Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Had I been the Minister responsible in October, at the time the increase was placed, perhaps things would have been handled a little differently.

---Applause

I am going to try and stay within the means. The five per cent increase, which was placed in October, applies to all the communities in the NWT, which causes inequities. I will not be looking at additional resources. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, I will try for the third time to get a straight answer from the honourable Minister. She has told my colleague from the High Arctic that she will consider dealing with the food allowance shortfall issue this coming fiscal year. She implied she would look at the shortfall. Now,

she has said in her response that she is going to look at dealing with it by a more equitable allocation of the five per cent increase between communities. Does this mean we will see this issue dealt with when the Minister presents her main estimates before this House this session? That is the third time I have asked this question, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Ms. Mike.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I did not say I am prepared, as the honourable Member is stating. I said I may consider. I will get back to the Member after I review what I said in the Hansard. Thank you.

Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Patterson, last supplementary.

Mr. Speaker, with the greatest respect to the honourable Minister, she should be cautious about raising expectations of a Member of this House. Either she is going to deal with this issue for the coming fiscal year or she is not. I do not want an answer such as, "I will get back to the honourable Member after I have reviewed Hansard." I would like to know, here and now, is the Member going to deal with this issue for the coming fiscal year in the main estimates, or not? Thank you.

Ms. Mike.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will take the question as notice.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Recently the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation advertised an invitation to tender for the 1993 access water delivery program. One component of this tender was for the materials for 51 housing units to be delivered to Northern Transportation Company Limited, NTCL, in Hay River. Mr. Speaker, as the tender title indicates the means of transport for these housing materials is by barge. There is no consideration given for the use of truck transportation to communities with road access, both year round and winter roads. The communities of Inuvik, Aklavik, Arctic Red River, Fort McPherson and Tuktoyaktuk are all accessible by roads. My question to the Minister of Housing is why are all of these housing packages being shipped by barge and not have the opportunity of using truck transportation?

Minister for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my understanding there is a policy which requires us to ship by NTCL to any place north of Norman Wells. This was worked out with the purchasing of NTCL. I have already stated to the Member for Nahendeh that I will look at the policy, revise it and take it to Cabinet. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

I am the Member for Inuvik and not Nahendeh. I am not aware of your discussions with him. You have mentioned there is a policy whereby this government is required to do all of their shipping by NTCL. How many years is the arrangement with NTCL in place for?

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have discussed this issue with the Member for Nahendeh in this House. I had answered some questions and I thought the Member was present.

When NTCL was a federal Crown corporation, the GNWT was committed to using their services. Following the sale of the company to the Inuvialuit Development Corporation and Nunasi Corporation the government of the day, in 1986, reaffirmed that NTCL would be the carrier of choice. About the same time, Cooper Barging Service applied for operating south of Fort Good Hope, but it excluded Hay River. That means both carriers can operate in the Fort Simpson, Jean Marie River, Wrigley, Fort Norman and Norman Wells areas and any point in between. The Cooper Barging Service also has the rights to service the Liard River.

The Member for Inuvik has raised this issue and also the mayor of Fort Simpson and the Member for Nahendeh. To address their concerns the department is in the process of preparing a decision paper for Cabinet's consideration to see if a process should be taken so all barge companies have the opportunity to carry GNWT cargo with a designation for the upper Mackenzie and whether we can ship materials to Inuvik and the other communities by truck. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Mr. Speaker, this invitation to tender requires material to construct 51 housing units in the western Arctic. In previous statements which the Minister made, I thought he indicated he would ensure tender packages will be broken down into smaller units to enable some of our northern businesses to compete for the tender of this business. My supplementary is, why is this tender so large?

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT Housing Corporation is breaking out portions of the houses, for example, the foundations, windows, cabinets and other portions of the tender, in order for people to bid on it. My understanding is that so far this year most of the tenders have been awarded to northern outfits. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

I think the Minister should read his own tenders. Is it the Minister's intention to break down future invitations to tender so smaller northern businesses can compete for a fair share of the business?

Mr. Morin.