Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the Minister of Finance and it's in regards to the new housing concept from the ABCD Company.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, during the Committee of the Whole, I asked the Minister about this beast of, okay, I won't call it a beast, but there is a document, a MOA/MOU, and I understand that this is confidential. I don't know, though, what's in it, but, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to know still, it's still not clear to me what that document commits us to. I do understand the Minister of Finance and Minister of Housing Corporation have stated numerous times that there's no funding commitment to that, but the Minister stated yesterday that it does, and I quote on page 2953, "It does lock us down to the fact that we are working with the one company with a design." Could I ask the Minister what that means? Does that mean that we are locked into using this specific product? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the MOU doesn't tie us down to a contract; it doesn't make any commitments for funding. What it does do is on this concept, on this model, the company has invested millions of dollars coming up with a method of converting workforce housing. It ties us to the fact that if we're going to use that system, it is their system. So we're obviously going to be tied to that company if it is successful in securing the workforce housing project for the pipeline. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Businesses and big companies, it's their regular practice to invest in different product design. There's nothing new about that and there's nothing that should tie us to what we are doing. The Minister stated in his answer just now, he said if we are going to use this product, we are tied to that. I'm still not clear. If we get the funding from the federal government, and if CMHC approves this, and if the pipeline goes, does this mean that we are legally bound to buy this product from this company? Are we excluded from looking at anything else?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of who we're tied to ultimately comes down to if the Mackenzie gas project uses this concept. We are not going to buy this concept and put it out there. The Mackenzie gas project is going to purchase workforce housing. Are they going to buy the typical traditional workforce housing that was pictured in one of the media papers here in Yellowknife, or are they going to work with us in going for this new concept that can be converted at a cost savings than the traditional systems and, if that's the case, then, yes, we will be tied to this one concept that we have been working with. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know there's lots of ifs there, but it's not clear to me whether this document is committing us to make some of those ifs go away. So let me just ask the Minister, is it the government's intention to make it part of its socio-economic impact benefit agreement package with Imperial if the pipeline goes? Is it the government's intention to ask them to buy this product from ABCD Company?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the initial intention we were looking at was looking at some form of conversion of workforce housing for housing in the Northwest Territories. Since then, we have dropped that. It is not part of the negotiations right now. It is seen as a business deal and the Mackenzie gas project has to go out and purchase workforce housing. We're hoping that as they're done with the workforce housing, we can then take that and convert it to housing for NWT residents. But as I stated earlier, the traditional type of workforce housing is not affordable to convert. So if we're going to use this concept, work has to be done upfront to incorporate some features that make these units applicable for residences in the Northwest Territories. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Obviously there are lots of partners involved in this project and there are lots of milestones that have to be met, but one of the things that concerns me is the fact that the federal government has refused to come to this project with their funding at the front end, and even if they're going to have a written agreement, that's still risky. So I would like to ask the Minister if he would commit to making sure that he would work to make the federal government come in at the front end of this project, not at the back end, because I think that really speaks to the liability we're assuming, and unnecessarily. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, both myself and the Minister of the Housing Corporation did present a proposal to the then-Minister of the CMHC and put the option on the table in our preference for upfront funding. We've got to see where the new federal government, new Minister for Housing will take this, and we'll work around that initiative. Obviously, getting the funds upfront means it's a lower cost to the federal government. We've made that known that if their preference is to fund this at the tail end when the units become available, there is going to be an additional and initial indication that they were accepting that that would be the case, but we've still got to get back to the new government and find out if that commitment is still there. Mr. Speaker, as stated, there are many ifs out there, large ones that will stop this from proceeding. One, ultimately, a decision is needed in the favourable of a pipeline proceeding; two is to have the Mackenzie gas project use this concept and, ultimately, without the federal funding, this does not go. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement today I talked about the community capacity building fund that was announced last August. I would like to get an update from the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs on a few things, because I am trying to raise the profile and draw attention to this because I believe there is a deadline coming. What is the deadline for a community to submit projects to the GNWT, to MACA, for approval? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've set the deadline of November 1st, 2006, as the date we'd like to have all the proposals in by from the communities. However, we have established a three-year period of drawdown for those projects for the following three years. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, of the 33 communities in the Northwest Territories that were eligible for this funding, how many of them have already submitted their proposals, have had their projects approved and are on their way to receiving funds? Thank you

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. McLeod.