Thank you. Item 4, returns to oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Patterson on February 14, 1994.

Where the GNWT has appraisals done for a house on leased land, no land value is assigned to the property. The government gives the purchaser a leasehold interest only. In conjunction with the sale of the house and other improvements that might be on the land, they get a 30 year lease for the land. The purchaser has to make the annual lease payments on the land. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 4, returns to oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Patterson on February 14, 1994 on the procedures for the sale of staff housing.

In response to an oral question asked by Mr. Patterson on February 14, 1994, I will provide to all Members a copy of the guidelines for the sale of staff housing to employees. Thank you.

Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, oral questions. The honourable Member for Amittuq, Mr. Allooloo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Personnel. In the budget, which the Minister of Finance tabled, and introduced to this House yesterday, there were some new positions in the level II and III communities. Presumably, these positions could be filled as soon as April 1, 1994. How many housing units are required for these positions? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Personnel, Ms. Mike.

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

Thank you. Item 5, oral questions. The honourable Member for Iqaluit, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. To the Minister of Personnel, before 1991, the government had a staff housing policy, which anyone could find in the government's policy book. I should say before 1992, pardon me. Where would an NWT resident, today, find a copy of the long-term staff housing strategy? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Personnel, Ms. Mike.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will provide the strategy to this House. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Member for Iqaluit, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I am aware that before December of 1992, government employees who were implementing the staff housing policy had a staff housing section of the Personnel manual in which they could find detailed guidelines on what should be done, when and how, with regard to staff housing. For the new long-term staff housing strategy, are there similar guidelines or procedures available for government employees when they are dealing with questions and implementing that strategy? Thank you.

Thank you. Initially, the question was directed to the Minister of Personnel. However, the Premier did want to reply to it after I had directed the question to the Minister of Personnel. I will allow the Premier to answer. Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, I have been looking at Hansard and looking at some of the questions. I would like to bring in perspective the process that we started with and why we are here in terms of the long-term staff housing policy, or strategy, so everyone will have the same information. Some of the questions and supplementaries will be incorporated in this explanation.

Madam Speaker, the long-term staff housing strategy is the end product of many years of work and a variety of studies. The first study was conducted in 1979 by a joint task force consisting of management and unions, which the previous Government Leader was involved with and lead. This was followed in 1985 by the Special Committee on Housing and decisions were then made by three different governments, under three different Government Leaders, to get out of staff housing. The recommendations from the studies and directions from the different cabinets were incorporated in the long-term staff housing strategy which was developed in its present form between 1989 and 1991, finalized in 1992 and approved by Cabinet in November 1992. As well, several short-term steps were taken along the way.

In 1989 and again in 1990, a process for making single-family housing units available for sale to long-term employees in every community except Yellowknife was approved with the first sales closing early in the year of 1992. Madam Speaker, in early 1991, the first phase of the long-term strategy was approved which extends the sales to all employees residing in single detached units, including Yellowknife. This was announced in the Assembly on February 27, 1992, with the first sales being closed in August 1992.

Public sales of surplus units began in Yellowknife in September 1992 with the first sales closed by early October in 1992. The present government approved the long-term strategy on November 7, 1992. This was announced in the Assembly and was tabled on December 3, 1992. After discussion and debate, several changes were made, approved by Cabinet and announced in January, February and March of 1993. The December 16, 1993, Cabinet decision extended another round of sales to tenant employees, added multi-plexes and set a process for MLA consultation about what to do with surplus units, if any, in these communities.

Madam Speaker, the long-term staff housing strategy is a plan which is devised to bring about the government's policy of getting out of staff housing. This strategy was designed to help people become more self-sufficient, promote home ownership, develop private rental housing markets, consolidate staff housing functions and aid the transfers of responsibility for public housing to community control. It is not a policy that has been promulgated in the GNWT policy manual. Many other Government of the Northwest Territories policies are not formal, blue-book type policies.

Point of order. Mr. Lewis.

Point Of Order

Thank you, Madam Speaker. This is a long response and it is very unclear to me what the question is that this response is being made to.

Thank you, Mr. Lewis. There is nothing really in our rules that indicates the time frame that should be allotted for replies to oral questions. However, taking into account here your comments, I will take your point of order under advisement because I do believe somewhere in our rules it does state that the reply to an oral question should answer the question and that I believe the question should be answered in as short a time as possible. So, I will take your point of order under advisement. Thank you. Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, I apologize for being long-winded about this, but there were many questions and there seems to be some confusion, and I believe I did

have a preamble and I am sorry it is so long, but however, the question was: "What is the policy?"

Madam Speaker, what I was trying to say is that this is not a policy that has been promulgated in the GNWT policy manual. Many other GNWT policies are not formal blue book policies. Blue book policies are descriptions of Cabinet-approved principles, rules, regulations and guidelines for the delivery of certain programs or services or for guiding decision-making on a variety of issues, are of general application and usually concern the interests of the public directly.

Madam Speaker, I have a bit more of an explanation and I hope this would answer the question on the matter of policy and strategy. Many other Government of the Northwest Territories policies exist which would be more properly styled something else such as internal guidelines or procedures.

These include items such as a human resource manual which contains detailed procedures and guidelines for many aspects of human resources. Strategies or plans, a great deal of the present work by Renewable Resources and ED&T flows from strategies they have developed and which have or will receive Cabinet and Assembly review. Although there is not a policy manual, blue book type policy for the strategy, the long-term staff housing strategy is a plan devised to bring about the Government's policy of getting out of staff housing. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 5, oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I do appreciate, even if it was long, the full response to my question since I had asked yesterday if there was a policy and it was taken as notice, so I do appreciate that. I guess what I would like to ask now then, Madam Speaker, as a supplementary, is, now that we know it's not a policy but a plan, is the Premier willing to, since there is much, some confusion anyway, about what's in this plan, is the Premier willing to make this plan available to Members of this House so we can see what's in it? Thank you.

Thank you. Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, certainly. I believe it was tabled before or circulated and tabled before and we will do it again. Thank you.