Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Mr. and Mrs. John and Helen Maksagak. Thank you.

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Thank you. Welcome to the Assembly. Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the newest members of our local media.

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Thank you. Welcome to the Assembly. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Oral questions. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question was for the Minister of the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Todd. Mr. Speaker, this past weekend I met with several of our dedicated employees in Iqaluit. I have been informed that this government will now cease to hold leases for staff housing. Understandably, Mr. Speaker, this has caused much concern. Can the Minister for the FMBS, Mr. Todd, update this House on the status of these leases?

The Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board, Mr. Todd.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I am not aware of the leases specific that Mr. Picco talking about, because he did not identify them. But if he is talking about some of the leases that are in his constituency, we are working with that constituency, and with the people in those houses towards trying too provide alternative housing to those who are in the leased housing at this time. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral question,

supplementary. Mr. Picco.

I am sorry, Mr. Speaker, I did not make the question clear enough for Mr. Todd. I meant the high rise apartment complexes and several single individual units that we are leasing as a government. Maybe Mr. Todd can tell me what is going to happen to these tenants now that we are going to cease leasing and they will have the lease on the open market. What type of strategy we are going to put in place to help the easement of these employees into an uncertain marketplace? Thank you Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Todd.

I will write to my honourable colleague and explain to him in detail what we were doing, but since he would like to make it public, I am prepared to do that. Could have found out in the newspaper I guess.

The point of the matter is that this government is going to get out of staff housing. I am tired of saying it, I am going to say it again. We are going to be out of staff housing. We are going to sell the houses to our employees, and here there are leases. We are going to release these leases if it provides no undue hardship to the owners of those particular leases.

What we are working with in Mr. Picco's riding and the people in that brown building, or row housing he is talking about, we are working with them right now to find a way in which to, over a phased period of time, providing them with some financial assistance to ultimately get out of the leased accommodation where we believe the landlord is acting in an unfair manner with respect to highjacking the rates. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral question, supplementary. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again Mr. Speaker, I have to apologize to Mr. Todd for not being more clear and of course I did receive the letter from Mr. Todd, but that letter was to me, it was not to the constituents of Iqaluit or the people of the Northwest Territories. Therefore, my question was so it could come out in the open and discover who is doing it. I am sure Mr. Todd appreciates that question. My supplementary question then to Mr. Todd is that a lot of these houses of course are furnished, and right now I understand, I did see a couple of vans moving in, and our employees taking furniture out of these units and storing it. Of course a couple of weeks later they go on a public tender and then anyone could buy them. My question to Mr. Todd is will the FMBS direct our departmental officials in the region and in Iqaluit specifically, to allow our employees to buy this furniture that they have had in their apartments for six, seven, ten years, before we seize it, put it in a warehouse and tender it. Thank you Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Todd.

Mr. Speaker. This applies to everybody in the Northwest Territories, however I did send it to the tenants that Mr. Picco was talking about. And if there is a problem with respect to furniture, I am not aware of it. I will review it with my officials, and we will be only too happy to report back to this House, or through letter, to Mr. Picco on this issue. Thank you.

Thank You. Final supplementary. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Todd is in fine form today. What I would like to ask Mr. Todd, in my final supplementary question, concerns what he had said earlier about the government of the Northwest Territories moving towards helping our constituents moving to the work, to the open marketplace. Would Mr. Todd be able to give me something in writing so that I can take it back to

my constituents and let my constituents know that Mr. Todd is very concerned about their well being, so that they can see this, and maybe some type of financial amount or more clarification of what type of an arrangement Mr. Todd would be making to help said constituents. Thank you Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Todd.

It takes one to know one. Mr. Speaker, I think right now I have to get Cabinet approval for this policy that we are working on. Once the Cabinet has approved that policy, I would be only to happy to share it with the honourable colleague and the tenants who are affected. It is the overall objective of this government to ensure that out staff are given adequate resources to be able to pay the rent, at the same time, we have an obligation to ensure that landlords are not using this as an excuse to blackmail both the tenants and this government which we will not stand for. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral Questions. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you. Mr. Premier. Mr. Morin.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Currently, our negotiations with BHP are on a socio-economic agreement between the government and BHP. Our government, and that includes the Department of Indian Affairs as well. There is also a negotiation happening on community benefit agreements between Treaty 8 and Treaty 11, North and South Slave Metis, and community benefit agreements as well as negotiations on environmental monitoring. I believe that one is pretty well done. It looks like it is coming together, and that Northerners will benefit from this project. Hopefully it will be concluded by Friday. Thank you.

Thank you. oral question supplementary. Mr. Miltenberger.