Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The motion that was put forward was that I would provide a comprehensive response to the motion and then a comprehensive and fully costed strategic plan at the earliest opportunity. So it's a little bit early to give a fully costed comprehensive plan at this point. We're in the process of negotiations with the federal government. We've made some serious progress within that. The federal government has agreed to look at a northern component to the national housing strategy, and they've also -- the three areas of the core need, the federal core need, have always been suitability, adequacy and affordability. The last meeting that I went down I really stressed the lack of housing within the Northwest Territories and the reliance of many communities as the GNWT being the major and sometimes only housing provider. So the federal government has also agreed to incorporate accessibility within the core needs, which is a huge issue for us and I think that we will actually hopefully see some revenue coming forward with that. The other thing that we're doing is part of that, so that is one piece we're doing.

The other major thing we're doing is our engagement survey which we're putting out to every single user of Housing services, hopefully within this next coming up month, and then we'll be doing a cost analysis based on what people say. I've been hearing in the communities that home ownership is a big need within the communities, and so while we're in the process of looking at cost analysis between home ownership and public housing. So once we've done the engagement process, we've gotten some kind of contribution, we find out what the federal government is doing within a national strategy at that point then we'll be able to provide a cost analysis and a comprehensive plan. Thank you.

Thank you to you, Minister, for that response. In the response to the motion the government writes: "The GNWT has made affordable, adequate and suitable housing one of its highest priorities, spending approximately 8 per cent of its budget on social and affordable housing compared to a national average of 1 per cent." Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me whether she thinks that's an adequate amount of spending for the condition and availability of housing in the territory?

I do recognize that the Government of the Northwest Territories is spending eight times the amount of funding that is provided across the other jurisdictions. So I think that we have to recognize that we are spending a lot more than other jurisdictions. We also have to recognize that we have a small population base and our federal funding is really limited. So the fact that the GNWT is spending that amount on housing shows our commitment that we do care about housing within the Northwest Territories and it is a priority for our government.

Again, thank you to the Minister for that. The fact is, Mr. Speaker, that 8 per cent is not making a difference to the core housing need in the territory, and the availability of housing especially here in Yellowknife where the waiting list is about 180, across the whole NWT about 600. So I would like to hear from the Minister whether there is a plan to increase the amount of spending on social housing.

At this point, like I had said previously, we are in the process of just rolling out our engagement strategy. After that is all received back, we will be doing a cross-analysis, so it's a little bit premature of me to actually approach my colleagues and ask for additional monies when I don't know if we're using the monies that we are providing at the moment appropriately.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Finally today, a couple of timing questions. The first is, when does the Minister expect to conclude the negotiations with the federal government for more money? The second is, when does she expect to report to the House on the information she's collected from stakeholders? Thank you.

Masi. There's two questions, but it's up to the Minister if she wants to answer one or two questions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to try to attempt both. So the federal negotiations is not up to me actually, it is a federal government ruling, and so we are advocating very strongly and, as soon as the federal government lets us know when they've developed their strategy, at that point I will know what the timing is. I'm not sure that they know at this point either. The engagement survey that we're putting out, we are allowing two months to people within the communities to actually provide their feedback because we do want as many people to answer the survey as possible. So we are recognizing that we need to need to provide them a little bit of time. Once the survey results are compiled, we will provide an interim report to the MLAs and we will continue to provide reports to the MLAs on the progress of that engagement survey process.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Under the GNWT's mandate, MACA has a responsibility to update the Fire Prevention Act to better protect public and private property from fire. Can the Minister advise the House on the progress of this work? What changes to the Act has been considered? Mahsi.

Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. MACA's in the process, we've done some research over the years, we're actually just in the process of determining the stakeholder engagement process that we're expecting that'll roll out over the summer of 2016. Once it's finished, then we'll be looking at various things within the act. The act hasn't been updated since the 1950s, very small thing, so it's a lot of work and we'll be looking at a full review of the act in total. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Usually in a legislative process the way that I think we understand it on this side of the House is that there's an issue and the department begins research, as the Minister has stated, that then there's a legislative proposal that comes to the House, then goes through readings, then it's perhaps brought to the committee, then there's a level of public consultation. What is the timing for this legislation to be introduced in the Legislative Assembly?

Again, it's really hard to put a definite timeline on that. We do need to do the public engagement strategy, it will go to MLAs, it depends on their timeline, recognizing that they are very busy within their committees and they have a lot of things to put forward. I'm not sure if the MLAs would like to do a public engagement of their own on that, so it is dependent on the process of government. But we are committed; we are trying to get this act passed within this legislative term.

The Minister had stated that the old piece of legislation is from the 1950s. I think then, you know, fire alarms along telephone poles were kind of the usual practice then. Then most recently what we have been confronted with is the question of liabilities, at the same time hazardous materials in fire situations. Is the department proposing any initiatives designed to support communities and their volunteer fire departments?

The department has actually done quite a bit to support firefighters. We recognize the importance of firefighters and we really value the services. It is a huge honour to be able to represent the firefighters within the Northwest Territories. It's a huge honourable field that they go into, and so we're cognitive of that.

We've done quite a bit of things. We've released our volunteer firefighter recruitment and retention toolkit for the community governments, that's done. We've established a web-based community fire protection page for community governments and fire departments to access information and resources, that's completed. We've developed the decision-making tools for communities to help identify and allocate adequate resources for community fire protection, that's completed. We've implemented a community fire service presentation to help educate elected officials on the roles and responsibilities and success factors, completed. We've also done the development of an annual fire prevention program, that’s also completed. So we do value our firefighters within the Northwest Territories and we take seriously the work that they do within the communities and we're doing whatever we can to support them.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank the Minister for her reply and outlining the legislative process and the level of consultation that might occur. She seems to be suggesting that this side of the House would kind of determine the timeline and how fast perhaps the turnaround of the draft legislation could be prepared. But, you know, if we had this way on this side of the House, one of the initiatives that has been outstanding is the progress in terms of dealing with highway emergency. Would this department, in terms of engaging stakeholders, including fire departments and citizens of the North, would the Minister perhaps consider and state to this House whether a movement towards highway rescue services will be also considered in the draft legislation? Mahsi.

We are working across the departments to find our way forward with the ground ambulance services and the highway rescue, and we are hoping that we can actually address that act as well within this legislation.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Masi. Minister of Transportation.