Mr. Todd.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Excellent question by my honourable colleague from Thebacha. The fact of the matter is, any operation/maintenance costs, not the capital costs, only operation and maintenance costs, on infrastructure, that is going to go into a decentralized government, has to come from the federal government, from what we call on the incremental side. The responsibility, as I said in the budget, and I have said consistently, and I am speaking with Mr. Martin, has to come from the federal budget. It is important on this serious question being asked and the serious discussion/debate that is taking place, on a serious issue, that we get some clarity as to the position of our partners, as to the framework that is being suggested in Footprints 2. Naturally, that is what we are pushing for right now. Once that is done, I

think we will be in a much better position to determine the associated costs and of course the additional funds that are required because it is in a decentralized format. I hope that answers his question. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am fairly confident that the NTI response that we have received, it is my understanding, I was talking to some people on the plane last night that there is a major meeting in Coppermine going on this week. One of the issues on the agenda for the Nunavut Tunnagavik Incorporated, I believe, is the response to Footprints. The Premier, I believe, has corresponded with the Minister of Indian Affairs, asking him if we are going to get a comprehensive response from the federal government. We do not know what that is going to be at this time, or we do not know if in fact we will get one. I am fairly optimistic that we will get NTI's and we will have to push hard for the federal government's. If we get that, then I think there could be substantive progress made in the February meeting in Cambridge Bay. If we do not get that, I would obviously have to seek counsel from my colleagues in the Nunavut Caucus and seek some direction from the Premier as to what course of action we want to take. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Oral questions, Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my Member's statement earlier, we have about 13 homes in the community of Gjoa Haven, and we have about five homes in Taloyoak without the benefit of a running water system. It is not an uncommon sight in a small, remote community in the eastern Arctic, I am sure, as well in the western Arctic, to be walking down the street in a community, past homes without running water on the same street that you see government style homes, that are vacant, with a running water system, with furnacing, with all the comforts of a home that we expect to see in a community.

Sometime when we talked about long range planning, we talked about looking over that horizon. Sometimes we tend to forget the real issues, the real situations in the community, the smaller communities especially. My question, Mr. Speaker, is directed to the Minister of Housing, Mr. Arlooktoo. When does the government plan to address the homes in Gjoa Haven, and Taloyoak, that have no running water? The request has been made some time ago. I am wondering if the Minister will, in this case looking at the brighter financial future of this government, address the need of the community of Gjoa Haven and Pelly Bay, in the area of homes without running water systems? Thank you.

The Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mr. Speaker, as the Member indicated, this is not the first time that he has brought up the issue. He has spoken to me earlier this year about it. I am well aware of the housing situation in Gjoa Haven. Houses without running water in that community are the inventory of northern rental housing units that were turned over to the housing corporation from the federal government, and at this point in time we have set aside about a quarter million dollars for the Kitikmeot area, as its share for improving and modernizing those units. I am told that the majority of that funding will likely go to Gjoa Haven this year. On the issue of empty staff houses, we are aware that in a few communities there are empty staff housing units that are vacant, ones that we have not sold, or are not going to sell. As the Finance Minister said, the financial board secretariat is in the process of transferring them to the housing corporation, and the housing corporation will soon be transferring those to the local housing organizations to be used as social housing.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Supplementary. I would like to thank the Minister for his positive response, but the term he used "likely", gave very little comfort to communities of Gjoa Haven and Pelly Bay. Mr. Speaker, we are, in fact, building access units left, right and centre. Mr. Speaker, we are retrofitting homes with running water systems. When will the Minister address the real problem in Pelly Bay, in Gjoa Haven, and Taloyoak? I am not comfortable with the term "likely". Will the Minister do it, and when? Thank you.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mr. Speaker, the materials for the Gjoa Haven houses will arrive this summer and the work will begin shortly after that. Our limitation is with funding. We have very little funding for modernizing these older units. The federal government has effectively cut off all funding to improve those houses and therefore we are left to find our own funding from the territorial government. We are taking some action. We are spending a quarter million dollars in the

Member's constituency to improve these houses, and that is the best we can do for now.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Supplementary to the honourable Minister. Will the Minister assure this House that conditions like the housing situation in Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak will be addressed during the coming summer? Thank you.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mr. Speaker, the communities in the Member's constituency, as well as all other communities, are participating in the housing needs survey that we are doing at this very moment. Early indications are that we have an immediate need for over 3,500 new units, just to address today's needs. As the Finance Minister said in his address to the House, we have nowhere near that amount of funding. We are doing what we can to understand and to find out exactly where the needs are. Then we will use what little funding we have to address those.

Thank you. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a demand for housing in the NWT, and we can realize that, and I can relate to that. Because people are living in homes without running water, are these people in fact living in condemned homes? Thank you.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mr. Speaker, I would not be able to comment on any specific house without seeing the case, but the northern rental units that are being used without running water are not condemned homes. They do not have the shower or bath facilities that we would like to see in houses to meet health standards. We are doing the best we can to improve them and to put running water into them. As I said, we need them to house the people that are in the community, and it is going to take some time to catch up to what we need to fix them up.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of MACA. It is in relation to community empowerment. I am pleased to see, from the Finance Minister's budget address, that this government is still committed to the community empowerment initiative. We had been told in the past that this government was looking for someone at the assistant deputy minister level to work in this area. We all know that the communities are suspicious of the community empowerment initiative. We have all been anxiously waiting to see who that person would be. We know we are probably going to find a familiar face that communities can trust, that they know is honest to deal with.

I know that there have been about 200 people in Yellowknife laid off this year alone, and numerous others in other communities. I know there are a lot of people out there, and I would like to know if there has been someone at the assistant deputy minister level, or there-abouts, that has been hired to work at community empowerment? Thank you.