Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to the conclusion of these negotiations the Minister's going to have with the federal government Minister and looking at ATCO. In the meantime, Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister here in terms of there's a high core need of housing in the Sahtu, specifically Colville Lake has 75 percent of core needs. What is the Minister doing between now and the time the deal is completed, and done, and wrapped up, in terms of this Novel manufactured homes? What is the Minister planning to do now in between? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I noted in the report to Committee of the Whole, we are proceeding with a proposal that we put forward to the federal government to build 500 houses in the next three years, which we are moving forward on the first part of that initiative where we're hoping to build 118 houses this year. A lot of those houses have been identified for the high core need communities. So that's the first step, is to get the 500 houses on the ground, and then the second phase is to move forward with the Novel concept at the end of the construction of the pipeline. So that is our plan moving forward: 500 houses over the next three years, and, after that, 1,400 houses of the Novel.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister's indicated to the House here in terms of negotiations with the federal Minister on the ATCO concept. I want to ask the Minister in terms of what is his department doing in terms of preparing local employment of people who are ready to take the training, people who are ready to get on board with the ATCO, should it go through with the successful negotiation in terms of preparing our people to start developing these skills at certain locations in the North, also in Calgary. When can we see a blitz on deployment of these homes? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regards to the affordable housing funding that was earmarked by the federal government, the 1.6 billion; in that, there was a major component which included resources dollars to train people, especially in aboriginal communities, to take advantage of the different trades, the building trades that we're going to need these people in. So, Mr. Speaker, we are working, along with our federal counterpart -- CMHC -- to develop a human resource plan to go along with the introduction to federal dollars that will be expended. So we will be able to train people on the worksites with the first 500 houses we get on the ground, and have those people ready and trained so when Novel comes around, we have already identified the human resources to do it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister provide to me in terms of the type of dollars that will stay in the Northwest Territories as a result of this type of a deal that we're talking about in terms of Novel, in terms of material, employment, supplying, in terms of what type of dollars will stay in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a large component of the $200 million that has been identified will be spent in the Northwest Territories. A major component of that, we're looking at almost $860 million which will be spent on the human resource labour force that we're going to need, which encompasses some 1.2 million person hours of employment. Also in regards to the logistics, we're looking at spending almost $200 million to get these units into communities, site development work that's going to be needed. So a major portion of these dollars we're expending as a government will be expended in the Northwest Territories and also create employment after the pipeline project goes, somewhere in the range of three or four years of employment. So that will stimulate our Northwest Territories economy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question today is also for the Minister of Housing just with respect to some of the initiatives that they have, and Novel is one of the big ones that is making lots of media attention in Yellowknife and throughout the North. I just want to say that as a representative from a riding that desperately needs housing, that the Novel housing makes sense to my people. They're saying if you're going to bring up these units for construction and convert them to homes, that's a good idea. So I'm here to say that there's good quality homes out there and some innovative solutions converting these workplace trailers into homes. That makes sense to me and it makes sense to my people, Mr. Speaker. I, too, am concerned about accountability, Mr. Speaker. So one of the questions I would ask the Minister is tell us, is the Minister and is this government actively lobbying Imperial to buy this product? Is there some secret backroom deal that this side of the House doesn't know about? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are ongoing discussions with the Mackenzie pipeline group in regards to how we can obtain these units after the project is over. Our opening suggestions go in and we tried to get it at zero and we take it over on site, but that's part of the negotiations. There is ongoing negotiations that are taking place. But again, the federal government, who plays a very important role on this, is also involved through CMHC. CMHC is the group that we're hoping to be able to finance the front end, and the dollars we invest will be used to basically get these units into communities, get the land developed, and do the conversions in communities. So we're looking at doing most of the site development work using our money and also generate the employment for people to do the conversations. So right now there is no price set on exactly what the purchase cost of these are.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. All these millions that we're throwing out there, like 160, 190, 250, 500 million, is that actual expenditures today, Mr. Speaker? Where's all this money coming from? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Speaker, zero dollars have been exchanged to this date. No money has switched hands. It's simply developing a business case to buy a product down the road. We have not exchanged any dollars. We have not made any financial commitments at this time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Does part of the vision of housing our north, does that include having northern opportunities, training a northern sustainable workforce to create these houses and many other houses that are to come, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, like I stated to Mr. Yakeleya, we are working with CMHC to access the 500 units we want to put on the ground in the next three years. As part of delivering those 500 units, we want to develop also a human resource component and ensure that the monies stay in the aboriginal communities. So that is the very important component for the next three years for the 500 units. But as part of doing that, we also are developing a human resource plan for the Novel housing on exactly what logistical costs are going to be associated and what training's going to be needed to do the conversation. So we're trying to put these two projects together. First three years, get the people trained on the 500 houses we're going to be putting in communities, identify those people at the front end and use the same people to do the conversion with Novel once we take them into communities. So we will identify the human resources with the 500 units over the next three years.