Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

I, too, could ask my questions of one of two Ministers. I am going to choose to ask questions to the Minister who now is responsible for

the Social Housing Policy, and that is Minister Lafferty.

It has been just over three years since what I would consider one of the most mindboggling decisions was made by the previous government. That was to take something that, for all intents and purposes, was working with the Social Housing Policy being delivered by LHOs. It wasn’t broken, and to absolutely break it and in the process spend another $1.5 million and hire 14 people to administer the program, it continues, again, Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, to defy any logic. I would like to ask the Minister of ECE how much the four consultants that the government has hired to review this program are costing the taxpayers of the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We did hire consultants to review the Public Housing Rental Subsidy that has been transferred from Housing to ECE. They are in the final stages of conducting their review. We should have an internal report next month, in November. I don’t have the exact figures of how much the cost will be, but it is from internal Education department that is covering the costs. Mahsi.

About 18 months ago, I believe, I was at a briefing where the Minister and his staff brought forward an internal review that the department had done on the transfer. I am just wondering how the work that these consultants are conducting is any different than the internal review that was conducted by the department themselves, and that was about 18 months ago, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, this review is between ourselves, as Education, Culture and Employment and the NWT Housing Corporation, conducting reviews in various communities such as Behchoko, Inuvik, Tsiigehtchic, Norman Wells, Deline, Fort Simpson, Fort Providence, Fort Smith, Hay River, Hay River Reserve. Those are the communities that have been undertaken. We have had an internal ECE review done in the past, but this is more going out to the communities, those communities that we may not have touched before. It is more widespread than the previous assessment that we did. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, the previous government didn’t go out to the communities and didn’t ask anybody what they thought. They just took the $30 million and put it in ECE and hired 14 people to deliver the program, Mr. Speaker. I think that is the problem. The previous government didn’t do its homework when it comes to the LHO and the delivery of the Social Housing Policy. I would like to ask the Minister, are these four consultants all

working for the same firm or are they all independent consultants, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as Members would know, this process has been approved by this House. At the same time, these Members asking about the individuals that are on this review team, they are independent consultants with their various expertise in different areas. That is part of the reason why we chose these individuals. They have a variety of backgrounds that can certainly ask those questions at the community level. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

I was critical of the government not listening. The previous government didn’t listen to Regular Members when we passed a motion. This government hasn’t, obviously, listened when we passed a motion back in March of 2009. The Dene National Assembly made a resolution at their summer assembly. The government hasn’t listened. We hired four consultants to review it.

Like I said earlier, Mr. Speaker, our advice comes for free. When is the government going to actually listen to the Members of this House and the residents in the Northwest Territories that this was a wrong move? Why are we continuing to study it three years later, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, this is, as you know, a huge undertaking. In order to transfer back, we need to have detailed information that we are exploring right now. Once we see the internal report next month, in November, and the final report in December, that is when we will decide what we should do next. At this time, we are gathering all the facts, what is working and what is not working, the root causes of issues that we may be faced with, and the challenges. At that point in time, myself and my colleague, NWT Housing Corporation, will certainly sit down and deal with the matter on a going forward basis. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask my questions to the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. In my Member’s statement I spoke about the difficulty of homeowners who have wood or pellet stoves in our small and remote communities in which I have many in my riding. Getting the insurance requires having those wood stoves certified. I raised this issue last year. The government responded by

training two of our local people, but still, in order to get to the wood certifying level, they are experiencing difficulty. I would like to raise the issue once again with the Minister. Can he look at assisting getting these people certified? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand the Member is concerned with the lack of inspectors in his region and he has raised that issue with me before. There are currently five certified inspectors or technicians in the NWT. Three of them happen to be here in Yellowknife, one is in Fort Smith and one is in Hay River. We currently have had 12 people that are looking to get certified. They are in the process right now.

On another note, the Housing Corporation is looking at the possibility of having their own technical advisors get certified so that they can do the inspections and they are a lot more accessible and will have them out in each of the communities. Thank you.

I was going to raise another point. Our government does provide electrical inspections, plumbing inspections, et cetera, so it is only logical that we have the resources and the building to train people to be wood stove inspectors and assist them in getting their home insurance. The Minister talks about looking at that. Is that a program that is underway right now? How soon will the inspectors be in place to help our communities? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the program is in the early stages right now. Obviously this is like a two-year course to become wood certified, so that would take care of the longer-term solution. It is, with everyone starting to convert to biomass and wood especially, an area that we have identified that would need to have another inspector add on. So if we can add that into the technical advisors’ duty in each of the regions, I think that would go a long way into answering some of the communities’ concerns about having someone come in and inspect their wood stoves. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I’m glad to hear the Minister’s responsiveness in that regard of having the staff doing the inspections. In the short term, Mr. Speaker, there must be a way to assist our constituents, our homeowners in the regions and communities of getting that wood inspector placed in the short term. Does the Minister have any thoughts around that area? Thank you.

I do understand that I have been speaking long term here and the Member makes a good point that in the short term

for now we’d have to see. I have committed to working with my colleague from ENR and we are actually looking at trying to identify some funds so we can assist those who are in need right now.

I think perhaps if I could even suggest the corporation hire somebody on a contract basis and that will see our way of at least getting to travel to communities to help our homeowners get these fireplace inspections, because we are going to move towards providing that service. In the short term, I would suggest that to the Minister and if the Minister can have a good look at that suggestion and maybe provide a response to that.

I will take the Member’s advice and we will look at our options for short term and see what plan of action we can come up with. I’ll advise the Member when we do come up with a plan.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are about the bison herd in the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary that’s located between Yellowknife and Fort Providence. It would appear that the herd has been growing since the original number of animals were put into that area and have been, to some large degree, protected. I’m trying to think of ways that we could utilize that herd as a source of food. I’d like to ask Mr. Miltenberger again today, whether there has been any research done that would indicate whether a greater harvest of these bison would be sustainable.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.