Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Hay River, as with other communities, is in a housing crisis, more so with the closure of the Mackenzie Place high-rise due to the fire over one-and-a-half years ago. Fingers were pointed, and blame was placed. Now, the person responsible for causing the fire has been long forgotten. The real losers have been those that were displaced overnight, some of whom moved away from the NWT, while others were lucky enough to find accommodation. Some continue to couch-surf, and others find themselves homeless. Although the finger-pointing is ongoing today, my concern is not who is at fault but, more importantly, how we can open this building and have apartments available to those in desperate need of housing.

There are individuals, some in tears, who contact me daily, voicing their need for accommodation. These apartments were much needed in the 70s when the building was constructed and are needed even more so now. I have been working on moving this file forward since I was first elected. At this point, if the owner, who also has responsibilities to address the orders placed against the building, is not provided approval to reopen some of the apartments fairly soon, then the integrity of the building may be compromised due to the absence of heat and electricity. The loss of electricity will eliminate the aircraft warning beacon atop the building thus impacting air traffic and passenger safety. Our local radio and TV stations have stopped broadcasting and, along with other service providers, have removed their equipment from the building because of uncertainty with the electricity.

There were numerous safety orders placed against the building which have been satisfied, my understanding is that the final outstanding order right now is that issued by the department of health. I know that the department of health has the best interest of our residents in mind as they review the detailed abatement report submitted by the owner. I do appreciate the fact that the department and owner's representatives are working together to satisfy the order in a timely manner.

It is obvious that the NWT Housing Corporation has no plans to construct any significant number of public housing units in Hay River anytime soon. Therefore, re-opening of the high-rise is important. It will alleviate some of Hay River's immediate housing issues and take some pressure off the NWT Housing Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.