This is page numbers 39 - 64 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 1st Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was agreement.

Topics

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m very happy to hear that. On the issue of transportation, of course, a great majority of our greenhouse gas emissions are from transportation. Will the Minister commit to ensuring that all of the infrastructure that your departments have a hand in developing will both focus on the mitigation as well as the adaptation? Thank you very much.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. McLeod.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, I’ll be working with my colleague, the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, who has the lead on dealing with climate change, and will communicate that to him. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley. Thank you. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. It is in regards to several letters that I received concerning the whole area of how we assess an individual’s rent. Most of it is based on gross income. I think what we are seeing is a lot of people are being evicted from public housing and also with the amount of money that individuals are left with after they pay their rent and be able to access things such as food and clothing for their families. Mr. Speaker, this is an issue not only here in the Northwest Territories; it is a problem in Nunavut and other jurisdictions in northern Canada. I would like to ask the Minister if he had an opportunity to review the information that I presented to him in regards to the area of refocusing our assessment instead of looking at the gross but looking at the area of net income? Is that something that the Minister is open to?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the most part, the Housing

Corporation has become the landlord. Those programs are administered through Education, Culture and Employment. We have been working collectively together to make sure that we come up with a way community by community to do the assessments with a one-window approach. But the issue the Member raised is one that is on the table before Cabinet and will be dealt with by the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger.

Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regards to the issue of the rent supps that are in place, a lot of these individuals aren’t able to access the social housing subsidy that they were able to get prior to this handing over to ECE. It is becoming a problem. Before they were getting the income assessment by way of the housing subsidy, but yet today they are not. I would like to ask the Minister, is he willing to consider doing an assessment of the program in the Mackenzie Delta riding in regards to ensuring that the programs being delivered as it was supposed to through a transitional process from our Housing Corporation to ECE to see if it is working? If it is, great. If not, let’s fix it.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the government shares the Member’s concern. As I indicated, Education, Culture and Employment has been working with the Housing Corporation. We are engaged in a process as we speak, going across the North community by community to make sure that we have a process that fits in every community in terms of doing the proper assessments. The program hasn’t changed, per se, but we are committed to doing that. I am committing to sit down with committee to review how we intend to move forward. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Short supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me when he will get around to dealing with the communities in my riding in regards to the Mackenzie Delta in regards to the review that he mentioned?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the timeline that we are working towards is to have it concluded by the end of this week. Every community will have been visited by a team of folks from ECE and the Housing Corporation to talk to the

community folks involved in this program delivery to try to work out a tailor-made approach in each community. When that result is in, we will be coming forward with the plan to committee to show how we intend to move forward on this issue. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. A final, short supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

David Krutko

David Krutko Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, later today I am going to be tabling a petition with 81 names on it. I think 81 names in a community are a lot of concerned individuals. I would like to ask the Minister, in regards to these individuals that have signed a petition making the government aware it is a crisis situation, how soon can he act in regards to ensuring that we do this assessment and we let the public know that we are going to act in regards to this serious issue in our community?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these programs are being administered and delivered as we speak. There have been some rough patches that have been acknowledged and recognized. We are working to fix those. I am aware of the concerns of the Members and the Member for Mackenzie Delta in particular. We are working on the concerns as we speak. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Premier. Again, it relates to the Deh Cho Bridge project and what I see as a rush to sign a concession agreement that was, by most accounts, an incomplete concession agreement signed on the 28th day

of September. That was a Friday. It was three days prior to the territorial election on October 1st . I would like to ask

the Premier if, in fact, he would call for a public inquiry as to the conduct of the previous government in dealing with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation and the signing of this incomplete agreement? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Return To Question 26-16(1): Deh Cho Bridge Concession Agreement
Item 7: Oral Questions

November 26th, 2007

Inuvik Boot Lake

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Premier

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of a public inquiry is one thing, but going back to the question, I guess the decision of a previous government, in a sense, what would that accomplish for us? I would instead say, as the 16th Assembly, and as the Premier of the 16th Assembly, I

would undertake a review of the processes and the outstanding issues around that project. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, governments of all kinds, the federal government and other provincial governments, conduct public inquiries on previous governments all of the time. It happens. Case in point is the Mulroney/Schreiber affair in Ottawa. They are pulling him before a committee of Parliament. It happens, I think, when it comes to public money and the rollout of this project, and by most accounts, this process has been flawed. Again, I would like to ask the Premier, will he entertain a full public inquiry into the Deh Cho Bridge project and the processes that were followed in signing that concession agreement on September 28th ? Thank

you.