I want a rebuttal to the Minister's comments, Mr. Chairman. I understand what the Minister is trying to say, but the department is aware of these particular issues, these issues are not new. The department is well aware of all of these problems, but nothing has been done to date of significance that I can think of. How much longer is it going to take the department to get its act together to provide adequate programs and services to the people of the territories?
For instance, these rates that I am making reference to, Mr. Chairman, were debated in the House. The department is aware of it. I realize they gave us a five per cent increase in the food rates in October, but that is not good enough. What about the clothing allowance? What about the other issues? The clothing allowance, Mr. Chairman, has not been increased since 1985. Why is the department not addressing that? It is getting to the point where the department is not managing their affairs properly. They are in crisis management, in my view. The department is reacting to certain issues that they do not have time to do proper planning on, et cetera. That is a problem. The same Minister said the same thing to me in 1990, when we were debating this. It is getting to the point where I am getting frustrated, not only with this department, but with other departments. Mr. Chairman, somebody has to shake the department up and I hope you can do it. That is the point I am trying to make, Mr. Chairman, that this work has to be done and it has to be done effectively, efficiently and economically. We cannot wait.
If the decision of the last government took into consideration the motion which I made reference to, we would not be in this situation because the social assistance rates would have been indexed to the cost of living and increased every two years. The Minister of the day did not agree with that. That is why we are still in a dilemma today. That is why people like yourself, Mr. Chairman, have been raising the issue. My colleagues for Deh Cho, Nahendeh and everyone else have been raising those issues. Why can we not get this particular issue dealt with? It is getting to the point where it is dragging on and on. We are always in a catch-up situation, particularly for the less fortunate people who are on social assistance. I think my colleague for Thebacha made reference to the fact that the amount of food we currently provide is only about 60 per cent of what we should actually be giving them. We should be giving them 100 per cent, but it is equivalent to 60 per cent. So, again, we are in a catch-up situation, even with the five per cent which the Minister implemented this past year. All I am suggesting to the Minister is that this department has to straighten out and start proper planning, rather than a crisis management plan, so we can get the work done once and for all. Mahsi.