It was only the board that was dissolved. The staff and the regulatory function is still being performed by the staff, Mr. Chairman.

That's correct, Mr. Chairman. The staff functions of regulations, et cetera, are still being performed in Hay River. The requirement for a board was deemed to be redundant and we asked for and got support to cancel the board.

The Minister of Finance will answer that question.

Mr. Chairman, when items are selected for privatization, first of all there's a general discussion about whether it could be privatized. If it is privatized, is the expertise in the Northwest Territories to continue that function? When we looked at printing and publications, we ascertained that certainly there were business people in the Northwest Territories who were quite capable of doing the job that was previously done in government. I must say that some of Mr. Dent's own constituents have come up to me and said, in no uncertain terms, that they're certainly in favour of privatization. I would assume from that, Mr. Chairman, that they had received some contracts or had done some work for the government and were putting their process to work much more than they had been before.

First of all, as I said, could the people in the Northwest Territories...is there expertise to do it? Secondly, does it make sense? Is it something that's concise enough in government that it could be privatized and not affect all the government. We looked at printing, sale of Government of the Northwest Territories publications -- which was sort of connected -- and liquor warehouses and liquor stores. Of course, when it came to liquor stores, it had been done in the past and there was considerable knowledge on how it had worked in the past and that knowledge was drawn upon. It was taken a little further because there was a warehouse in Hay River which was totally privatized. That was done on the basis of a tender or proposal call -- I can't remember which, Mr. Chairman. I can assure the Members here that those numbers that were received by the liquor board were looked at and analyzed to see whether or not government would in fact gain from it. At the present time, we believe it's working well. I'm not prepared to say here and now that we're going to save a whole lot of dollars, but if it's a wash then I think we'll be happy with the fact that we're getting out of some businesses that private sector can get involved in, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, in as much as it's possible to analyze that situation before we make a decision, yes. In other areas, when we've called for proposals, we've done the analysis after we've seen what the private sector would suggest to us they could do. I would point out to Members of the committee, although it's not directly related, it's similar. When we sell off housing units. we take away money from departments that would have been supporting those government units by whatever means, whether it was MACA through grants in lieu, or DPW through electricity, utilities and so on. It's not that we're just getting rid of things and allowing departments to retain those funds. On the other side of it, as we get things into the private sector and are no longer responsible for them, we're demanding back from those departments that had previously maintained those facilities, those funds so we can see what's coming back to us. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the Sessional Statement, there are comments made on stimulating local economies by improving local housing markets. It went on to talk about implementing the staff housing strategy, and talked about selling 89 units with another 91 pending, and an estimated $500,000 worth of tools and materials that have been purchased from the private sector to renovate houses.

My question is on the units that were sold. Were the prices they were sold for fair and reasonable market prices, or were they fire sale prices?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We certainly don't think they were fire sale prices, although they were, in some cases, a little less than market value. We felt that was okay. We felt that getting people into their own houses, having an asset underneath them was a good thing. I can point out to Mr. Koe, as he well knows, that there were a couple of sales in Inuvik whereby we knew there was a considerable amount of work to be done to those particular units. When we looked at the amount of work that had to be done to those units, and looked at the price we were being offered, we made an arrangement for a sale in that particular regard.

Mr. Chairman, I would point out that although the Government of the Northwest Territories has been selling its own houses in level I communities and in some level II communities, there have also been some sales I'm familiar with in Hay River, by Northern Transportation Company Limited and by NorthwesTel, as well. So, there have been other people who have been doing a similar thing that we have been doing. If you had tried to get a carpenter in Hay River in August or September of this year, it would have been very difficult. When I inquired as to why, we found out that as soon as people acquired their own houses, they were wanting them to be fixed up. They were wanting the roofs fixed and the fences fixed, they were buying paint and painting their houses, and taking some pride in those houses. So I did a little checking around the Northwest Territories where we've been selling houses and I found that was the same situation. So, I think in addition to getting people into their own housing units, in addition to getting them some equity, we have, perhaps, inadvertently, stimulated the economy in those particular areas as well.

Did we get hosed on them? No, I don't think so, Mr. Chairman. Did we sell them all at market value? No, Mr. Chairman, we probably sold quite a few of them at below market value, but we figure it was well worth it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. The majority of houses, I assume, were in level I communities. Can the Minister advise how many houses were sold outside of level I communities, or were any houses sold in other than level I communities?