Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to everybody who made presentations. It's a very interesting discussion.
My first question is to the Ontario Real Estate Association and Brian Santos.
I found the presentation very interesting. The comment about encouraging housing repair and energy efficiency being part of that is something we're really focused on here in the Northwest Territories. We see it as an easy way to create employment. A lot of people could use the upgrades on their houses and even build new ones. I really support that.
The one comment that caught my attention was the issue of Internet availability. I've sat on a number of studies that took place in the north because the issue of isolation is a big factor for our youth. I had opportunity to travel around and talk to youth about their mental health and depression. Internet availability was pointed to as an area that was really impacting them. It also had an impact on distance learning and education. It really resulted on a lot of out-migration from our smaller communities to larger centres.
Mr. Santos, you said that it also has an impact on the housing market and on the decision people make when they want to buy a house. How much of a factor is it in the the decision to buy a house in areas with low Internet availability? That really impacts me in the north. We still don't have high-speed Internet in some of our communities.