The case in Deline is there are some vacant units there. They’ve had some issues trying to do the work on these units. We have a modernization and improvement program that’s available every year. We’ve run into a bit of a roadblock there. We’re working closely with the community to try and rectify that, that way these units can be available for allocation.

However, one of the advantages of having public housing through the NWT Housing Corporation is the fact that if people aren’t working, then their rents reflect that. If people do happen to get a job, with the new rent scale review, I think that would reflect that too.

All the conditions are there and things have improved quite a bit. We still need to work with tenants. There are a lot of tenants that are refused for arrears, but we’re always working hard to try and improve that and improve the condition of our public housing units, which are in pretty good shape.

The 2009 survey shows that the percentages are pretty high in the Sahtu region in regard to suitability and adequacy. I would ask the Minister if he would come to Deline or to Good Hope or even Tulita and look at the conditions of some of our units in our communities and at the amount that we’re being charged for these units. We have nine units in Deline that are 42 years old, and we have 32 percent of our housing in Deline

that are 30 years old. I want to ask the Minister, again, in terms of him looking at some ways that are unique that could put people into these units and give them responsibility.

I have to commend the communities in the Sahtu. Their collection rate has gone way up. They’re actually probably one of the best regions in the Territories. I think their collection rate is up to 122 percent now. That indicates that there are a lot of people that are stepping up to the plate, starting to deal with arrears so that they’re able to get back into the public housing portfolio.

Again, we always want to make sure that our tenants are well looked after. The Member talked about the age of the units. We usually have about a 50-year lifespan for the units, with a retrofit after about 25 years to give us another 25 years out of it. The units are in fairly good shape. We have a good condition rating system right now that is being improved, and the community decides how they’re going to allocate their maintenance money based on the condition ratings of the units.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue with Deline is that they’re asking if the Minister would look at the arrears issue, because the people who have arrears have a very slight chance of getting into a unit unless their arrears are cleared up. Sometimes we want them to do it right away; however, that’s not the case. They want to see if the Minister would look at a minimum amount of arrears, say, less than $500 would put them on the eligibility list to get into a unit. Right now it stands that you have to have zero arrears if you move from one community or the next in order to get into public housing. Will the Minister be able to look at that?

Mr. Speaker, as I said before, the clients of the public housing portfolio across the Northwest Territories are stepping up to the plate. We are quite pleased with that. We try and work with these, and one of the home ownership programs we allow them to carry up to $5,000 in arrears. They can still qualify for the program. We are trying to open doors to make tenants and clients out there eligible for some of our programs.

Again, it is unfortunate there are so many out there with arrears. Part of the reason that we are in arrears is we didn’t go after a lot of these people quick enough. We accept some of that responsibility. Again, we are quite encouraged with most of the communities across the Northwest Territories.

I would love to stand up here and name some of the communities that are our best and name some of the communities that are in arrears. We have

communities with 6 percent collection rate and they expect our local housing authorities to provide maintenance on those units when we are only collecting 6 percent, $14,000 out of $250,000 that is assessed. It is a partnership, again, and that is what we are trying to promote.

I think it is a goal of the 17th Legislative Assembly to

make people more responsible, and people are actually starting to step up to the plate. We are quite pleased with that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Colleagues, before we move on for oral questions, I would like to welcome back into the House chair of our Human Rights Commission, former MLA and Minister from Frame Lake, Mr. Charles Dent.

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I would like to welcome Mr. Yacub Adam, deputy chair of the Human Rights Commission. Thank you.

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The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources for his post-mortem on 2012 wildfire end of season and more so for playing an active role in containing, as he indicated, 279 fires and taking action on over 89 fires. I know he is not the one out in the field putting out the fires personally. We have to commend the hard work of the wildfire crews, the air crews and the emergency fire services teams.

Within the document today, there is mention of the fleet of our CL-215’s. This is a well-known fact that these planes were given to us for almost the same amount of change I have in my left pocket, for very little from the federal government. These aircraft were really entering the end of lifecycle or their end of use cycle for the Northwest Territories. We have seen little to no plan in the recent capital budget for the replacement of this very expensive piece of equipment or any capital needs assessment to the House.

Can the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources please indicate what the plan is of the government to replace this fleet? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Dolynny will come to learn that in the field of politics, there are many types of fires that require putting out, some on the ground in the bush and some on the ground in this Legislature.

We have done extensive work on the 215’s. During the last Assembly, we had consultants hard at work and we have further reviews going on, planning for the day when the contract is complete, that currently exists which goes to 2018, and recognizing the fact that the 215’s as they now exist are piston airplanes and the increasing shortage of aviation gas come to pass so that we are going to have to make some changes.

There is extensive work done which I would be happy to share with committee if they would like to have their memories refreshed with the documents, because it is going to be a debate and discussion we need to have. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as the Minister indicated, I found it humorous. Yes, there are many fires we put out. Again, I do commend the work that he is doing under his stewardship and guidance in this area.

As indicated, these planes are coming near the lifecycle in 2018, as the Minister indicated, in the not so distant future but a number of years from now. The question remains, will aviation fuel be there for that end of lifecycle? Is there a plan of action the department has to replace or at least assist in the so-called lack of aviation fuel in the near future? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my Minister’s statement, we are doing a review over winter. It clearly came to a harsh reality here this summer when we were up fighting fires outside of Inuvik and there was no aviation gas and our fleet was grounded until we got some other planes from the South. We are going to work over winter on the aviation gas piece.

We are, as well, hard at work with some options in terms of what we do to replace the 215’s. Can we afford to spend $120 million of the capital money to retrofit and turbinize old planes to make them flight worthy so we can, in fact, get fuel? Right now the planes are so old we can’t even export them for use in other jurisdictions. They refuse to accept them.

It is a challenge. It is a huge amount of money. We have to look at lease versus purchase. There are other planes out there and new technology that we are looking at as well. By next spring we are going to be ready with a plan to get us through the next few years with the aviation gas issue as we come to grips with the longer term infrastructure decision on what we do to replace the 215’s. Thank you.

I appreciate the Minister’s response on that. What we heard today is a plan. We have heard, in so many words, that there are pieces of the puzzle that are seamlessly and possibly in different corners which we need to sew into one type of document.

Would the Minister commit to creating a strategy for wildfire suppression? Would this be more inclined to be brought to the House this spring? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of work on the review of our wildfire practices, our values at risk, all the pieces and protocols and procedures tied into actually fighting fires. The issue of the 215’s is going to be a separate discussion. I would be more than willing and happy to come with the officials from ENR to fully brief the committee on where we are with all the work, and then talk about the next steps so that there is an agreement and understanding on what steps we do have to take to do with this very important but expensive issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have an emergent industry on the scene here in the Northwest Territories. That industry is biomass. We continuously talk about it in the House. We are seeing great progress. A lot of companies are investing time and money into this new industry. Of course, they need the resources such as wood to do so.

Will the Minister commit to make sure, if the strategy is to come forward in terms of protecting our forests, would the biomass industry be invited to participate in such an event? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we are hard at work with the proponent for a biomass facility in the Northwest Territories. Part of the process that has to be gone through is the reaching of agreements on forest management agreements with the communities. We have to make sure we have the timber inventories done for sustainability. Fire is one risk. The other issue, of course, is the risk of endangered species that we know are coming or are already here, like the spruce budworm over the years gone by and more recently the pine beetle. Once again, I would be more than happy to come before committee if they wish and we can brief them on all aspects of the fire program.

As well, I would suggest that committee, if they would be really educational for those who haven’t been to the Fire Centre in Fort Smith, to actually see what is there and how it is run. It is almost like Cape Canaveral with the technology and how we manage, and try to marshal the forces, and track lightning strikes and do all the other things we need to do to manage the forests in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I would like to ask the Minister some questions about the recommendations that were in a report.

The 16th Assembly Standing Committee on Social

Programs conducted a very comprehensive review of the Child and Family Services Act. One of the major recommendations from that review was a gap that the committee and the consultations had identified, a gap in services for children and young adults aged 16 to 18 years, particularly that once a child turns 16, as an example, they are no longer eligible to be kept in foster care. It was a very large gap, and committee spoke with the Minister at the time and those recommendations were discussed at the time. But it’s been over two years since that report was tabled.

I’d like to know from the Minister what the Department of Health and Social Services is doing at this point to try and deal with the lack of services for 16 to 18 year olds. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There were 76 recommendations made by the standing committee and the department is making a movement on all of the recommendations. But specific to closing the gap from 16 to 18, I know there has been work done on it, but I don’t have the most recent work that they’ve done with me here today. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. I look forward to, I hope, getting that information from the Minister.

I know that as a result of the recommendation to try and provide services for 16 to 18 year olds, I know that there is legislation that is required.

I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not amendments to the Child and Family Services Act, specific to providing services for 16 to 18 year olds, whether or not that is on the department’s agenda. Thank you.

Amendments to the legislation as a result of all of the recommendations that were made that impact our legislation is on our agenda. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for that confirmation. I’m glad to hear it. Since there have been no changes to date, at least none that I think are out there in the public, there may be work behind the scenes, but there’s nothing to date that

I’m aware of and that I think will affect the kids from 16 to 18.

I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not social workers, who are on the front lines who are dealing within this specific age group on a day-to-day basis, have the flexibility to make arrangements for these children to provide them with the best possible care, to provide the services that they need so they can stay within a family environment as much as possible. So, is the flexibility given to our staff on the front lines to provide an environment for 16 to 18 year olds that is in the best interests of them, not necessarily what the legislation says? Thank you.