The concerns which will be raised this afternoon are territorial-wide, in fact, residents in all our communities and all the territorial employees in the smaller communities. We know the strategy has already been in place in Fort Smith, Hay River, Yellowknife and some impact has been felt in Inuvik because many of the residents there pay close to economic rent. There is an impact on many of the communities and the rest of the communities are the ones I have not mentioned

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I am on public record as personally supporting the intent and direction the government is trying to take in the development of the staff housing strategy. I am also on record stating my opposition to the way the strategy is being implemented. There are many concerns regarding the inequities in the different communities and regions, and also within a community itself. There are many types of housing available. The state of the housing is quite different. You can have two four bedroom detached units but one could be quite aged and energy inefficient and the newer model could be quite different. So, you have many types of units which are available. The concerns in many cases are with the state of the unit once the customer has to pay for energy, the higher levels that one pays from one unit to the next. We know there are energy subsidies in some communities for power. However, the further north you go it is darker for longer periods of time and more power is required. There is some concern that people in the more northerly communities end up paying quite a bit more than people who have more hours of daylight. These are issues.

There is the issue of the impact of bringing in rents. The proposal is now at a 25 per cent rent increase plus user-pay for their power and utilities, and eventually user-pay for fuel. The levels of impact are going to vary by employee and by community. In many cases there is quite a variance in how much an employee pays. I know there is a proposed ceiling of 30 per cent on household income. Mr. Chairman, what I am raising are issues which residents have raised and tenants have raised. We have a great deal of correspondence from the Minister and his staff in trying to address this. However, there has been a problem in getting this information from the department or from government departments to tenants.

I have raised several questions, during session, regarding ways to encourage the departmental officials to talk to tenants. Some time ago, the Minister made the commitment to have staff go into each household and talk to tenants if they were willing to talk. From my understanding, the visits to my riding and the correspondence I have received from across the territories, all tenants want to talk and get a better understanding of this strategy.

I would like to stop now, Mr. Chairman, and give the Minister a chance to respond to some of the comments I have made.