Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the motion brought forward by my colleague from Great Slave, and I also appreciate the work that was put into the jurisdictional scan so that we know what the rest of Canada looks like. Canadian jurisdictions are quite obviously split as far as rent increase caps are concerned, but our sister territory to the west, Yukon, does allow a buffer against the impacts of high inflation as measured by CPI but this is to a maximum of 5 percent.
Mr. Speaker, I understand a need for certainty, but this also needs to be balanced with the sustainability of the housing sector and availability of more developers to get involved. Landlords cannot be left footing the bill when inflation exceeds the rent cap and developers and landlords also need to be able, Mr. Speaker, to keep rents affordable but need a mechanism to address unexpected expenses like a broken furnace, boiler, if flooding occurs. Things happen, and those things need to be able to be addressed, Mr. Speaker.
I also want to ensure that the housing co-ops, which are provided at cost, can continue to be responsive to what the cost actually is and continue to operate. Kam Lake is lucky to have two housing co-ops, and I think the North would benefit from having more housing opportunities like that.
There's other ways the GNWT can also play a role in ensuring that rents don't go through the roof and that affordable housing exists outside of the department of housing. And those roles are things like addressing the funding gap, increasing availability of land, dealing with the affordability of energy, addressing supply chain challenges and the cost of goods, especially in our small communities, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting this motion today because it simply asks the government to explore the balance between affordable housing and, importantly, sustaining the industry for developers. But there is a need, in my opinion, for exceptions to these rules and for escape clauses that acknowledge the cost of maintaining infrastructure in the Northwest Territories. And I really want to highlight that, that we don't want to end up with no one willing to enter the housing game because there's no certainty in them actually being able to recoup the cost of being part of that community and that industry that we very much need. Thank you.