This is page numbers 4677 - 4704 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 3rd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was housing.

Topics

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Has the Minister's department reached out to all of these trappers who were delayed in getting paid? Has the Minister's department reached out and let them know what the issues are and can reassure them personally that the problem will not happen again?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Mr. Speaker, my understanding, as far as I know we have had the one concern, and, if there are others, I will follow up and let them know that this should not happen again once we get all of the kinks ironed out of the system. Again, the Member agrees with me, this is a fantastic program. We actually had a veteran trapper up in the delta when we were up there with the meeting, the economic symposium. We had them actually come up to the Minister of ITI and myself, complementing the government on the success of that program with the Grubstake Program and everything else and how successful it's been and how many trappers have actually taken advantage of this program.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Question 489-18(3): Reduction of Non-Renewable Energy
Oral Questions

November 1st, 2018

Page 4688

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I referred to the announcement this week of an additional $1.8 million over four years under the new government Greenhouse Gas Grant program, and I note that this program is aimed at government's reductions of greenhouse gas outputs from non-renewable energy sources. My question for the Minister is: can he tell me why a decision was made to introduce programming that in the end perpetuates fossil fuel use rather than devoting more substantial funds to these governments' introduction of fully renewable energy systems? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we developed the 2030 Energy Strategy we had to go out and have a look at everything and talk to everybody and have consultation about what residents felt that was important to them across all links of government and people in the Northwest Territories, and this was one of the programs in many that we are introducing in the 2030 Energy Strategy that needed to be looked at. It was felt that this needed to be funded in this manner, so it's one of the decisions that came out of that process.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thanks to the Minister for that. The question that I have is how the Minister balances the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions versus replacing fossil fuel use altogether. How is that balance determined?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

When we went out and did our consultation it was clearly stated that we need to have a secure, safe, reliable source of energy. Technology is not there to totally switch to totally renewables for us and particularly because we have such a vast territory that we have to have fuel in to some of these smaller communities, such as Sachs Harbour, Ulukhaktok, and Paulatuk, which is a challenging environment. That is why we are doing our wind studies up in that type of environment, to see if it's feasible. So we have to balance this up. Technology is not there to totally get us off of fossil fuels and into renewables.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Under the GNWT's carbon pricing scheme the large industrial producers of greenhouse gas will get 75 percent of their taxes rebated; 25 percent goes into a special fund. I truly believe that industry would take more aggressive action on reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and replacing fossil fuel if they were asked. So in developing this element of the plan what evaluation was made of how less rebate and more project support would influence industry to make these changes?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

We all know that the large industry emission people in the Northwest Territories are the mining industry. These people are already located in a situation where they are off the road system, they are off hydro. They have to make their most efficient operation they possibly can to keep their costs down. This fund we set up as 75/25 is going to be able to help them come up with new types of approaches to be able to get them off of fossil fuels, and it's a balanced approach that, like I have said, we have had to do across the Northwest Territories. The mining industry is a big part of helping us try to come to some type of solution, but they are trying to mitigate their costs in what they are doing presently.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for that. Finally I note that recently announced spending under the federal-territorial low carbon leadership fund provides support for carbon sequestration in forestry. This would hardly seem to me to be a priority against the more pressing needs of, say, aggressively improving the energy efficiency of government housing stock, so can the Minister explain why the emphasis was put, again it's the balance thing, but on sequestration rather than energy improvements to public housing?

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

The Low-Carbon Economy Leadership Fund does have money in there for helping to gain efficiency in public housing. There is a significant amount in there. Again we have had to take a balanced approach to this whole aspect of how we are going to lower greenhouse gas emissions in the Northwest Territories, but the other side of it is that on these applications there are certain criteria that we have to fulfill to meet federal funding and, to be able to access some of this money, we have had to spread it around and try to help all parts of the economy in the Northwest Territories. This is one of the ones that has come forward, and we are working with ENR on that to move the carbon sequestration forward for reforestation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I was asking the Minister responsible for Housing, he said that the corporation demand, he was talking about the demand and need of the HELP units in the communities. Can the Minister provide what the corporation definition is of "demand" for HELP units in the communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we look at the demand in our communities, we look at what the priorities are of the region. As I mentioned, over this session one of the initiatives that we are taking on as the Housing Corporation in working with the communities, as you heard in my Minister's statement earlier, is we are going to be developing these community housing plans and we are going to be working with leadership, we are going to be working with stakeholders to identify these.

In the situation and the questions that the Member has asked earlier, you know, we had to make some changes within the community to meet some of the market units. As you know, as all Members here know, there are low-market units for teachers, for nurses, for professionals to have a place to stay and provide the services that our residents need in the Northwest Territories. The housing plans are going to address that. When we work with our communities we are going to develop a comprehensive strategic planning document that's going to say whether or not homelessness is the priority, seniors are the priority, singles' units, or market units, and we are going to work with every community across the Northwest Territories. We are going to find northern solutions for our northern housing needs.

One other program that I just want to put out there, Mr. Speaker, is our community housing support initiative. We are working very well with communities to address the housing needs that they have, and it's a really good program, and I encourage all Members to take a look into it. We are developing some really good programs, and we are developing some very strong partnerships, so I would ask the Member to reach out to us and maybe have the leadership have a discussion with our staff to see how we can address some of the concerns that the Member does have in addressing whether it's a HELP unit or a market unit or public housing units in the community.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I thank the Minister for that answer. So he is talking about community housing plans and that, and we are going to do six in the next year coming up, so can he tell me when Fort Simpson is going to be on that list? Because, if we are going to be waiting six, 12, 14, two years from now, I would like to know that so the community can know that. Because right now the Housing Corporation is relying on these community housing plans, so can the Minister advise us when Fort Simpson will be on that list?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

At this moment in time I do not have a timeline for when Fort Simpson will get on that list. We have put it out there. As I mentioned in my statement, we have Indigenous governments that are seeking interest into developing these community housing plans. The community of Whati for one is a community that we are going to start with. This is new. This is new to government. It's new to the NWT Housing Corporation. As we start to develop it, and I have said this time and time again during the session, once we get a housing plan up and running it might show us a template for similar communities across the Northwest Territories. So I think that, as we move forward and we start developing these housing plans throughout the Northwest Territories, hopefully it will steamroll so that all communities will eventually get on board and we will develop some community housing plans for all of our communities in the Northwest Territories.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I have heard the words "may," "hope," "could be the template." So, if it isn't the template, what are these communities supposed to be doing in the short term? Because right now we are looking at HELP units being turned into market units, and we are bringing in market units into the community, and I also know some private industries are bringing market units in there. So what are the communities supposed to do if they are not fitting the model, the template, that they are working for?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

The NWT Housing Corporation has gone through a significant change during the 17th and the 18th Legislative Assemblies. We have developed some great programs that are helping communities, that are helping families, and we are going to continue to promote those programs. I encourage communities, I encourage Members, I encourage residents to go and speak to their local housing office. Also go and speak with the regional district offices on low those programs can help and benefit a community. We have a lot of programs that are very successful.

Like I mentioned, we have gone through a change over the last two governments. In terms of private industry, we are more than open to work with private industry to address the housing needs in some of our communities and regional centres, and we will continue to promote that. Partnership with the NWT Housing Corporation is significant, and we pride ourselves on that. We have shown success with Indigenous governments. We have shown success with private industry. The Inuvialuit Corporation is a really good benchmark that we can look at as a standard. So, in the meantime, I think we have done a lot in the last two governments to address the housing needs across the Northwest Territories. We will continue to do that. I encourage the Member and leadership in the Nahendeh riding to reach out to our district office. If not, we can make sure our district office reaches out to leadership.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I am stumped for words here because, first of all, I have never, ever said anything bad about the district office. They have done a great job. They are promoting the information out there. They are getting there, but what I am seeing is that the Housing Corporation has changed a HELP unit to market rental unit, we are bringing in more market rental units, and people are still looking for HELP units. Is this government taking away the HELP units, then? Is this no longer going to be an option for people in the future?

Alfred Moses

Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake

Just for the record, I did not say the Member had said anything bad about our regional district offices, so I do not know where he got that from. Secondly, we continue to promote our programs in the Housing Corporation that have been having an impact in all of our communities across the Northwest Territories. In terms of HELP units, I answered the question earlier. It's based on demand for the program, and, if the demand is not there, then we are going to turn it into a market rent unit and vice versa. If the market unit is there and it's not being used, we will turn it into a HELP unit. Some of these programs are application based, so it's really based on the application and whether or not residents meet those criteria for the application. Once again, I apologize if I came off any way saying that the Member had mentioned anything bad about the regional office, but I do not believe I did. I just wanted to put that out there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.