Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Lewis.

I would like to ask the Minister, whether we need a Housing Corporation any more, that's my question.

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I can't answer that question right now. I don't know whether we need it or not. It's something that we have to talk about. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 5, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The questions the honourable Member asked, there was a broad range of questions and it takes a lot of work by the department to gather all that information so I can't make that commitment today. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you. Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'll commit that I'll have it before February.

Thank you. Item 5, oral questions. The honourable Member for Iqaluit, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Further questions to the Minister of Housing with regard to the financial problems of the Housing Corporation. Madam Speaker, I know the Minister has just said that a major portion of the Housing Corporation's budget is operation and maintenance funding and I know this is administered through housing associations

and housing authorities. I'd like to ask the Minister, what priority has been put, by the corporation and himself, on seeking greater efficiencies from these local delivery authorities at the community level, in an effort to minimize the financial pressures on the Housing Corporation?

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The priority we have put in -- and it's a very high priority -- is any dollars that we can save, we would like to save. The problem we have right now -- and I'm presently negotiating that with CMHC -- is out of every dollar we do save, we give 50 cents back to CMHC because everything is cost-shared, or is it 75 cents? So there is no great advantage at this time to cut O and M funding into the communities or to try to save money because CMHC takes it back and then their plan is to reallocate it throughout Canada. Our initial evaluation of the situation, across Canada, you might be able to save approximately $20 million in O and M funding and if you redistribute that according to need across Canada, we'd get back around a hundred and some thousand dollars. So, it would ultimately mean that we lost money. We are presently negotiating that with CMHC, that any cost-savings we can incur through O and M, we'd like to continue to keep and put back into social housing. We are in those negotiations now, thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the recovery problem that the Minister has described but even at 50 per cent on the dollar, if we make a ten per cent saving on a $50 million O and M budget, I think we would have $2 million or $3 million we don't have now. I know that massive efforts have been made on the new home ownership programs and on the construction side of the corporation. Now that those programs are in place, isn't it time, Madam Speaker, that a priority was placed on training, workshops and development of those local housing authorities and associations, so we can try to achieve O and M savings at the community level in the coming year? Thank you.

Thank you. The Honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Minister of Housing, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I agree with the Member that there is a level of training needed at the community level. We have to look at the savings at the community level. I agree that we will work on that. Mahsi cho.

Thank you. Item 5, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Whitford.

Thank you. The Honourable Member for Keewatin Central, Mr. Todd, Minister responsible for Public Services.

At present, there is no regulatory framework to control this .5 per cent beer that is being sold in grocery stores. We sent out letters to the manufacturers and to the retailers asking them to consider withdrawing them on a voluntary basis. We are also looking at legal options to bring it under the NWT Liquor Act. Thank you.