Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On the purchase of existing units, there is an assumption that units are built in accordance with a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Standard or they would not be able to get beyond the design phase in most of the communities where units are built. When we buy units that are pre-manufactured or pre-built in the south, we require that those units have a Canadian Standard Association sticker on it to insure they meet that standard.
Debates of July 5th, 2000
This is page numbers 467 - 532 of the Hansard for the 14th Assembly, 3rd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairman.
Topics
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 518
Beaulieu
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 518
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 518
Paul Delorey Hay River North
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am kind of wondering why they have that criteria in place that they have to meet Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation standards? Does the Corporation have engineers that, when they say a building is Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation approved or built to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation standards, then the Corporation goes on that basis that they are making a good investment into a house?
I know of one situation in particular that was given Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation approval, that was built to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation standards. People that buy houses and access the corporation funding are not necessary design or construction engineers and if a situation happens where the Corporation gives its stamp of approval on a house and puts funding into it, then this is to assist a homeowner that has to go out and get a mortgage on top of that. Seeing as the house is approved by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation standards, the bank also goes along with that because they know the Corporation is already given its approval that it has met Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation standards so the bank is comfortable with lending money.
Who is responsible when a situation like that happens? When it is determined that it is not Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation standard by a long shot?
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 518
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 518
Anderson
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The main goal in this area is really health and safety. When clients decide to buy homes, the Corporation is more than prepared to assist them in assessing that unit up front to make sure that it meets the code.
In cases where we are doing repairs to units, there are situations where scope work is developed and then once you pull the interior walls apart, for example, there are electrical problems. Those things should be added in to the mix to increase the scope work to bring the unit up to speed.
But the Corporation is more than willing to work with clients, to help provide technical services to assist them in assessing houses that they wish to purchase. Thank you.
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 518
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 518
Paul Delorey Hay River North
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I still have not received the answer to the question that I am looking for, as far as why Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation? Why is Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation criteria in there? If it is not, if they need that standard before they lend money, and then it is determined after that it is not, then who is responsible? Is it the engineer that said, "Yes, the building meets Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation standards"? Is it the homeowner? Is it buyer beware? Is the Corporation just going through the motions of saying we need Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation approval? If we do, then I would suggest that you need an engineer that is qualified to say, "Yes, this building meets Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation standards and you are making a good investment and so are the people who are buying it".
What I really want to know is, why is that criteria in there? If it is in there, then why is it there? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 519
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 519
Beaulieu
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It seems like the Member was at one time referring to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation as a construction standard to build houses and look at the technical aspects of a house.
The question has gone to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation from what I understand. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation insures the loan of a purchase of a house, and that is protection for the bank on the loan. It is not Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation protecting the technical reliability of the unit. The technical reliability of the unit is the responsibility of the purchaser to get an engineer to ensure that it meets the standards required so that the house is not falling apart soon after it is purchased.
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 519
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 519
Paul Delorey Hay River North
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know that I have dealt with building houses before that had to meet standards by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. They do not vary much from that. When a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation inspector comes by and they make sure that it meets Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation standards, they are pretty thorough. You do not go beyond that stage that you are at if it is not meeting those criteria. That goes on throughout the whole building process. I am wondering why the Corporation would even have that criteria in there if they do not have a building inspector that is qualified to do that and if they can just go ahead and say, "Yes, it meets Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation standards, and go ahead." Then it is determined very shortly after that that in fact it does not. By now, an individual has already taken out a $90,000 mortgage or $100,000 mortgage and their house is falling apart under them. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is involved and they have criteria involved. Somewhere along the line, I think somebody should be responsible.
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 519
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 519
Roger Allen Inuvik Twin Lakes
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a difficult question to respond to, but again I will call upon Mr. Beaulieu to see if he can lend some technical advice on this specific matter. Thank you.
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 519
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 519
Leon Lafferty North Slave
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a question about seniors housing and palliative care together. The Minister did say that there is going to be an increase in seniors in a few years to come. I am just wondering if they have a long range plan to make sure that there are facilities for long-term care and palliative care for some of the senior facilities that they have in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 519
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 519
Roger Allen Inuvik Twin Lakes
No, I expressed that same issue to the Member for Yellowknife South, that we were not involved in extended care facilities. We are strictly looking at senior independent housing and also looking at seniors' housing as part of the public housing units. I believe that is under another department's jurisdiction and we did not want to border on that. Thank you.
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 519
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 519
Leon Lafferty North Slave
Just following up on some of the questions this morning on the Business Incentive Policy, I did not support the Business Incentive Policy in certain areas in the social envelope in purchasing only. What are the statistics that you have in building homes for the homeowners where, as you said, if there is not 51 per cent, the Business Incentive Policy does not kick in? Do you have stats that show how many homes are built with the Business Incentive Policy and how many are built without the Business Incentive Policy? This is not with northern manufacturers. This is just the purchase of materials. Thank you.
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 519
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 519
Roger Allen Inuvik Twin Lakes
Well, Mr. Chairman, I do not believe that we have the specific information at the moment. We would like to respond back to the Member here with the specific answer if he could provide us with a written question. We will provide the answer as soon as we can. Thanks.
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 519
The Chair David Krutko
Sorry, we are in committee of the whole. We do not have written questions. If you can get that information before we conclude. I will ask Mr. Lafferty if he has another question on that, just for clarification. Mr. McLeod.
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
July 5th, 2000
Page 519
Michael McLeod Deh Cho
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My comments are on the housing situation that seems to be happening across the board and all the smaller aboriginal communities. Over the last while, it seems we have not been able to provide housing to a lot of the people in the communities.
For example, in Fort Providence, I know for a fact that we had upwards of 25 people apply for houses last year. We could only provide two. They had to be IHP houses because nobody qualifies for the Expanded Downpayment Assistance Program houses. That program does not seem to work in the smaller communities.
As the land claims groups and the aboriginal groups in the regional organizations are demanding more and more jurisdiction and more authority, placing more demands on this government to run their own programs, I think we are going to see a lot more requests to look at the block funding type arrangements where they can provide their own houses. The way that we have designed this whole department to provide houses proves to be very costly.
Houses that are probably only worth $80,000 on the real market end up, because of the Business Incentive Policy and other factors, coming out to $150,000. Nobody can afford the house and if they can, it becomes very expensive on a monthly basis. We all know that the housing program is being funded on a reduced or declining scale.
Down the road, the money is going to become even scarcer than it is. While we all live in the communities that are facing housing shortages, we have people with nine, ten and sometimes more in the house. We cannot deal with the issues that are out there facing us, such as healing and education.
I can see the aboriginal governments demanding more control over their block funding so they can provide their own type of management and try to meet the demand that is out there and not be restricted by the different formulas and guidelines this department has right now.
I wanted to ask the Minister if there have been any requests by any of the aboriginal governments to run their own housing programs.
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 520
Committee Motion 19-14(3): Recommendation That The GNWT Not Make Any Further Reductions In Funding To The Northwest Territories Transportation System (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 520
Roger Allen Inuvik Twin Lakes
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to advise that throughout our travels into the small, rural communities throughout the Northwest Territories, block funding is normally brought up in joint partnerships in the discussions. They can provide suitable and affordable housing, much more cheaper than we can as a Corporation. We have been dealing with them on a one-to-one basis. It depends on which communities that have entertained that idea. Thank you.