Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I must say I was very happy to see a spontaneous debate break out in this House last week about opportunities for future social housing in the North, precisely the kind of issues that should get us all rolling up our sleeves and looking at the pros and cons of any idea that comes before us.
As well, as I have said many times before, I agree with all the MLAs in this House that the need for social housing in our territory has reached a crisis proportion. In our travels, there is nothing else more urgent, and my colleagues, especially from the small communities, are doing their job well by fighting hard to make something happen for social housing and I support them in that endeavour.
What we should keep in mind, though, Mr. Speaker, is we should keep in mind that together with the help of the federal government and private sector, this government is coming to the table with a lot of money and influence for the benefit of any company who would get this deal, and it's about time that this government started playing hardball on all of its files and stop sending comfort letters and comfort contracts, Mr. Speaker.
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Mr. Speaker, it's time this government starts talking about what the companies can do for us, instead of spending
our budget and influence talking about what we can do for one company. We must not be satisfied with promises of northern participation of business and labour. We must see concrete deals in writing for our people. I would like to see, for example, a northern training centre being built out of this project.
Mr. Speaker, surely $500 million should make any company in the world sit up and take notice. Any company who gets to build housing for Imperial stands to make nothing but money; stands to make nothing but money. They'll get the $235 million from Imperial; $40 million plus for the premium; they'll have backup from this government and the federal government to the tune of $200 million plus, and they will have this government developing some very scarce lots. For this, I'd like to see much more for the northerners.
Anyone who wants to build 10 houses for this government would have to go through a competitive bidding process. Government says that ATCO is investing $10 million on this idea and they're doing their part. Well, Mr. Speaker, Imperial Oil plans to invest seven to nine billion into the Territories and they're going through a three-year public regulatory process. Surely any company who would be hired to build housing for 25,000 workers and turn those housing into 1,400 mobile homes needs to be taken to task for more about what they can do for us.
Mr. Speaker, already, though, I am seeing that our questions about northern labour and northern business...Mr. Speaker, may I seek unanimous consent to finish my statement?