Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Members of this House expressed a concern on how you are going to have community input into housing programs and policies if you do not have a board of directors. We worked and consulted with Members of this House to develop a process so that the communities can have input into policies and programs of the NWT Housing Corporation. There are housing authorities in every community right now. Those authorities will sponsor an annual meeting in their own community every year. That is straightforward and should be no great cost. I could get an estimate for the Member on that.

Presently there are regional annual meetings to deal with maintenance. What I had suggested was to expand those to not only deal with maintenance, but policies and programs. So there should be no great additional cost to that.

Other than that, we do not have the cost of the advisory committee that was suggested by Members of this House, but as I told the honourable Member for North Slave earlier today, I will be taking a paper to Cabinet tomorrow and writing the honourable Member Mr. Koe as chairman of caucus, a letter requesting this be put on the caucus agenda to be discussed and then table it in the House. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Minister have a schedule of when these district and community meetings will be held?

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would not want to dictate to the district or the communities when they should have their meetings. It is up to the communities and districts. We have just finished having our eastern and western workshop for the housing contractors to get their input into the new housing designs and make recommendations to the corporation on how we can get better bang for our construction

dollar. I will be giving Members information on those workshops. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was not insinuating that the Minister dictate when meetings will be held. I assumed it was a community level process. I assume the Minister and the senior staff of the Housing Corporation would not personally be attending all of these meetings. Recognizing that the track record in dealing with constituents' concerns regarding housing issues, may not be all that great, can the Minister please advise us how concerns from these community and district meetings will be conveyed to senior management so they can deal with the issues?

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That would be completely up to the community and the region. Usually when people get together, they do make decisions and recommendations.

Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

I know they make decisions and I hope that is why they meet. How will these decisions be conveyed to your senior management and perhaps yourself, so they can be put into new policy developments?

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is all part of the paper I will be discussing and tabling in this House. So I will take that question as notice because that is part of the framework.

The question has been taken as notice. Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Allooloo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government is saying they will not charge for water and sewer until April, 1994. The department's assessment on this issue is preliminary at this point. The thinking of the department is that once user-pay becomes a reality, tenants would have to pay for water and sewage and the amount of water they consume. The thinking at this point is that the costs will go down. The hamlets, villages and municipalities will deliver less water to the houses when the consumers start paying for their own bills. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, thank you. I understand that water consumption may change when people start paying their own bills. I hope that is the case. My question to the Minister is about the financial impacts. Is it not true, Mr. Speaker, that private residential tenants pay less per litre for water and sewage pick-up than a government client in a community? That is my question, Mr. Speaker, are there going to be less revenues because of a subsidy to the private residential rate from the larger government rate? Will this have a financial impact on the municipalities? Has this financial impact been calculated by the Ministry of Municipal and Community Affairs? Thank you.

Mr. Allooloo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will partly answer the question now, but I will need more information and time to calculate the financial cost to the government. The rate for residential water and sewer is based on a formula that the government subsidizes hamlets for water delivery to $.22 for residential units. That applies to the government units, as well, if they are residential. For commercial, we assist the hamlets and towns to $.44 per litre. In coming up with a calculation I would need more time, Mr. Speaker, to fully answer Mr. Patterson's question. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

I look forward to the Minister's response, Mr. Speaker. My other related question is whether the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs has calculated the requirements on municipalities. Will there be financial burdens on municipalities associated with billing some 1,800 new customers as opposed to consolidated bills from the Government of the Northwest Territories? Has that impact and those costs been calculated by the department? Thank you.

Mr. Allooloo.