Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a few general comments to make then, if I may, I would like to ask the Minister some questions.

Mr. Chairman, I think the big issue that we're all concerned about is the shortfall in federal funding. Since we're now at the stage of considering the Minister's budget, which I think he has acknowledged does not contain funds to deal with this shortfall, I would like to ask the Minister -- and I know he has worked very hard on this -- what is the current status of the negotiations with the federal government? Does he have any hope that this matter will be resolved? If so, when? If it is not resolved in our favour, then what? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I never lose hope. I know that for sure. The status of the negotiations, if you could call it that with the federal government when we look at the actual need of social housing throughout Canada. Right now, everything is based on numbers, the allocation of the national pie. We enjoyed 6.44 per cent of that funding, when it was in place.

What we want to look at and what we've convinced the other Ministers to look at is because somebody is in need in Toronto, for example, of social housing because of an affordability problem, he is not in the same need as somebody in Whale Cove, for example, because they are overcrowded and there is just no house available. We want to figure out a way in which we could address the uniqueness of the northern jurisdictions ourselves, as well as the northern end of the provinces and Newfoundland so that it could give the Minister of Housing more ammunition to take back to his colleagues.

Also, what has been made very clear to us is that there would be no new funding for social housing. When the federal government Minister says we're back in the business, I don't know what business he's back into, but it isn't social housing, I know that. Coming up with $100 million over two years, I believe they came up with in their last budget, is not going to come near to solving our problems. All we can do is continue to put the pressure on, give them the information, the ammunition to present our case to his colleagues, and have hope that they will see the light one of these days and they will understand that it's only going to get worse. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, if the Minister of CMHC has basically said no more funding for social housing, which is a pretty clear answer, what chances do we have of getting funding for housing in the Northwest Territories for aboriginal people through the Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs? I understand that that department is one of the few in the federal government that has enjoyed substantial increases in its budget, and I believe there have been increases for aboriginal housing, nationally, in the Indian Affairs budget. Do we have a chance of getting funding from Indian Affairs for housing for the majority of aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories

, most of whom I know are clients of the Housing Corporation, especially on the social housing side? Is that an avenue that has potential? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Some time ago, I wrote to all the band councils and all the aboriginal leaders, and I have always kept them up to date on the issue of housing and where we're going with it. I had encouraged them to lobby the federal government directly and try to get the dollars to solve their housing problems.

I know that through the CMHC process that I'm involved in, through the process the light is very dim to get new money. We will get a portion of the money we save. They've already agreed to that. We'll get that RRAP program. We'll get a percentage of that. But that's not going to come anywhere near the 700 and some units we need to solve the problem. We need 760 units a year for the next ten years to catch up and meet the needs and the demand, right now. That type of money we're talking about is not going to come through that process.

So we have, with the Premier, as well as with our Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard, a package to present to the Minister of Finance for the federal government as well as the Prime Minister to try to get our housing needs addressed through a package deal. That's the only way we can see doing it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could I then ask the Minister, what's his understanding of the timing of the presentation of this package and the time when we can expect an answer on this approach from the Minister of Finance for Canada? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In April or so we're going to have a meeting with all the Housing Ministers across Canada. (Recording difficulties)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We're going to meet with all the other provincial Ministers of Housing on June 6 and 7, I believe it is.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Minister, if we don't have an answer on the federal funding shortfall before June 7, since contracts have to be awarded, construction has to commence and sea-lift supplies have to be purchased, how is the corporation going to fund the plans to build houses in the coming year without federal funding being guaranteed? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We will build as many units as we can with the limited amount of dollars available to us. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is peanuts compared to what we got from the federal government in the past. They have $130 million for 2,700 reserves across Canada. If that was implemented into the Northwest Territories, you would find the aboriginal people getting a lot less from Indian Affairs than our people enjoyed through the Housing Corporation programs. Thank you.