Mr. Speaker, the way we see home ownership being encouraged is by raising the level of rents to a point where tenants will see that it is in their interest, by whatever means is possible to them, and we will make those available as much as we can, to get into home ownership. We said we will sell government units to the tenants who are currently occupying them. We said we would do it by appraising the units jointly with the tenants, taking into account the age and condition of the units, and look at reducing the appraised value of the rent. We will reduce it by a certain percentage before agreeing on a price on which to sell the units.

The feeling is, once the rents are uniform and have been based on the Yellowknife market rents, which is considerably lower than the overall majority of communities' real rental rates, that people will be encouraged to get into home ownership.

The particular allowance that the Member is referring to is an allowance called a household allowance, which was given to private home owners some years ago. That was to offset the cost of running their households. This was done at a time when there were no subsidies for electricity, water and sewer. These subsidies are now in place for residents across the north. We felt it was not fair to give employees a double subsidy. We have removed it. We do not see it as discouraging home ownership in any way whatsoever. We think the approach we have taken, by raising the rents to a level that is equitable with what people are paying in other communities, social housing and what the real cost of living is, as reflected by private home owners, is going to make more people in the north see that home ownership is a real and attractive alternative.