This is page numbers 659 - 708 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd 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 community.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Martin

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. As the Minister alluded to, the Housing Corporation this past couple of years, but this past year reflected in this budget, went through a review of our amortization of all of our assets. We worked with the Office of the Auditor General in updating our schedules and, through those reviews, we made some adjustments in terms of how we amortize our assets. As a result of those changes, we actually slowed the amortization annual adjustment down, so as a result of that, the Beaufort-Delta having 35 percent of our assets, that adjustment was most reflective in that district. It resulted in a decrease in 2021 overall spending, budget spending plan for 2020-2021. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Martin. Member for Kam Lake.

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Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much. I'm wondering, if the amortization had impacted our budget by decreasing the Beaufort-Delta, why did it drive up the budget values for the other three regions, where the Sahtu basically stayed pretty consistent? Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will just pass the question on over to Mr. Carpenter. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Mr. Carpenter.

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Carpenter

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to not get too caught up in the amortization. To be honest, I don't like that financial term in terms of how it affects this. It's really just an accounting adjustment, at the end of the day. The key point that I want to make on this section is that you see all the other districts increase, and that's because there is a small piece for forced growth. What we did is: we got a little bit of money from Canada through our bilateral. We jumped up all the districts in the budgets, and we put a little bit more money into some initiatives you've seen on the other page, like the emergency repairs, and things like that. All the districts got an increase for this year, but we had that one accounting adjustment that Jim was explaining, that shows it like that. Even though they got budget increases, they didn't lose money. It was just an accounting adjustment that showed there like a loss. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Carpenter. Member for Kam Lake.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. The money that the Housing Corporation received from the federal government, how was it distributed throughout the regions? Was it distributed per capita or by population? Was it distributed by need? Was it distributed evenly throughout each region? Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. The money is distributed evenly. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Is that evenly by population? Evenly just straight up divided between each region regardless of population? Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. The money is divided equally throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.

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Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm wondering if the Minister can define "evenly." Is it divided evenly based on the five regions, or is it divided evenly based on need? Is it divided evenly based on population? Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. The money is divided equally by dollar. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.

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Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. No, I was just wondering if it was divided using the number of people in the region or the amount of need in the region, or if it was divided just saying we have five regions and we're going to take this dollar figure and evenly divide it by these five regions, just based on the dollar amount. Thank you.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister.

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, that's correct.

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Can you elaborate?

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Okay. You know, we receive the federal money. We receive the budget. We have five regions. The money is divided equally among those regions by dollar. Does that answering your question?