Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure today to rise to speak about an organization in my riding called New Dawn Enterprises. It is a private, volunteer directed, not for profit organization dedicated to building community.
New Dawn has units of affordable housing located on the old radar base in Sydney, Cape Breton, which has been renamed the Pine Tree Park. The Pine Tree Park has about 40 units of affordable housing, but now only 17 are occupied. Other units cannot be occupied because the soil is contaminated.
The community council, made up of various community organizations, have taken the lead in trying to get the Department of National Defence to act.
I am calling on the Department of National Defence and the minister from Nova Scotia to take action and have this site cleaned up without delay. Currently, there are 23 units vacant and this is unacceptable as they can be occupied by families in need.