Thank you. Honourable Member for Iqaluit, Mr. Patterson, supplementary.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I guess what I'm curious about is major renovations and things like new carpets and furniture. Would it be the policy of the government -- since the government stated its intention is to get out of staff housing and to sell units -- in places like Iqaluit where there's a high degree of interest in purchasing staff housing, to avoid major renovations and upgrading of staff housing units, and instead to let prospective purchases undertake those expenses? Thank you.

Thank you. Honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The unit is appraised in the condition that it's in. If there are any renovations done, they are needed through regular maintenance to make sure the unit does not deteriorate any more, unnecessarily. That would be put into the price of selling the unit. Thank you.

Thank you. Honourable Member for Iqaluit, supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Madam Speaker, as the honourable Minister knows, there are concerns in my constituency that there has been work done by the government in houses that employees have expressed an interest in purchasing. The perception is that this work is being done at government expense, rather than the prospective purchaser's expense. I wonder if the Minister would be open to providing the House with detailed information about the work that has been done on certain staff housing units, since the staff housing policy was put in place. Thank you.

Thank you. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would prefer not to beat around the bush and I would prefer not to give my department a lot of work for nothing. If you have specific issues where there are employees of my department who have done major maintenance on a house and got the house at a lesser rate than they should have, please advise me and I will look at those issues. Let's not look at all of them. That is a lot of work. If the Member could provide me with the unit numbers or addresses, I will investigate those. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 5, oral questions. The honourable Member for Amittuq, Mr. Allooloo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation a question. The Minister knows during the last session of this Legislative Assembly, and considerable time has elapsed, I informed him of the problem that is occurring in Pond Inlet with regard to access units. The electrical contract was let out but, because the contractor did not comply with what he said he would, the contract was taken back. Has the ministry been able to take care of this problem? Thank you.

Thank you. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Member for Pond Inlet raised this issue several times during the last session. We did look into it. Kharaj, I believe is the name of the contractor, did not follow the contract. We got a legal opinion from Justice and we gave him a fine for not following the contract. We took some money back from him, and he proceeded to finish the contract. Based on the instructions I got from Justice and my department, that was the most we could do at that time. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Allooloo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. This is a job that has to be done now. Is the electrical work being done to those houses?

Thank you. Minister responsible for Housing, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is my understanding that the electrical work is proceeding on those three access units. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, honourable Member for Amittuq, Mr. Allooloo.

Thank you. My information is somewhat different. I was talking to access people last night and they informed me that the electrical work is not being done and they don't know who is going to do it. Would the Minister look after this problem as soon as possible, so that these people are able to move in before Christmas? Thank you.

Thank you. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Agreed.

Thank you. Item 5, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. My question is for the Finance Minister with regard to the payroll tax that was implemented July 1. Many treaty people have approached me in the past few months about this payroll tax. There is a lot of concern about why they're paying it. I understand that the Finance Minister did have a meeting with the Dene Nation leadership. The question is, why are treaty people who work in the Northwest Territories not exempt from the one per cent payroll tax? Thank you.

Thank you. The honourable Member for Hay River, Mr. Pollard, Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and congratulations. Madam Speaker, the legal opinion that we obtained indicated that people who earn wages in the Northwest Territories should pay that tax. The Member is correct, I did meet with Mr. Erasmus on this particular issue because the administration of the Dene Nation has not

registered and has not been remitting the tax. I have been advised by Mr. Erasmus that he is in consultation with the federal department of Finance and the Department of Revenue with regard to the total exemption of any taxes, including GST; taxes on alcohol; taxes on cigarettes; taxes on property, presumably; and taxes on motor fuel.

My agreement with him was that I would meet with the federal Minister of Finance -- and I'm going to in January -- and we would discuss this issue, because it really flows from the federal government. I recognize the fact that they're doing it on the basis of a treaty that was signed by people of the Northwest Territories. There were actually two treaties with the Government of Canada of the day. I will wait until I talk with the Minister of Finance and see what the federal government is going to do with regard to this general issue.