Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Member alluded to earlier about this bilateral agreement, I am anxious myself. We are just working out the details, and I can confirm with the Member that there will be new dollars with the signing of that bilateral agreement. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Moses. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could we have an estimate of when that agreement is expected to be made public? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can confirm that our staff is going to be meeting with the federal government via teleconference on Monday to discuss further details and hoping that, in the next couple of weeks, we will have something signed and can officially announce and then start working with our partners to get those dollars spent. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Moses. Next Member, Mr. Simpson.

Thank you. On page 68, it says, "Materials and labour, two units, MH, Hay River." Is the MH "market housing"? I see people nodding their heads, so I will take that as a yes.

There doesn't seem to be any public housing in this budget for Hay River. In Hay River, we recently lost 26 family homes. I believe they were three bedrooms each. I think the rationale was that they were replaced by seniors' units, a seniors' complex. There is a bit of a shortage of family housing. I think the last time I saw the waitlist for across the territory, Hay River had a higher portion of families in need of housing, and sorry, this is sort of a long-winded way of getting to a complex situation here.

We have the Hay River High Rise in Hay River, and last time I checked there, I think there were 24 or 25 units rented out to people on income assistance. There has been talk for years about whether that building is going to last. I mean, the fire marshal has had concerns. You can literally see pieces falling off the building. It is concrete, so when the stucco falls off, that doesn't necessarily mean it is falling apart, but it is indicative of poor maintenance. For years, it seems like we are on the edge of, perhaps, everyone having to move out of that building.

There is not enough housing for the families that need it right now in Hay River, and potentially, we have another 10, 20, 30 families that could need it if this building shuts down, and we don't have the market rental units to absorb all of those people.

How is the Housing Minister working with income assistance to address this issue, if they even recognize it as an issue? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Member's concerns. As I mentioned, when we do put the capital planning forward, there are a few factors that we do take into consideration right across the Northwest Territories, as I mentioned them earlier at the start of questioning. Looking forward to Hay River, there could be potential partnerships through the Co-Investment Fund, which I have discussed and the Member has asked me questions in the House about, and working with industry to address those concerns. I do appreciate the Member's concerns around the municipality of Hay River. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Simpson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. We could be facing a situation where, I mean, the housing wait list could double with all the people who could be evicted from the high-rise. I am not saying this is going to happen. Every time I inquire about it, people say, “Well, we are paying attention. We are coordinating with the fire marshal,” all this kind of stuff. There is always that lingering thought.

Like I said, there isn't the market housing in Hay River to absorb all these people. Because of Hay River's location, you know, even though we are just north of Alberta, it is seen as remote. Not the same rules apply to it when developers want to borrow money to start developing. There are different rules. It can be difficult. It is not like building in high levels. It is not even like building in Yellowknife. It is a little more difficult to get funding.

Has the department been in contact with any private developers who are looking to develop property in Hay River and seeing if they can do anything, whether through the Co-Investment Fund or anything like that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Mr. Williams.

Thank you, Mr. Williams. Mr. Simpson.

Thank you. That is good hear for the reasons I had mentioned earlier. Will the Minister please make that information available to the Members once that new money is available so I can bring it to people who have expressed an interest in developing some property in Hay River? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I will commit to that. In fact, we will probably be making an announcement. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am the Sasquatch, and I know where the Minister can find $8 million for public housing retrofits. All he has to do is work with his colleague, the Minister of Infrastructure, and get that missing $8 million in the Low Carbon Economy Fund. The allocation for the NWT was $32 million. The agreement that has been signed so far is only $24 million. Four million of that is for public housing retrofits. Nunavut got $12 million for public housing retrofits. Can the Minister work with his colleague, the Minister of Infrastructure, access that extra $8 million that is missing from the Low Carbon Economy Fund, and put it into public housing retrofits? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Member's comments. Obviously, we will work with all of our departments. When the funding was allocated, we got our share of the LCEF funding. We will always push to try to get more money. I think this announcement that we are going to hopefully be saying soon will help alleviate a lot of the infrastructure needs that we see in our communities. Looking forward to making that announcement. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I hear the Minister. I don't think housing got a fair shake in terms of the money that is flowing to the NWT through the Low Carbon Economy Fund. I think the federal government would be very receptive to increasing the amount that would go for public housing. I am going to leave that to the Minister to sort out. My point here is: we just have to be able to make sure that public housing becomes more of a priority for our Cabinet in the decisions that are made around what gets submitted to federal infrastructure pots like the Low Carbon Economy Fund. I know I bothered this Minister about this issue. I have bothered the previous Minister about this issue. I have raised it in the House in this sitting. Housing is just not a high enough priority for our Cabinet when it comes to federal infrastructure dollars.

Anyways, as I understand this bilateral that is being negotiated as part of the National Housing Strategy, the Minister seems to indicate that this is close. I know these details are not public, but we are supposed to be functioning in some kind of a consensus government system. Can the Minister commit to share what he can at this point about what is being negotiated or what is on the table, what has already been agreed to with that bilateral with the appropriate standing committee before the agreement is actually signed, understanding that this is a consensus government system and that the information might have to be provided on a confidential basis? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.