Mr. Chairman, in regards to the district program officer staff, I would like to know, are the district staff aware of existing government programs and services in regards to policies, procedures in regards to such things as local tenders or basically negotiated contracting guidelines to ensure that they are aware of it. Because I have had some discussions with them; it seems like they are not in full support of it. Regardless if they support it or not, it is a government policy. I would like to know, are they aware that they have to follow government policies and procedures?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister McLeod.

Mr. Chairman, when these folks are brought on board, there is usually a bit of training and they are given an update on all of the policies and that and everything that is expected of them. They are fairly aware of all of the policies as far as the Housing Corporation goes. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, again, why is it the Inuvik regional office does not support negotiated contracting policy?

Mr. Chairman, I think the office has proven in the past that they do support negotiated contracts. There is an opportunity for contractors to build up their capacity. I do know that within the past four or five years there have been nine or 10 negotiated contracts in the region. That is allowing a lot of the small-town contractors to build up their capacity. They do support negotiated contracts. They have let negotiated contracts. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, can I get a copy and a list of the negotiated contracts that have been let in regards to where those contracts have been let? Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, we will be pleased to provide that information to the Member.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Next on my list is Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I note the monitoring aspect of the programs and district operations. I note also that much of our public housing programs are delivered in thermal communities where the financial and environmental costs of power are the greatest and perhaps the opportunity is there for reducing those costs. As part of the monitoring responsibility, what surveys are currently taking place that can help us describe the current electricity demand in our public

housing? I am thinking particularly of the appliances that are provided in these facilities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Polakoff.

Thank you, deputy minister, for that. I am aware of those programs. Those are good programs. I am thinking in a much more modest level here of simply the electrical appliances. I am sure the Minister knows that, in the last few years, efficiencies of appliances, washing machines and so on, you name it, have been so effective that the power demands for those appliances have decreased often in the order of one-quarter or one-third of the original what we might have seen five or eight years ago. But I don’t know if I have ever seen anything that indicates we know what appliances are in our houses. I am wondering, are there surveys happening that actually indicate the age and efficiency of our appliances relative to what they could be in our appliances today.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister McLeod.

Mr. Chairman, we continue to use all Energy Star appliances where we are doing new houses or replace them out. I do know a few programs that have occurred in the past where there was a program to replace a lot of the fridges because they were older fridges, and one community got, like, 75 fridges that were more energy efficient so they were able to go and change the fridges out. The LHOs usually do an inventory of older units so they know exactly what is in their units, what type of furnace they have in there, what make and model number and it goes right down to the appliance. So they are well aware of the appliances they have in there. If appliances become outdated, then LHOs have taken the initiative of replacing these because it helps their bottom line in the long run. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I wonder if the Minister could provide me with convincing information that that is, in fact, being done and that we do know what appliances are in our buildings and that we are not, in fact, continuing to pay for very inefficient appliances in many of our public houses. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I do know for a fact that a lot of these communities, LHOs do have an inventory and they keep track of the appliances they have in there. Having said that, if the Member wants written confirmation, we would be able to provide him with as much information as he needs. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate that commitment from the Minister. I just wanted to ask briefly, I know under our energy priority investments of the Energy Minister’s committee, there is $1 million that has been assigned to the NWT Housing Corporation the previous year, the current year, and it is now extended to next year. I am wondering how are those $3 million... How is $1 million planned for 2011-12 being expended? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Anderson.

That’s all I had, Mr. Chair. It sounds like those dollars are being well spent. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. We’re on 5-53, the NWT Housing Corporation, information item, programs and district operations, operations expenditure summary. Mr. Yakeleya.

I’d like to ask the Minister about this section. Mr. Chair, the operations in Deline, there were some units that weren’t quite finished and completed. I went there a couple of weeks ago and the people were still out of those public housing units. They’re still boarded up, so to speak; no one was in them. I wanted to know why is that? They said it would only be a couple weeks, a couple months, now it’s been months and months and months and the people haven’t moved back into their rental units. I’m pretty sure that maybe it might get done this spring or maybe this summer. Can I ask the Minister how many houses are being renovated and when can these people move back into their houses?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have a number of units across the Northwest Territories at any given time that are being renovated. Our preference is that a lot of this work happens during the summertime when it’s easy to do the work, but we run into some situations where the work is taking a little longer than expected. I’m not sure of the particular details of this situation, but I will commit to the Member that we’ll make some inquiries and we’ll follow up and see what is the status of these particular units and I’ll pass that information on to the Member. Thank you.