Thank you. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll have vice-president Jim Martin respond. Thank you.

Thank you. Vice-president.

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. In response to that, then, does the NWT Housing Corporation intend to put forward a costed measurable plan as to how they are going to address the declining CMHC funding, which as I understand, are able to be offset by the bilateral funding agreement until 2027-2028. So it gives them a little bit of time to come up with that plan. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Housing Corporation has acknowledged and has been working with the decline that we are going to be seeing. Every year, we are experiencing a percentage that is going down of this funding coming to the Northwest Territories. I will have vice-president Jim Martin respond. Thank you.

Thank you. Vice-president Mr. Martin.

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake. A quick one.

Quick one, oh my gosh. Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I will leave the discussion about retrofits and repairs to somebody else. And I notice that there is an increase in here for rent supplement leasing. Does that have -- is that an increase in leasing units in the territory? Does that have anything to do with the money that's given to ECE for renting and leasing units, and is there an intent to combine those budget line items between ECE and housing so that housing is coming out of one department? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We did have an increase in the Canada rent program. I just can't find the number right here right now. I will have president Young respond. Thank you.

Thank you. President Young.

I'll just get the Member from Kam Lake to repeat her quick question.

I'll just ask one question instead of the three I snuck in there. No, the Canada Housing Benefit I'll ask about in another section. My question was specific to the rent supplement leasing and the increase to that, and can the Minister please speak to what that increase is getting, if it's getting more leases to more units in the territory through market rent? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll give it back to Ms. Young.

Thank you. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. I've got questions under the apprentices. I want to first thank the Minister and her department for initiating the journeyman housing maintainer program. Our maintenance staff in Providence are really looking forward to it.

What we notice too, because I was an employee of the LHO in the maintenance department too as a journeyman housing maintainer, but when we were there, we always looked in awe at the Department of Public Works and Services at that time, and it was always in the larger centres. Specifically this one we were looking at was in Hay River. They had a full slate of trades on staff, electrical. They had electricians, plumbers, OBMs, carpenters, and those are the main ones anyways, and there was always apprenticeship opportunities in the larger centres for those trades, okay. Nothing in Fort Providence. Probably similar to all the small communities. We never ever get a chance to get a real trade certification because those things are not offered in our communities.

We had a plumber/gasfitter at one point. He trained -- an OBM, not a plumber/gasfitter, which is a better ticket to have, but an OBM. And we also had an OBM on staff quite a number of years ago but that didn't pan out. And right now we don't have any, and we got, you know, units probably the seniors home is the one that has two or three boiler systems in the building, and you need certification to be able to operate those. And I've always said I think there is a problem within the corporation because of that, because the nearest contractor is about two hours away, you know, and for the maintenance of them on a daily basis.

And I'm just wondering, my question would be is if the corporation would consider putting a heating -- journeyman heating ticket, whether it be journeyman plumber/gasfitter, an OBM, or oil heat technician now, into the communities? This will spur, you know, the local economy also and then spur apprenticeship opportunities for our people, which is good for years to come. Mahsi.

Thank you. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you to the Member for the question because we do see this as an issue throughout the territories and amongst the smaller communities, but I'm quite optimistic with the unit delivery that we do have, and the builds that are coming into the communities, that we may be able to expand on those opportunities. For that, I'll have president Young elaborate on the response. Thank you.