Like Mr. McLeod, I go to Fort Smith, I have constituents there. I even go to visit my constituents and ask their concerns. Their concerns, when I went to see them, was that Fort Smith students get priority in choosing where they want to live. Now outside students don't get priority. So why are we putting money into old buildings and trying to upgrade them, and then we find out that outside students are not even getting first choice? They have to go into second-choice buildings. Sometimes there may not be adequate space. I asked for the information from the Minister yesterday to see if we can get some of that information, but to date we haven't received it.
But as for the motion, I will support the motion. It's good government practice to have a needs study. Like the housing study we did, we know where all the needs are and then we spent the money in those areas. But in this case here we haven't done that. We're throwing money into old buildings and trying to keep them in the communities, and at the same time we're not looking at the needs somewhere else. So I ask the government to put a good plan together, get a brand-new building there that meets the needs. Right now if you take the 22 Fort Smith students out, then we're not doing justice to our needs study. With 91 percent, if you exclude 22 of those students, your percentage is in the low 80s, so the need is less. The need then becomes more in Inuvik and also in Yellowknife. We didn't have the percentage of Yellowknife in the needs. We don't know how many students are out there in private accommodations. We know where all the students are living in Fort Smith, but that information is very vague for the other two.
Another thing is that we are putting money into renovations here, and then we're also putting money into renovations in Inuvik to old buildings also so we can put money into Fort Smith. It just doesn't make sense to me. Good business sense is like the Housing Corporation did. They did a great job with their needs study, and that's what we should be doing all over in every department. Just by experience alone, I've been visiting students every year and I know how the accommodations are. They're beautiful accommodations in Fort Smith. I wish something like that could happen in my region but it isn't, so I have to say that I will support this motion and that I hope this government can build new. Thank you.