Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm going to weigh in on the Novel housing project at this point. I have a lot of other questions, but I'm going to weigh in on that one. I have had the opportunity to go to Calgary to the ATCO plant. I've seen their acres and acres of infrastructure there and buildings, and I have seen the conversion units, which are workforce complexes converted to single-family dwelling. I was -- I believe some of my other colleagues who attended there -- very, very impressed with the concept that we could take something which would normally be depreciated from the transportation to and from, and basically an investment that would essentially be depreciated over the course of the construction of the pipeline, and actually do something that would have a residual product at the end of the day located already in the North where it could go to serving a useful purpose. So to the concept of something that versatile and that flexible, I guess I don't like seeing things wasted and the whole idea of building the conversion into the camp units, for lack of a better description. I know it's workforce housing now that's the politically correct word, but the whole idea of building and the ability to convert it in at the time of construction I thought was quite a brilliant
concept, and obviously so did ATCO and that's why they patented the idea.
Having said that, there are lots of details about this deal that's a little bit hard for us to contemplate, not being a party to all the negotiations and the briefings and the expert work that's going into this. But some of the questions that I have about it are what are we going to do about northern participation in the ATCO proposal, the Novel proposal. Certainly when it comes to capacity, I'm sure that ATCO is one of the more well-known companies when it comes to this kind of construction. However, as some of the Members have pointed out, they're probably not the only people who have capacity. I would say probably on a large scale of a magnitude of what we're looking at, they may be the only one in Western Canada; maybe the only one in North America, for all I know. However, I don't know if there are pieces of this huge undertaking that could be carved off in some way that could be made available to northern companies.
There are components, there is the issue of assembly, there are issues of the fact that I'm sure they use tradespeople and they probably even train tradespeople in the areas of mechanical, electrical, carpentry, things like that, even when these things are constructed in their own plant in Calgary. I am, I guess, kind of cautiously or conditionally...Well, let's just back up. What I want to say is that I am supportive of the idea of having something left at the end of the day after these units have been used for workforce housing in the North. I think the idea and the concept of those units being converted into something that can go to alleviate the housing needs in our communities is a good principle.
So at a high level, I can tell you that for sure. How we work out achieving that and how we obtain value-added along the way, not just the units at the end of the day and not just the work associated with the conversion of the units at the communities and setting them up and all that and all that kind of economy that will be created by that exercise at the end of the day, I am very interested in the business case that will come forward that will show more significant northern participation than that. It is my understanding that ATCO is amenable to that kind of northern content and northern participation; at least I have to assume so. I wasn't in Hay River when they came there with the Minister, but I believe a representative of ATCO came to Hay River with the Minister and, in fact, had a firsthand look at some of the manufacturing capacity, shipping capacity, all those kind of things in Hay River. I'm not saying Hay River is the only place for any of that, but it might be the most obvious place seeing as that would probably be where the rail comes to, the road comes to, and the barge operation takes off from. Seeing as most of these things are going downriver, I mean, Hay River might be the obvious spot. Could I say that? Okay.
I believe there was a representative of ATCO Structures with the Minister, so judging from that, I would take that as a signal from this large corporate entity that they are interested in what the North has to offer this project on the front end and during, not just after the fact. I think that's a good thing and those are the kinds of details I think we need to work out that would make such a deal as this fly.
I do have some concerns about the number of units and I guess whether it's possible to gauge upfront whether there really would be uptake in the communities. Now, the Housing Corporation is talking about taking on half of the units. So if there's 1,400 units at the end of the day, that's another 700 units to market in a number of communities. I know, also for example, that there's a 400-man camp going in Hay River. I would suggest that you would probably affect the housing market in Hay River if you left the units that were occupied by 400 people during the construction of the pipeline in Hay River at the end of the construction. I would say that you would significantly impact the housing market in Hay River for the next 20 years.
So I think that market disruption and those kind of things need to be taken into consideration and I'd like a lot of clarity around which communities, how many units, and the ones that the Housing Corporation would not be accessing. Who did you have in mind that was going to buy them? Would it be through NWT Housing Corporation programs, like homeownership programs, or is that already encompassed in the 700 that you're earmarking for our needs? I guess there's just a lot of unanswered questions and on a project of this magnitude. There is the potential for a significant liability, which I don't think this government wants to play that kind of a game when it comes to risk in assuming financial liability. So this all needs to be really, really well thought out. But certainly, like I said, I offer my support to the concept absolutely conditional on the level of northern participation, and I think the Minister has seen firsthand that there is a tremendous capacity here in the North, as well, to enjoy some of the benefits on the front end.
So, I don't have a single question on that, but if the Minister wants to respond to that, he could. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.