Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate hearing that we're taking more of a strategic approach on how we are going to do business. It sounds as if we're going to do business a little smarter and I just need to know how we're going to approach this. What type of work are we setting up with this administration, the ordering of these modular units, et cetera? I just don't want to hear that in March we're still rushing to get them on NTCL's barges to get them up that road. I just don't want to hear that at the last second it's a major crisis that we're not getting them. I want to hear about us not rushing to get the job done before winter and, to be honest, I don't want to hear that they are only showing up in October and November. Again, these are important items. I'd like some comfort, if I may. I need a little comfort here in order to get my full support on this. I'm really interested in this and I'm behind this, but I need some comfort that we're not going to try to rush this at the last minute and then nobody wants them again at the last minute.

I will say though I appreciate the concept of trying to reconfigure them and consider other options. That opens up different family options for them. Maybe it was for the wrong families, good idea; maybe it wasn't targeted at the market. So I just need to hear areas of how are we doing this and what approach when it comes to setting these up. I don't want to hear we're rushing them through that's all, so maybe it's got to do with schedules and timing. Maybe if you could reaffirm that at this time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Member is right. I think that we should not build too high an expectation like we did the last time where people assumed that we were going to be on the ground and everything set up September 1st when the school season started and the teachers came in and everything was there. As we learned, it wasn't there until late November.

I think we also have to realize that we do have to do better planning because we do have communities, which depend on the barge traffic, but also we have communities who depend on the ice road. So again, it's just a matter of ensuring that we can meet those timelines in case the road goes out and we don't have the units ready. Also the sooner we get this budget passed and the dollars allocated, then we can go out to a tendering process so that we can see what is coming. I think more importantly, like you said, we learned from the first time because now we're separating out the actual mobile home from the land development; that we can do two at the same time. We don't have to wait for one to happen over the other. So hopefully over the summer months before these units even get there, we can have the land designed and also have the power poles and everything in place. So when these units come, we just hook them up, everything's ready. Not like the last time where you try to get these units in and then when you get there, you find out that the pads aren't completed or your power lines haven't been put in. So hopefully this time around we will do it differently by learning from the problems we ran into the first time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Braden. Mr. Hawkins, sorry. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the communities that are on the road systems such as Rae-Edzo, we'll probably do that in a six or eight-month period. We also have to realize that we have communities that are on the winter road system, such as Deline and Rae Lakes. Those ones probably won't be going in until next spring because we're so late in the season now, we're probably going to miss the winter road because they are going to be closing here shortly. With regard to Norman Wells and Aklavik, again, that depends on the barging system. Again, it all depends on water levels and how much the demand is for the barges and how we can fit in.

So again, we are looking probably, like I said, for the isolated communities that depend on the winter road at getting them in next spring. The ones that are on the road system, we're hoping to have them in place by six or eight months after the tenders go out. Then the ones that I mentioned on the barge system, we're probably looking six or eight months. That depends on when barging season starts and also how soon we can get them on there. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. General comments. Mr. Braden.

Madam Chair, there are still quite a number of these units that remain vacant and for the record I would just like to get a bit of information out on what that situation is all about. Could the Minister advise what it is costing on a monthly basis or whatever basis? What is it costing us to maintain and operate these empty units, Madam Chair? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the rough estimated cost is about $460 a month, which includes our maintenance and our heating costs. So it works out to about $460 a month to pay for these units.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Now the corporation has suggested that for the ones that will not be taken up at all by renting to clients in the community, that they may be put out for sale. In fact the Minister has indicated that there seems to be quite a number of active interests for sale. What will the sale terms be, Madam Chair? Are we going to be prepared to sort of discount any of these or forgive the operating or the carrying costs up to this point? What are the corporation's instructions when it comes to capturing their outlay on this? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it is a full cost recovery plus GST. So just using Tulita, for instance, it's $135,000 plus GST. Good Hope is $145,000 plus GST. Fort Liard is $115,000 plus GST. Lutselk'e is $145,000 plus GST and Fort Resolution is $115,000 plus GST. Norman Wells is $135,000 plus GST and Fort Providence is $115,000. All the units in Fort Providence and Norman Wells are occupied.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It sounds like a pretty good price for a new unit in any of these communities. Just how long are we going to have the for sale sign on these units, Madam Chair? I guess what I'm getting at is we have to come to some point where if they aren't saleable, then what do we do? They have to be booked somehow and ideally we should see people using this kind of housing no matter what our original term was. So what kind of time frame, how long are we going to continue to pay out $460 a month for the vacant units, for instance, before we can either sell them at full cost recovery and I'm glad to hear that or do something different? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, as I mentioned earlier as I went through each of the different communities, we do have a very high expression of interest from individuals who are interested in purchasing or interested in renting. I think that's because they are now aware that there is a for sale sign, which we didn't have before. Also, we have been working with other organizations to do a little more promotion and I think that's helped. So in the majority or in just about every one of the communities that are out there now, we have that interest. So if the Member would like, I can give him a copy of the list of where we're at. I think it's also a question of timing. A lot of these individuals are trying to get bank financing. So they are working with different financial institutions to see how they can get the mortgage. So that's taking a little bit of time too. So we are feeling pretty positive right now, because of the amount of interest that has been shown, that we are going to be getting rid of a bunch of these units. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Minister gave me some good information there, but still didn't answer the question, which was what is sort of the outside timeline that we're going to hang on to these before we decide on a different course of action? Right now we're losing money on this initiative. I don't want to lose any more than we have to. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we have to realize that the tenants that we're dealing with, especially now for the tenants that are in there; we have teachers in there, we have nurses in there, we have mental health workers. Most of them work on a term basis. So once their season is over, they may be leaving and not coming back. So we have to ensure that we accommodate for that. Also, we do have, I believe, about 28 staff housing units that we are responsible for in a lot of those communities. Again, at the present time, those are in communities. So I think if we had different types of tenants, the tenants are renting who are there for a short term and also once they leave I think they'll be gone because we do have some rented, we do have some being purchased and I think because the situation is different we can nail down exactly where we're going to be six months or eight months down the road.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Braden.