Mr. Speaker, the government has, for many years, at least 15 years, been postering outside the ropes, so to speak, to finally grapple with this beast which is the fact that there are vast inequities that exist in the way we treat government employees across the territories. We have no level playing field as far as what rents are charged, the conditions of houses, and the utility rates. There have been studies done, and the Special Committee on Housing touched on it. There have been task force reports which all say the same thing, the government should get out and do something about the inadequate levels of rent which have been charged. We finally decided to do something about it in January and it is going to be difficult. There are going to be a thousand little detailed questions and inadequacies which surface. I would suggest most agencies and most people would prefer to leave well enough alone, if you could call it that. I personally feel there are more injustices present in leaving the situation the way it is, than there are in existence in the strategy we have launched.

We are committed to carrying out the strategy. It is going to cause hardship for divisional boards. They are going to be pummelled by their employees. Employees are going to threaten to leave, they are going to point out their rental increase. Some of them are going to complain about the lack of notice and many other things. There is going to be some uncertainty about whether teachers will leave en masse and also if professionals will leave en masse. In my view, people will stay. I think they will listen to our debate in this Legislature and will take into account the points which are made. It is up to us in this Legislature to carry on a rational debate about what it is we are trying to do.

As I said earlier, we have people in the Northwest Territories who number up to 15 people in two bedroom houses. We have people who number up to 20 in three bedroom houses. We have houses which have doors with no doorknobs on them. We have houses which have no existing windows. We have atrocious housing conditions in existence now. In balancing that, the argument is, there is this potential saving if we pull out the strategy of up to perhaps $5 million which is now being allocated for the exclusive benefit and use of 1,800 government employees, 1,800 citizens of the Northwest Territories. We have 57,000 people in the Northwest Territories. Is this a fair way to use increasingly scarce resources?

In my long preamble, I indicated that the strategy has been many years in the making. People know we are going to get out of staff housing, it has been suggested numerous times over the years. We have introduced market rents in three of the major communities of the Northwest Territories. We have introduced utility user-pay for a number of years. I think divisional boards and health boards are aware that this strategy was inevitable. Specifically, we did not go to the divisional boards or health boards to ask

their opinion about whether we should do this. The government decided it was time to do it. The financial situation of the government compelled us to do it. The number of years we have left before the election also made it even more urgent to introduce this at the time we did. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the strategy is intended to try to get the government out of staff housing. It is also intended to make it possible for people to get into home ownership by making staff houses available for purchase. We have also proposed to increase the revenue which this government makes by increasing the rents. Not only does it increase the revenue which this government makes from tenants by reducing the public liability in this area, but we believe it also moves towards making it more and more realistic. Perhaps not all developers would agree. This is all part of the entrepreneurial spirit. There is always someone somewhere who is willing and able to find ways to take advantage of new opportunities. Right now there are absolutely no opportunities, particularly in the Arctic communities, for any developers to feel they can put some of their money into developing houses and making them available for rent. We think the strategy begins to do this. Even if the fiscal condition of the government should improve dramatically to where it was back in the early and mid-eighties, there is no reason to believe we would address this situation any better. The strategy tries to address it by taking a many multi-faceted approach to addressing this problem, by

making input from the private developers in the communities more realistic. Thank you.

(Translation) Mr. Speaker, the government employees who are presently staying in the occupied government housing are given the opportunity to purchase the dwelling. If there are any damages or repairs needed in the dwelling they are in now, the price would be lower than the market price. If the people occupying the dwellings are interested in purchasing the house, they can sit

down with the government and make an offer. The government will arrange to do an appraisal on the house and establish the market price for the house. The occupants can also be part of the appraisal. The cost of the house is negotiable according to the condition of the house. The Member who asked me the question regarding the market price of the house is correct in asking if there is damage in the dwelling, it could be repaired before resale. He is correct.

My question is in regard to a Minister's statement, from the Minister of Safety and Public Services, delivered to us earlier today. I am confused on the number of people who are going to be on that committee. One of the paragraphs say, "The agreement will allow the Northwest Territories Federation of Labour to nominate persons from organized labour, the number to be equivalent to the membership of the committee as currently structured." When I counted the number on the front page, there are two representatives from mine management, one from employees of non-union mines and one representative from the Union of Northern Workers. That comes out to four people plus the chairman. What would be the composition of this new board? Will there be, in fact, four union representatives to sit, in addition to those persons on there?