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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of the need to inspect and remediate the black mould in Paulatuk was dealt with through a call for tenders. Arctic Builders out of Inuvik, who are certified specialists in this area, got the tender. They’ve been in to Paulatuk; the houses have been inspected and work is underway to remediate the houses that have been identified with black mould. It is anticipated

that the project will be complete, I understand, by the end of December.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell the Assembly whether the corporation has given any consideration to developing a territorial-wide action plan to deal with this issue of black mould in the NWT Housing Corporation housing stocks? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d be happy to share with the Member the reports and the findings of the Arctic Builders as they did their house inspections and the work that was required. The Member will note in the report that the majority of the black mould was due to non-structural reasons, but it is an issue in many other communities, as well, and, yes, we are trying to come up with a way to identify and deal with this issue before it becomes severely problematic. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister commit to coming to Paulatuk and discussing this with my local housing authority? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I discussed with the Member that we would like to, in the new year, schedule time to tour Nunakput and all the communities in his constituency, including Paulatuk where I’m sure we’ll have an opportunity to discuss that particular issue with the Member and with the community members. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just would like to follow up to questions on my Member’s statement to the Minister of Transportation, just with respect to, and also support, the Member from Mackenzie Delta’s idea of pursuing a territorial highway strategy which includes chipsealing of all our highways. I just would like to ask the Minister what exists in our current

strategy. Does it include a movement towards chipsealing of all our territorial highways? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in our long term, eventually in the long term of highways in the Northwest Territories, we certainly want to look at communities that do not have highways. I mean, right now we’re talking about highways on existing facilities and existing roads. So in the long term, certainly we do have the funds, we have the support from other sources of funding who would look at highways that do require good roads and good drainage and reconstruction of chipsealing. We also have to look at communities and regions that do not have a highway. So we certainly have to start balancing our investment across the North. Mr. Speaker, certainly that’s something that the department is open to and the amount of resources we have, we just have now looking at our own existing dollars that do have paved highways right here.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Well, we could probably debate if we could have 2,000 kilometres of bad road or 600 kilometres of good road where we allocate our expenses. But we are freeing up some money by not spending money on Highway No. 4 and I’d like to ask the Minister, what is our strategy, and if chipsealing all our territorial highways can and will be part of it? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I also say, you know, we can have bad roads and existing roads, but some regions have no roads. So I’d like to look at that also in terms of how we do our investments of highway strategies in the Northwest Territories. Certainly, we’ll continue to improve what we have in the Northwest Territories in terms of a highway. There will be some areas that we need to do some reconstruction. We need to do some dust control. We need to do some further maintenance on some of the paved roads. Certainly, providing that we get the support from the House here and working with committee, we’ll certainly look at other areas that if it requires chipsealing in some of the areas. However, we’re going through the process and hopefully we’re going to have that discussion with committee.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I was asking the Minister that we do have existing roads that do need improvement and I’d like to ask the Minister, are we developing a territorial strategy? I just want to point out as well there, Mr. Speaker, if you allow me, that the Minister is talking about new highways and building new roads, but that’s the mandate of the federal government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you. I really thank the Member, because I certainly like to be reminded that the federal government has a part here. Similar to the parts that now the regions that do have highways, that certainly was the federal government’s responsibility, but I’m certainly looking forward to committee work, looking forward to my department in terms of long-term strategy in terms of chipsealing existing roads in the Northwest Territories. Again, I need to work with my department. I certainly like to welcome working with committee in terms of investing in our existing roads in terms of how we see that in the future.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d just like to point out to the Minister that if he moves towards a territorial strategy of chipsealing all our roads, I don’t think he’ll have very much objection if he moves this in the House and I’d like him to consider that and what stages can he do that, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.