Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, in his statement the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation made on the 30th anniversary of the NWT Housing Corporation he spoke of the significant strides the corporation has made in improving and supplying housing here in the Northwest Territories. I would say we have gone a long way in addressing the housing needs for northerners, but we have a long way to go yet before we can say we have made real progress and have met the housing needs of northerners.

Madam Chair, based on the figures contained in the 2004 housing needs survey and the fact that the federal government, through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, will be reducing the funding available for the delivery and construction of social housing in the Northwest Territories to zero by the year 2034, I would say that the Housing Corporation will be hard pressed to construct and maintain any new social housing here in the Northwest Territories.

We are going to be losing over $33 million a year in funding by the year 2034. I am not sure, Madam Chair, that we will be able to replace that money.

I look at initiatives in my riding of North Slave. The six market units in Rae-Edzo are a start. There are a lot of people working at the diamond mines who can buy their own units and I see the need for the Housing Corporation to develop a program to get these people into their own houses. I am not sure that the existing programs have enough funding available for them to do anything meaningful.

Madam Chair, in my Member's statement earlier, I spoke of the need to modify the repair programs. I think we need to resolve some pride of ownership on the part of social housing clients. If the place is a dump, you are going to treat it like that and possibly do even more damage. That's just human nature. These people aren't being malicious.

Madam Chair, the corporation has to come up with a viable, realistic plan to deal with the federal funding loss and part of that plan has to be convincing the federal government to reopen the purse strings, which they aren't planning to do currently.

Madam Chair, those are my comments with regard to the Minister's statement on the 30th anniversary of the NWT Housing Corporation that was moved into Committee of the Whole. Thank you.

---Applause