'I think we all agree this is good news.'

The Conservative government dispatched two key northern ministers to sell its federal budget last week and Northern housing ministers are buying.

New Nunavut housing minister Hunter Tootoo played host to his territorial counterparts in Iqaluit and all three, including Northwest Territories' Michael McLeod and Yukon's Jim Kenyon, say they're thrilled with a total of $200 million in housing funds contained in last month's federal budget.

"I think we all agree this is good news for housing all across the North," Tootoo told reporters Jan. 30. "It's an investment in our communities, an investment in our economies. An investment in housing infrastructure in the North is also an investment in the southern economy."

In its budget tabled Jan. 27, the Conservative government committed $100 million for housing in Nunavut, enough for at least 300 new units. Yukon and the Northwest Territories got $50 million each.

That's less than the $300 million the territories got in the 2006 federal budget, back before the Conservative government committed to ramping up spending in order to boost Canada's weakening economy. Still, Tootoo and Kenyon both said they're not at all disappointed.

Tootoo dubbed this year's housing funds a "down payment." And Kenyon said "to simply look at the dollar value I think misses the point."

"To simply throw more money out and require [housing construction] to happen faster, we may not have the labour capacity to actually do it," he said.

McLeod, the NWT housing minister, said the territories need a long-term source of federal money for housing. He urged federal and provincial government officials to visit the North and "share our discussion" about housing.

"In order to thrive for the long haul we need to be able to depend on a steady stream of funding and know what the criteria is," McLeod said.

In a telephone interview, Leona Aglukkaq, Nunavut's MP and the federal health minister declared the budget "the best budget ever produced for Nunavut" and rejected any suggestion that Ottawa was giving Northern housing short shrift.

Aglukkaq said Nunavut's share was set based on negotiations with the Government of Nunavut and will create jobs in the territory.

And Chuck Strahl, minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, said the government is spending more than $1 billion on social housing construction across the country, making it the "largest project we've ever been involved in by an order of magnitude of several times."

What's still not clear is exactly how Nunavut's housing money will be administered. The 2006 funds created the Nunavut Housing Trust, which the Nunavut Housing Corporation used to piggyback trades training for Nunavut workers on top of housing construction.

This year's budget document states that Northern housing money will be delivered through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. Strahl said INAC will work with CMHC to get homes built, though he admitted details about how that would work haven't been finalized.

Tootoo said it's a positive sign that the CMHC is involved because the agency's involvement in social housing had declined after the federal cutbacks of the mid-1990s.

"They're back in the business of social housing and I think that's good news for all of us in the North."