterment of the people of the Northwest Territories, I could support it. However, at this juncture, it doesn't seem that way.