We’ve been trying to work very hard with the tenants of Paulatuk housing. We’ve seen quite an improvement in the collection rate in Paulatuk. It’s steadily climbing. The assessments have improved dramatically in Paulatuk. The reassessments that I mentioned to the Member, I think when he asked earlier, have been completed and there’s been a substantial drop in some of the arrears for a lot of the folks in Paulatuk. I know in one particular case alone it’s almost like $100,000 has been removed from their arrears. That’s a significant improvement.

We’ve tried on many occasions to work with them. I’ve seen some notes where 17, 18 letters have gone out. People have come in, entered into repayment programs. Those who have honoured their repayment programs are still in the units. Those that didn’t honour them are the ones that are, unfortunately, being evicted.

The people that are being evicted are the ones that entered the repayment program and half of them have no jobs. So how can they repay? You’re either buying food for your kids, trying to feed them, clothe them, or pay your rent. Or pay your power bill. All these bills that I’m talking about are all too high in the smaller communities. Can the community government, can the Hamlet of Paulatuk approach the Housing Corporation to take over the Paulatuk housing under the Hamlet of Paulatuk and run it themselves? Is that possible?

To answer the first part of the Member’s question, we’re always willing to work with the tenants. If there are some hardships that tenants run into, all they need to do is go see the LHO. We’re not without a heart. They’d be willing to talk with them.

As to the second part of the Member’s question about whether or not the hamlet can take over the provision of housing, we’re always open to those types of suggestions. If the hamlet wants to seriously consider it, sit down with the Housing Corporation, then I’m sure there are arrangements that we can work out.

I’ll say it right now publicly, that they have to understand that they’ll still be expected to collect that rent, because without being able to collect that

rent they will have to use a lot of their own money to look after the maintenance. So they do need a revenue. But that’s one of the things that we can discuss with them. The opportunity is there.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m really happy to hear that. The Minister says the Housing Corporation has a heart. I’m asking the Housing Corporation to stop all the evictions as of today. To try to rework and get re-agreements put back through the person that’s in that predicament and put it into workable agreements where they’re able to pay something. Is the Minister willing to do that?

Evictions are the last resort. Evictions are something that have taken maybe a year or two to get to. We’ve given folks the opportunity to honour their repayment plans that they’ve agreed to enter into and we don’t want to evict anybody.

All we’re asking people to do is honour the agreements that they’ve made. We’ve seen an improvement across the Northwest Territories in the collection rate. Some are up at 127 percent. The majority of them are 99 percent. Since we’ve taken it over, back from ECE, and the assessments are being done by the LHOs, we’ve seen the collection rate go from 82 percent to 93 percent. So that’s quite an improvement. If we could do this for the community, then we’re telling the rest of the Territories you don’t have to pay your rent and we’re not going to evict you. That’s the whole principle in this.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister responsible for PPD, petroleum products division. It’s in regard to the price of products, especially in the community I represent of Tsiigehtchic where the price of gas is $1.71 a litre, yet it’s a government-run operation.

I understand there’s a $5 million Petroleum Revolving Fund that’s there to subsidize these isolated communities to allow them to have a price that’s close to being competitive with the regional markets. I’d like to ask the Minister why it is that we are not using the Petroleum Revolving Fund to offset the high cost of petroleum products in those communities that we have an operation.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do have a Petroleum Products Revolving Fund that we use to soften the blow of any price increases and we have been using it. We use it in a lot of our communities. However, the petroleum products program is based on full-cost recovery. The costs are based on what it takes to purchase the fuel, deliver the fuel, and have somebody, an agent in the community be responsible for the community delivery.

I believe the program must have been working at one time, because you were able to get the cheapest gas in the region from the community of Tsiigehtchic where this petroleum products division operates. Now they are the highest in the region. Other suppliers of those products are cheaper from other outlying communities, whether it’s Aklavik, Inuvik, or Fort McPherson, which are adjacent to this community. I’d like to ask the Minister, can you look into if the subsidy was applied in the community of Tsiigehtchic and why is it their rates are the highest in the region?

We certainly can check. I believe any time there’s a price increase in the community, the community is notified along with the MLA. So that notification would have been made. We also notify and get permission from Cabinet to use the fund that is in the Petroleum Products Revolving Fund. The prices include product costs, transportation costs, sales commissions, any O and M costs for the tank farm, and our fuel is purchased on a different format than the private industry does. In many cases, such as Tsiigehtchic, there are, and have been, occasions where our fuel was the lowest in the region. It all depends. It depends on what the purchase prices are at the time that we buy it and what it costs to land it on the ground. We will certainly follow up and see if a subsidy was provided in the case of Tsiigehtchic.

I had an opportunity to speak to the operator in Tsiigehtchic and the regional director of petroleum products division in Inuvik, and he says that their understanding was that the subsidy was not applied, for one reason or another. So I would like to ask the Minister if you could check if the subsidy was applied to the operation in Tsiigehtchic, and if so, could you give me a response back? Also, can you give me something in writing so that I can provide it to the community?

The fuel subsidy is not always automatically applied. We try to utilize the fuel subsidy to lessen the impact when there is a fairly huge or large discrepancy in what was being charged for fuel from one year to the next. That’s the situation that we look at. It’s not an automatic issuance of the subsidy. We don’t provide subsidies

to every community. In some cases, in some years we don’t provide any.

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

Can the Minister tell me, out of the $5 million revolving fund how much money is left in the fund, and how has it been allocated and distributed?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to pick up on my Member’s statement from earlier today where I was talking about the root causes of crime in our community. It also has a direct impact on the level of homelessness that we see, especially here in Yellowknife.

I’ve been a Member of the Legislature now for eight years. The topic of a dedicated, stand-alone drug and alcohol treatment centre located in the city of Yellowknife has been a topic of discussion for that eight years, and even before that. I’d like to ask the Minister where exactly is a drug and alcohol treatment facility on the government’s radar going forward.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are no new treatment facilities in the capital plan in the foreseeable future for Health and Social Services. There are many other projects, but there are no new plans for imminent treatment centres.

We’re hearing it from residents, business owners, and constituents about the level of crime in our community, the fact that addictions seem to be getting much worse, affecting young people in our community, and as a government I’m just wondering what we are doing about it. I’d like to ask the Minister how exactly does the Government of the Northwest Territories measure and evaluate the success and/or failure of the programs and services related to addictions in our territory.

There are a number of ways to do that. Some of the most obvious ones, of course, are to see if there are clients and if they return or if they don’t. If they don’t return, is it because they have successfully dealt with their addictions issues?

The fundamental issue goes way back. The Member talked about root causes and it’s something we all struggle with. The first, most fundamental issue is getting individuals born healthy. That’s probably the biggest challenge. As the Member has indicated, in Yellowknife there are concerns. It’s the ultimate, biggest magnet in the community we have. There are a lot of services here that attract people. It is a challenge to deal with all the folks as they come through town.

What the government is currently offering and currently doing is not working. I’d like to get some type of commitment from the Minister that the government in its transition document going forward into the next government will identify the area of addictions and how we deal with addictions as a government as a key priority for the next government. I’d like to get a commitment from the Minister that that will be there and that they will examine all the programs and services related to addictions here in the territory.