Thank you. Item 5, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Whitford.

Minister of Health, Mr. Pollard.

That is correct, Madam Speaker. A denturist, Mr. Enzoe who is resident in Yellowknife, can make partial plates and provide them to a dentist for fitting in the mouth, using the dentist's impressions. When I say the denturist can't make partials, what I mean is he can't work on his own. He can't see a patient, take the impressions, do the fittings, and so on and so forth, on his own. He can do that for full uppers and full lowers without the patient seeing a dentist.

When it comes to partials, the patient should see a dentist and the dentist can then have the partials made by the denturist. There is some provision for the making and manufacturing of partials in the Northwest Territories, but it doesn't allow Mr. Enzoe to work on his own, as far as partials are concerned. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Whitford.

Thank you. Minister of Health, Mr. Pollard.

Madam Speaker, in that particular instance, the dentist would be doing the impressions, et cetera, and Mr. Enzoe would be providing the dentist with the partials. So, yes, the dentist would be able to pay and be able to bill the patient, whether they are covered under a private plan in the Northwest Territories or if it is an area covered by us through Blue Cross, ultimately at the expense of the federal government. Yes, there would be a payment made in that case. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation about the proposed new social housing rent scale. My question is, did the Advisory Committee on Social Housing review the proposed new rent scale? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Yes, the Advisory Committee on Social Housing reviewed the proposed new rent scale a year ago. They reviewed it just about a year ago for the first time. They also reviewed it just recently again. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Madam Speaker, I would then like to ask the Minister responsible for Housing, if the advisory committee gave any advice on the proposed new rent scale and, if so, what advice they gave? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I've been working with the advisory committee for the past year and with community organizations. That is how the new rent scale was developed. Any changes you see in there came directly through recommendations by people. In general, people complained about the rent scale. They said it discouraged people from working and from going to school, so we changed it to address those issues. With all due respect to the Member, I will be moving this into committee of the whole to discuss it, where everyone has a copy. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I do appreciate that I will have another opportunity in committee of the whole, but I'm very curious, Madam Speaker, to follow up on this line of questioning with the Minister. The Minister has said that the proposed rent scale was basically developed on the advice of the Advisory Committee on Social Housing, advice which has been given over the past year. My question to the Minister, then, is did the Advisory Committee on Social Housing endorse and approve the proposed new rent scale? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Yes.

Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Madam Speaker, I'm aware that the Minister for the Housing Corporation is the chair of the Advisory Committee on Social Housing and I guess I would like to ask him, as a final supplementary, since he has reported to the House that the Advisory Committee on Social Housing has approved the proposed new rent scale and since the mandate of the advisory committee is to review major new or revised policies or programs proposed by the Housing Corporation and to provide advice to the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation and the Legislative Assembly, then why does the first report of the Advisory Committee on Social Housing not say a word about approving the proposed rent scale?

All it says is that it was reviewed. Why is there not a word about the position of the advisory committee approving this rent scale? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I don't know why there isn't a specific word in the report saying that they approved the rent scale. But, let me assure you that they did so in the last meeting. The Member is a Member of the advisory committee. He wasn't present at that meeting, but they did approve the new rent scale. We've been working on this new rent scale for well over a year and I've been working fairly closely with the advisory committee. We tried to address the recommendations they brought forward to the Housing Corporation. We addressed approximately 98 per cent of them, and I feel it is the best compromise, that's what you have before you today. Thank you.