Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to complete the list of questions I have here on Novel so I can move on. I am hoping that the Minister could give short, crisp answers to some of these questions. Mr. Chair, I think the thing about this is that this project has moved far beyond being a concept. I think it is time that we address some of the detailed questions. The Minister and the president mentioned earlier that there has been a committee organized. There has been a working committee on this. There have been ongoing negotiations. I think that we have the right to expect some of this detailed information as there is a parallel process going on in the committee.
Mr. Chair, I guess one thing good about all of these discussions that are going back and forth is, whether the Minister wants to admit it or not, he is making changes to this project. I remember, about a year ago, he or other Ministers in this House said flatly that there will be nobody in the North who could do anything with this project, and now he is much opened up to the idea that there will be possibilities of northern training, northern labour and business opportunities. Although the level of detail he is talking of is not quite clear. It is still in the idea of sort of possibilities. I think we need, as a government, when we are talking about a $300 million project, we need to get a lot more detail than that.
Mr. Chair, for example, the courthouse idea, a 50 or 60 million dollar building, we are putting in $1 million just to do a detailed study on it. A lot of projects like this require a half-decent feasibility study, a market analysis, and a cost-benefit analysis. That is just what goes on all the time. I don't mean to harp at this point, but the Housing Corporation is an organization where it just went under an audit review where a brilliant concept of selling housing to Russia didn't really work out. I cannot, in my mind, sit here and say, okay, I believe in this concept. I accept the concept. I like your ideas. Go to town on it. I am going to continue to ask these questions. Even if we make progress reluctantly, I am still going to be happy with getting the details out, than going with the dream.
Mr. Chair, in the answers to the written questions that the Minister provided, I asked questions about how he foresees the NWT coming up with 1,400 units and 1,400 land spaces. I can't even imagine how they are negotiating in CMHC. I would think if I were to go to a bank and say I want to borrow $200 million or whatever because I want to build a house, the first thing they are going to ask me is, where are you going to put it? Where is your land? You are not supposed to be able to get even financing unless you have land. We understand how complex land issues are. That is even beyond Minister Krutko's control. What I need to see, though, is his, like, well-designed conceptual idea about how this is going to work. Whether it is a committee or it is the Minister of Finance or MACA or Cabinet or somebody with brilliant minds at the other end, I want them to have thought of it as, okay, how are we going to come up with 1,400 lots. Can I even get an idea about who are the players? What about land tenure? Are we negotiating with regional governments, self-governments, local governments? How long would it take? Where would it come? Where are we with that? The year 2011 is not a long time away. When I ask questions about how you are going to come up with the 1,400 lots, 100 a year, that is going to take 14 years. What are you going to do with these lots while they are waiting to be placed? Voila! The Minister writes me back and says, actually, it is not going to take 14 years. We are going to move this 500 at a time; 500 lots. I need the Minister to...He doesn't have to give me all that information now. If he can commit to giving me a very clear picture about how this land selection, land identification and land infrastructure is going to work, I will be happy with that because I have about four more other questions.