Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to review a number of items.

Two hundred and fifty senior homeowners in the NWT have become ineligible for the assistance, which is $135 a month. It is provided either through wood, propane, fuel oil, or natural gas. For the government, this has meant a 35 percent reduction from $570,000 to an expenditure of $370,000, a saving of $200,000. The NWT Seniors Advisory Council was established by the NWT Seniors' Society and the Department of Health and Social Services in April 1995.

Today, the Advisory Council says, and Mr. Dent has spoken on this, that it was not given the opportunity to review the changes to the fuel subsidy program. Mr. Dent has explained there may have been a communication problem in this situation. The council, though, continues to ask if it can work with the government on developing a new policy.

They have a number of questions. For instance, instead of using the NWT Seniors supplement benefit as a means test, the new policy proposing using a single income of $12,000, and a couple income of $30,000 for those 60 years and over. One of the items that the Seniors' Society has pointed out, is that government is telling people to use thesSeniors information line as a phone number to get information. They are not quite clear as to the eligibility of people. Also, there seems to be some confusion, because they have stated, and I am getting this from reports from the Seniors' Society. They have stated that government workers are telling people they have to be 65 and over to receive the supplementary benefit, to qualify.

The society feels policy changes are not clearly thought out. The seniors have offered to review the policy, but they feel that that offer has been ignored. At their most recent meeting, they passed a resolution. In that resolution, they pointed out that seniors should be encouraged to own their own homes. The government needs to encourage people to be self-reliant, by owning their own houses, and be self-sufficient. They point out that owning their own homes contributes to an independent and healthy lifestyle for northern seniors and elders. Also, it reduces the dependency on government.

There is an item I would just like to point out. There seems to be some confusion on this as well. I have been reminded by two official people in two official positions, the president of the NWT Seniors' Society, Esther Braden, and also by the chairman of YACCS, Yellowknife Association of Concerned Citizens, that the origin of the program was an effort to also encourage people to stay in the NWT when they retired. The fuel subsidy program recognized that, in certain areas, living in the NWT, costs were higher. In other words, it is an inducement program and an incentive program to stay in the North. But, this is not clearly defined anywhere, I understand, so it may have gotten lost. This is what I have been told by two official people.

The other item I wish to draw attention to, which I believe the Minister has, is the resolution that the Seniors' Society wishes to defer until April 1997. That is, the implementation of their vision to the Seniors Fossil Fuel Subsidy Program, and that the NWT Advisory Council be mandated to develop and recommend a fair and reasonable proposal in conjunction with the department on how revisions to the program can be implemented. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.