Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to comment briefly in support of this motion, as the seconder of this motion. Mr. Speaker, I must say I have tried to remember all of the arguments in support of this transfer that came about in some of the discussions we had in the committee meetings and such, and I have to tell you I cannot really think of one good rationale as to why this move was made, other than to say what the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes has already mentioned, which was that there should be one-stop shopping, so to speak, for housing subsidy programs.
I remember being advised before all the details were worked out about the implications of moving this program. The statement was made that the money should be transferred to ECE and that the details and more of the merit of the case will be brought before the committee
members after the fact. Now that I have heard from the constituents all over the Territories, I am more convinced than at the time, and I was not entirely convinced at the time, that this was not the right move. If it is the right move, the government has not met the burden of making their case.
Mr. Speaker, when we went out on the road over the summer months to do pre-budget consultations, I cannot tell you...There was not one community where the issues about this did not come about. This is a big issue for those people in Yellowknife who are getting housing subsidies through the Housing Corporation who are now having to go to ECE. When we were in Sachs Harbour, I learned, once again, how we are so insulated from the implications of a small decision, which we thought was more of an efficiency situation, about government doing things more efficiently. There was not any new additional money being put forward for housing subsidy and, in fact, I think this transfer has cost the government more money, because now ECE is having to create new positions to do that.
What we learned, that really surprised me, in Sachs Harbour, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that the housing worker that has a job there and has always done this could not do it anymore, and now we are seeing situations where in small communities their files are being moved to regional headquarters and bogging down the system even more than it was before. If at all possible, government should be making changes to either enhance the program, improve the program, and have more benefits at the user level. I tell you, this transfer is something that didn't make sense at the time, that has not made it's case by the government thus far, and that until the government establishes their case for this and meets the burden of proving that, I am in strong favour of moving this program back to the Housing Corporation until the government establishes and proves their case.
So just in short, Mr. Speaker, I think this has caused nothing but heartache for the people who are applying it. It has not added any more benefits to the beneficiaries of the program. It has caused a great deal of stress to the workers in the field who are delivering these programs, and I think government has an obligation to take it back and revisit it and make it better before they come to us again to do that. So for that reason, Mr. Speaker, I will be voting in support of this motion. Thank you.