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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess the short answer is yes. We are obligated to construct our houses in an efficient and very safe manner. There are codes we are required to follow and we intend to have that practice. It’s something that’s been a challenge for some while now and we are certainly stepping up the requirements. There are checkpoints and we will ensure that happens.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. I always like hearing you say yes. What is the government going to do to fix the problems with deficiencies caused by lack of inspections in the communities, such as mould and poor quality of construction?

We have embarked on a training program for all our technical staff to get training in a number of different areas including mould, and being able to provide advice to some of our tenants in the units who are facing these challenges. We are also training our staff to be a lot more efficient in the areas of home energy evaluations and being able to provide advice in that area. We are also doing inspections all across the NWT with our public housing units and are working with a number of private homeowners and have expanded our programs in both those areas to allow us to do more.

Given that we’ve had additional investment from the federal government, that has helped us a long ways. We certainly expect to see the results demonstrated as we do our 2009 core need assessment.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Public Works and Services. I’m wondering, I’ve read material that indicates the infrared surveys have been done on quite a number of buildings throughout the Northwest Territories. A lot of cost associated with that, travelling and so on. Given that a building is best assessed, at least to start with, by just simply writing a letter or phoning and getting the information on what the energy bills are for heat and power, I’m wondering what the cost of the infrared program is.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Public Works and Services, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I’d have to commit to go and find out what it costs to do an assessment of an infrared type of evaluation on a unit. We have, through Public Works and through our budgets for the last couple years now, been focusing on deferred maintenance and projects in that area. We intend to do the bulk of our facilities, go through an evaluation to see how efficient they are. I’d have to commit to the Member to get back to see what is all involved in each part of this technical evaluation and what it would cost and

whether just making a phone call would serve the purpose.

I appreciate the Minister’s comments. It’s been an issue that’s been raised. We’re looking for efficiencies; i.e. reduced costs and better effectiveness. My understanding is that by simply calling the Power Corporation and other providers that we either own or have at arm’s length, we can find out what the costs are. I’m wondering if the Minister could provide the sequence of events to assure my constituents and the public that in fact the basic common sense measures for a building are applied first. That is, we find out what the power and heating costs are per month or year before we go in with fancy and, I admit, sexy technology, but very costly technology as I understand it, travelling from community to community of the infrared approach.

I am not trained in this area. I have not gone through the outline of what is all involved in a technical evaluation. I’ll commit to getting back to the Member with a layout of all the steps involved as he requested.

Just one last note. I’m certainly not trained in it either, although I have had some experience. I know the community of Whati simply did that for all their buildings. My understanding is, just for the information of the Minister, that the infrared technology can give erroneous results if it’s a windy day, for example, and so on. Perhaps I could ask the Minister if he would check out both the strengths and weaknesses of the infrared technology so that we have full information on which to base decision-making and become more efficient and effective.

I certainly can commit to doing that. We’ll also provide the Member a number of the documents and standards that we utilize to base our investment on and what buildings qualify. We’ll also provide the list that we have already compiled of the buildings that we have evaluated and the facilities that we intend to do upgrades to and have that for the Member’s information.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I appreciate that. If the Minister could just include what the pros and cons are of the infrared technology so that I know that the department’s looked at that, that would be great.

Yes, we’ll commit to doing that.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Getting back to my Member’s statement from earlier today I have some questions for the Minister of Justice. I guess some of the things that are causing me a great deal of concern here in the past little while are at North Slave Correctional Centre. There are no day-to-day mental health services. It looks like there’s no library. As I mentioned, there are 400 books that showed up at the dump. There’s also been a reduction in program delivery staff. I’d like to get a commitment from the Minister today that rehabilitation is something that the Department of Justice and the staff at North Slave Correctional Centre care about. I’d like to ask the Minister what they’re doing to rehabilitate inmates at North Slave Correctional Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member’s questions in this specific area. This is one of the priorities that we have at North Slave Correctional Centre, that in order to rehabilitate the individuals to the communities, we need to give them opportunities. There are all kinds of programs that are offered to them once they enter the facility and upon their departure. We do have various programs, such as family violence, sex offenders, substance abuse, pre-trades, and other key areas where we do have classrooms and we do have a resource room, as well, with education materials. They have the opportunity with a teacher as well. So we do provide as much as we can in this area. There are also aboriginal programs specifically for reintegrating into aboriginal communities. Those are the areas we focus on. Every now and then we do improvements to our programs.

Considering the fact that the government spent close to $50 million on this facility and there was a library -- there was a small library in there until recently -- I’m just wondering why the decision would be made by the centre to throw these books out and turn that little library into an office. What was the rationale behind that?

The books that the Member is referring to that we threw out, those books are outdated. They’re older books that have been passed down from the library and old inventory from YCC days. Also it’s been passed on through first hand, second hand, and third hand. Even back in the ‘70s, books. They were donated to the North Slave Correctional Centre when the Boy Scouts Book Store was closed years ago. These

are old books that refer to travel and self-help guides. They are all mildewed and damaged books. Those are the books the Member is referring to. We tried to give them to other organizations, but they’re so outdated that nobody wanted them. We had to discard those books at that time.

With respect to the library, we do have a classroom and education programs within the facility. So we continue to provide the educational programs to all inmates if they’re interested in upgrading their skills.

The books that I viewed on the front page of the News North today looked like they were in pretty good condition. Getting back to the mental health services located at the North Slave Correctional Centre, there’s no library there and to me a library is a big part of the mental health of inmates incarcerated at that facility, and they should have a quiet place to go and read and a place to look at books. Also, this lack of a day-to-day mental health expert or position at North Slave Correctional Centre, I’d like to ask the Minister what the department’s outlook is on trying to get somebody in there on a full-time basis to address the mental health concerns at that centre.

Certainly that’s one of our long-term goals to deal with mental health on a permanent basis. Right now we have a psychologist on a contract basis and as-needed basis. So we do provide the service to the inmates and will continue to provide the services. It is a need in this facility. On the long-term plans, we’ll deal with that matter on a full-time basis.

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