Thank you, Madam Chair. More just comments. No particular questions for the Housing Corp here. Just over the course, this is the fourth time we’ve sat down with the department in terms of our operational budgets. I remember at the onset of the 17th Legislative Assembly and the Auditor General’s report that came out that had some

pretty scathing results that I think committee of the day was just raring to go with this Housing Corp in terms of looking at getting to the work.

Even before they came to committee they started taking the necessary approaches to make the changes that would affect that work coming out of the Auditor General’s report. I just want to commend the work from the Minister and his staff and all the LHOs in the regions on the improvements that have been made over the course of these last three years. Just the correspondence that they’ve had with standing committee, whether it was through written correspondence or briefing and for committee not having to approach the Housing Corporation to sit down and have a chat, or if there was any concerns that were brought up that was always very neutral in terms of how information was delivered, especially on the collection rates.

Early on in this government, as well, we did have a presentation by Alternatives North in terms of the Anti-Poverty Strategy and moving forward on that. I recall us asking Alternatives North if there was one thing that we could fix to deal with poverty; they said housing, housing needs to be fixed. Just looking at some of these new initiatives that the Housing Corp has come out with over the past year in terms of addressing homelessness, but also dealing with some of the wait times with our public housing, the new funding that’s coming over from ECE into the Housing Corp to look at getting some work at rental units for the security of tenure for our residents for longer term is just some innovative thinking in making sure that our people have a place to stay for the longer term, and I think that’s the kind of thinking that we need in terms of addressing our housing needs.

Also with decentralization, getting these market rental units up in the communities to have people who are moving into the communities through decentralization having an adequate home.

Like I said, I’m just giving more of some general comments. Over the course of this government, I’ve seen the improvements that this Housing Corp has made in the communities and small communities as well. I know we can’t fix it all in one term, but we’ve made a really big impact from what I’ve seen and commend the Minister and his staff, as well as staff in the regions at the LHOs, for doing such a great job. I look forward to the ongoing progress with the LHOs in communities. That’s more of a comment, Madam Chair. I just wanted to get that on the record seeing that this is the

last operational budget and the last opportunity to sit down and have a chat with the Minister and his Housing Corp. Thank you, Madam Chair.