Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to speak on a couple of issues affecting housing in my riding of North Slave. I am concerned with the delivery of the market housing initiative in the North Slave in 2005. This year, the community of Rae-Edzo was fortunate enough to receive six units. If there is a need for market housing units in the three other communities in the North Slave, they will have to be shipped in by the winter road usually before April 15th. This is the only option, Mr. Speaker. The last time I looked, there wasn't a summer barge program to Gameti or my two other communities. So if we decide that the program will continue in 2005, the Housing Corporation is going to have to be prepared to ensure that the needs of the communities without a summer road or barge service are met in a very timely manner. Judging by the performance during the first year of the marketing housing initiative, Mr. Speaker, this caused me some concern.

The other area I would like to talk about is the delivery of repair programs in the North Slave. Many of my constituents wait years to have their units repaired. What has been occurring is that the housing authority waits until they have funding to do a major overhaul on a unit. What I would like to see, Mr. Speaker -- to reduce the strain on tenants and provide them with a measure of hope that someone is actually trying to meet their needs -- would be a piecemeal approach where, for example, in one year, people would have their flooring replaced, or perhaps in the following year the doors and windows repaired or replaced. I am sure if the housing authority was seen to be trying to deal with the issue of inadequacy in a timely manner, the corporation might see an even better result for their 2008 housing survey needs.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that there are a lot of good people working at the local level delivering housing programs in the Northwest Territories. They will, however, be faced with more and more challenges as the federal government reduces funding in the delivery of social housing. The district offices will need to work closely and cooperatively with regional governments and land claim organizations, as well as individual housing clients to get the best value for our diminishing housing funding. Our job as government will be to provide the supports the local housing authorities needs to be successful.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.