Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, prior to breaking, I questioned the Minister of Housing about the rural and remote program. This program was 75 per cent CMHC funded and 25 per cent NWT Housing Corporation funded. The payment schedules include that 25 per cent of rental income are deemed mortgage payments.

Mr. Speaker, over the break in my constituency I did some work on the rural and remote program and found out how many of my constituents are affected. It was discovered that I have 10 constituents who have taken advantage of the rural and remote program. However, what concerns me is that one is a senior citizen and one is disabled. Many have paid a mortgage for a number of years, Mr. Speaker. For example, one constituent purchased a unit for approximately $62,000 and after 11 years still owes $54,365. Even if they paid out the mortgage, the amount would be $52,499 and that's after paying $675 a month, totalling $8,061 a year, of which $6,200 is applied to interest.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to urge this government to address the rural and remote program that they were once involved in. I know the Minister stated that it would cost $3 million to purchase all these rural and remote program units in the Northwest Territories and I recognize this is a lot of money in the tight fiscal environment we're in today. However, if we don't, Mr. Speaker, we are creating inequities in our system. On the one hand, the senior citizen units being used by seniors, which are considered public units, are rent free as of April 1st -- and I know some seniors welcome this while many seniors have said they feel very uncomfortable living rent free but I believe they deserve it -- but on the other hand, where seniors are clients of the rural and remote program, paying 25 per cent of their pension towards their mortgage causes great hardship.

Therefore, I would urge this government to address the rural and remote program, which was initially intended to be a good program but has since been deleted by CMHC, probably because of the hardships it does cause. Thank you.

---Applause