Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a suggestion as to what that legacy might be.
---Laughter
Twenty-six months ago, we stood in this House and made history - a milestone defined by our gender. While I don't discount the importance of gender equity and representation in leadership, I refuse to have gender define this Assembly's legacy. I want to be defined by my heart, my actions, and my accomplishments.
On our first day I asked for bold change leadership. Bold change requires leaders to be stirred by injustices, willing to advance transformational ideas, and relentless in the hard work to uplift all residents of the Northwest Territories. It requires us to work collaboratively to build a legacy we can be proud of.
The Regular Members of this Assembly have invested more bargaining chips, Member statements, and committee hours on one urgent long standing issue - housing. We have worked hard to collectively acknowledge our housing crisis and have pushed to change this government's role in housing Northerners. We have collaborated to carry the housing conversation and maintain focus.
We have 631 days left to build our housing legacy but it will not engineer itself. To build this, we need tangible change to the Housing Corporation culture through a fresh and appropriate mission, a costed plan to pull the NWT out of core need, public housing legislation, and replace CMHC funding. 631 days is not nearly a countdown to an end, Mr. Speaker, it is a count up to writing the path to our housing legacy.
This legacy will take the continued push from Regular Members, the continued renewable from within the Housing Corporation, and the support of Cabinet. The government's concessions during the 2021 main estimate negotiations and the 90 new public housing units are a good start. But as a government, we spend more on the operations and maintenance on a kilometer of road than an entire capital acquisition plan towards the Housing Corporation. CMHC's national housing strategy is offering more than $70 billion over 10 years. If this Cabinet wanted to transform housing, the money is available to do this, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in 2019, I believed in our potential for change. I still believe in the great potential of the North and the potential of this Assembly to right a legacy worthy of the respect of the people we serve. But it requires every single one of us to push forward as a team, where people are focused on the outcome and prepared to take a stand. For us to see change in this Assembly, we need to see bold policy and legislative change in 2022. There is potential for creative innovation and our NWT builders want to be part of this legacy, a legacy that delivers on the human right to adequate housing for every Northerner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.