Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, in his statement the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation made on the 30th anniversary of the NWT Housing Corporation he spoke of the significant strides the corporation has made in improving and supplying housing here in the Northwest Territories. I would say we have gone a long way in addressing the housing needs for northerners, but we have a long way to go yet before we can say we have made real progress and have met the housing needs of northerners.

Madam Chair, based on the figures contained in the 2004 housing needs survey and the fact that the federal government, through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, will be reducing the funding available for the delivery and construction of social housing in the Northwest Territories to zero by the year 2034, I would say that the Housing Corporation will be hard pressed to construct and maintain any new social housing here in the Northwest Territories.

We are going to be losing over $33 million a year in funding by the year 2034. I am not sure, Madam Chair, that we will be able to replace that money.

I look at initiatives in my riding of North Slave. The six market units in Rae-Edzo are a start. There are a lot of people working at the diamond mines who can buy their own units and I see the need for the Housing Corporation to develop a program to get these people into their own houses. I am not sure that the existing programs have enough funding available for them to do anything meaningful.

Madam Chair, in my Member's statement earlier, I spoke of the need to modify the repair programs. I think we need to resolve some pride of ownership on the part of social housing clients. If the place is a dump, you are going to treat it like that and possibly do even more damage. That's just human nature. These people aren't being malicious.

Madam Chair, the corporation has to come up with a viable, realistic plan to deal with the federal funding loss and part of that plan has to be convincing the federal government to reopen the purse strings, which they aren't planning to do currently.

Madam Chair, those are my comments with regard to the Minister's statement on the 30th anniversary of the NWT Housing Corporation that was moved into Committee of the Whole. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand the process that is currently in place, but that is not the point I am trying to make to the Minister. I don't think the Minister is getting my point. This is specifically in regards to people that want to get their homes repaired. The point I am trying to make, Mr. Speaker, is we don't have a program in place that is multiyear because of our limited number of funding at the community level. It is application-based, as the Minister indicates, but it is based on the assessment that has been undertaken at the individual client's house. It could be, in some cases, in the hundreds of thousands dollars for repair needs. What I am suggesting to the Minister is, because of our limited number of funds, can his department look at developing this multiyear program so that we can assess a larger number of clients at the community level? For instance, this individual with a $100,000 repair that is required doesn't have to take place in one year. It could be done over two years. That way, you are spreading the dollars to more clients. So that is my suggestion to the Minister. Would the Minister try to take a look at developing this type of program? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am getting mixed messages. On one hand I am asking if we can develop this type of multiyear program particularly for the small communities, because they are very limited in their home repair programs for each community. Just from the last comment of the Minister, he implies that there are provisions currently within the existing program, but my understanding is that there aren't any right now. That is why I am asking the Minister if he can develop this type of multiyear program for clients that want to get the home repairs done. The reason being, Mr. Speaker, is that because of the limited number of funding that we have for each community, only a handful of people are getting their homes repaired. By having a multiyear program, we would increase the number of people to be helped. Those individual clients would commend the Minister if he does have this type of program, because a larger number will be helped rather than only a handful. Would the Minister commit to developing this type of program? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister agree with me that if we go with this route of a multiyear home repair program, that, because of our limited funding at the community level for home repair, a larger number of people would be happy with the corporation with the initiative of at least trying to get help, rather than doing it the way we are doing it now where only a number of people are being helped. Would he not agree that this type of program would benefit the corporation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question will be to the Minister of the Housing Corporation, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Speaker, this afternoon in my Member's statement I made a suggestion in regards to housing repairs for small communities. As we all know, Mr. Speaker, each community is limited for dollars to repair houses. I would like to ask the Minister if he would be willing to develop a multiyear program, but subject to our yearly budget approval. Would he be willing to look at that type of program? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleagues for allowing me to conclude my statement. As I was saying, to get the best value for our diminishing housing funding, our job as government will be to provide the supports the local housing authorities need to be successful. Mahsi cho.

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Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to speak on a couple of issues affecting housing in my riding of North Slave. I am concerned with the delivery of the market housing initiative in the North Slave in 2005. This year, the community of Rae-Edzo was fortunate enough to receive six units. If there is a need for market housing units in the three other communities in the North Slave, they will have to be shipped in by the winter road usually before April 15th. This is the only option, Mr. Speaker. The last time I looked, there wasn't a summer barge program to Gameti or my two other communities. So if we decide that the program will continue in 2005, the Housing Corporation is going to have to be prepared to ensure that the needs of the communities without a summer road or barge service are met in a very timely manner. Judging by the performance during the first year of the marketing housing initiative, Mr. Speaker, this caused me some concern.

The other area I would like to talk about is the delivery of repair programs in the North Slave. Many of my constituents wait years to have their units repaired. What has been occurring is that the housing authority waits until they have funding to do a major overhaul on a unit. What I would like to see, Mr. Speaker -- to reduce the strain on tenants and provide them with a measure of hope that someone is actually trying to meet their needs -- would be a piecemeal approach where, for example, in one year, people would have their flooring replaced, or perhaps in the following year the doors and windows repaired or replaced. I am sure if the housing authority was seen to be trying to deal with the issue of inadequacy in a timely manner, the corporation might see an even better result for their 2008 housing survey needs.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that there are a lot of good people working at the local level delivering housing programs in the Northwest Territories. They will, however, be faced with more and more challenges as the federal government reduces funding in the delivery of social housing. The district offices will need to work closely and cooperatively with regional governments and land claim organizations, as well as individual housing clients to get the best value for our diminishing housing funding. Our job as government will be to provide the supports the local housing authorities needs to be successful.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the principle of the bill. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in support of this bill. I can't tell you how happy I am to see this day. It's been a long time coming.

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The only day I'll be happier is when this bill and the bill that is now working its way through Parliament have both been made into law and our Tlicho agreement can finally be put into effect.

Mr. Speaker, this is the last of the three bills the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories needs to pass to do our part to bring the Tlicho agreement into force. It's very encouraging to see this bill and the federal bill introduced this week. The Tlicho people have been waiting a long time for this. It took many years of long, difficult, expensive negotiations to get here.

The Tlicho agreement is groundbreaking and sets a new standard across Canada. This is a new relationship we're building and there's no doubt in my mind that this is good for the Tlicho, for the Northwest Territories, and for Canada as a whole. The collaboration between the Tlicho team and the Government of the Northwest Territories team to draft this legislation is an example of this new relationship, and they should be commended for that. Their hard work on this bill is very much appreciated.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Minister for bringing this bill to the House during this session and I look forward to seeing it enacted in the near future. Mahsi cho.

---Applause

With that, Mr. Speaker, thank you.

---Applause