Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is my turn to beat a dead horse. This is an issue that I have brought up in this House many times. I have brought it up one-on-one with Ministers in their offices; I have brought it up as we were walking home after work; and it is the lack of available land for development in Hay River. I know that the Minister is well aware of this. I see ads in the paper every week put in there by the Housing Corporation looking for land to purchase in Hay River. I have talked to the health authority, and they can't recruit doctors and nurses to move to Hay River, because there are no places for them to live. The cost of rent is, in many cases, equal to what rent is in Yellowknife. We have a lack of housing. The land has been cleared years ago. It is ready to be developed, but there is no one who is able to develop it right now. I want to lay this out so that everyone knows why this is the case. People say, "Well, if there is a demand for housing in Hay River, a developer would step up and develop the land." In Hay River, we have the high-rise, and I know that the Minister is familiar with the high-rise. I think that there are 100 units or something, and a lot of them are vacant. I think most of them are vacant. When a bank looks at that, they say, "You have a high vacancy rate in your community. Also, you're in the Northwest Territories; you're a remote community. For those two reasons, we have no interest in lending you money to develop land. We don't see any payback in that." It is not like developers can just go to a bank, get a loan, and develop this property. I have talked to multiple developers of different sizes in Hay River, and I hear the same thing from all of them.
What is needed is for the town to develop this land, but what is required is some money. They are just looking for, I believe, an extension on their borrowing limit to fund development. As the lots are developed and sold, that money would be paid back. I don't see anything in this section here that would lead me to believe that is happening. This is not just in the town's best interest. This is in the best interest of the Northwest Territories. The GNWT wants to build a 48-bed long-term care facility. The Minister of Health has indicated that would be 60 jobs in Hay River. Those aren't all going to be people from town. People will have to move to Hay River. If they all bring maybe a spouse and a child, you could be looking at 200 people for that one project. If 200 people move to Hay River, they need to live somewhere. Right now, there is nowhere for them to live. If 200 people move to the Northwest Territories, that is $6.5 million in annual transfer payments from the federal government that the GNWT would receive.
We also have a fish processing plant that the government has committed to build. I think there are a couple dozen jobs there. There is a pellet mill that looks promising. I think there are another 60 jobs there, at least. Then there is Pine Point Mine, which could go through. We could have 1,000 people in the South Slave in the next few years if these projects go through, but, right now, they have nowhere to live. We might see the mine setting up a camp instead of setting up in the community or having people buy homes in the community, which would mean more fly-in, fly-out workers. I am highlighting this once again for everyone because this is an important issue, not just for Hay River but for the territory. We have an opportunity to support a community and support economic growth in the territory, something that we always talk about. I don't see it in this budget. I know that the Minister has met with the town. I understand that there are some next steps that are being taken. I would like to know if the Minister could let me know what the timeline is for those next steps and when we can expect a positive response to this request. Thank you, Mr. Chair.