Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To the Member’s point, he talks about the local economic development and the Housing Corporation in partnership with the LHOs are some of the biggest employers in the community whether it’s guys doing maintenance or during the summer you can have up to 16 or 17 people if you’re doing a lot of the M and I work yourself. So we contribute quite a bit in that regard. The local materials, I think I made reference to yesterday, were possible. We’d love to use local materials for construction, however they do have to meet a standard and if those materials were to meet the building standard, then we’d be glad to use them.
Housing is always interested in partnerships. We have partnership with... And the Member and I discussed this yesterday in the Chamber on the good work that Yellowknife was doing, and I said then that we were at the table with them and continue to work with them. It is our intent to be part of the long-term plan on this Affordable Housing Initiative and the affordable housing organization when it rolls out.
So we want to be a part of that. We need to have discussion with committee on some of what they’d like to see in some of our longer term goals as far
as planning, because we’re getting to a point now that unless we work out arrangements with the deep-pocketed CMHC, we’re going to have to look at creative and innovative ways to continue to deliver with some declining funding. So we’re always looking to develop partnerships with folks out there that have the same interests that we do of providing affordable housing to residents of the Northwest Territories. It’s an ongoing process and I’m looking forward to some committee time to seek their input and incorporate that into a long-term vision.