Thank you, Mr. Speaker and my honourable colleagues.

- the definition of "income" and whether dependents and extended families can be considered;

- whether rent can be adjusted to consider over-accommodation resulting from limited choice of units in small communities;

- the cost and benefits of improving staff housing to make it energy efficient, the interior and the plumbing to a minimum acceptable standard;

- the method for calculating purchase prices;

- the impact of the proposed removal of the private accommodation allowance and the provision of incentives to private home ownership;

- the numbers of houses to be offered for sale to employees;

- the effect of sales of staff units on operational needs in a community;

- the impact of the sale of staff housing units in level II and III communities on operational requirements if any employee retires or sells the unit to the private sector;

- whether multiple units will be available for sale;

- the future status of lease staff housing especially where these units are the majority of available staff housing;

- the availability of units in the NWT Housing Corporation access program in all regions and communities;

- incentive for energy conservation;

- the cost and benefits of individually metering all the utilities;

- the status of employees' current rental agreements;

- the latest proposed dates of implementation;

- the imposing of new rents on new employees and those who move even in advance of the implementation date;

- the administrative cost and cash flow impact on the municipality and on the NWT Power Corporation;

- the projected impacts and cost of staff turnovers; and,

- whether this would have projected impact on affirmative action.

Although recognizing that not all tenants will see rent increases, those that do will be burdened with paying more than their disposable incomes on rent while, at the same time, having to keep up with the higher cost of living. This seems unfair.

The Ordinary Members' Caucus believes that there must be a process developed soon to ensure a fair method of consultation and review of the timing for implementation of the strategy. We want this government to listen to those people most affected by the policy, before proceeding any further. Members of our caucus will ask the government for detailed answers in the days ahead and invite the government to cooperate with a review process which will deal thoroughly and fairly with the outstanding issues.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Minister of Personnel for taking the opportunity to advise me that he will make a Member's statement in an attempt to address our concerns. We look forward to his statement tomorrow. Thank you.