Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Final supplementary, could the Minister tells us exactly what the interest rates these people are paying on the mortgage of those houses versus what it is to date?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question will be directed to the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corp. Mr. Speaker, recently, as I said earlier, news has been going around the community of Inuvik about the proposed rate hikes of those families whose homes are still connected to the high temp system. I would like to ask the Minister responsible if he is aware of this, and what would be the need to raise rates so high. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Power Corporation has been hired under contract to operate the utilidor system by the Inuvik Utilidor Planning Committee, which is made up of the municipality and government agencies. What appears to be driving the increases are two major factors: one, the reduction in the number of users on the system, which means that remaining users on the system have their rates go up in order to cover the relatively high fixed costs of operating the system; two, the system is getting quite old, and requires a significant amount of maintenance to keep it in operation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would any of the cost of running the facility be related to the price of oil they have to pay for running the facility nowadays? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the price of oil would always play some part in the cost of operating boilers. There is no question the price of oil has gone up significantly in the past year to year and a half. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up my question to the Minister would be regarding the increased price of oil, could it have anything to do with the deal this government made for getting oil from a different place? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The cost of oil in the western Arctic is pooled. The purchase arrangements made this year where the corporation worked in cooperation with Public Works and Services should mean no net significant difference in the cost of oil, other than what the market increase has been. In fact, the Power Corporation is expecting to receive an offsetting payment from Public Works

to balance out the extra cost for the heavy oil to the Inuvik region. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is very reassuring to hear that. Would the Minister be letting the people of Inuvik know that there will be this offsetting reduction that would help the people of Inuvik, so this impact might not be such a necessarily high one? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear that the increase in the price of oil is a worldwide factor. It has caused the Power Corporation's operations across the Northwest Territories to see a tremendous increase in costs in the last year. This is true in Inuvik, Iqaluit, and Yellowknife, and is only one very small part of what is really driving up the costs in the Inuvik high temperature heating system. I would not want to stand here and give the residents of Inuvik some cause to believe that there is going to be a significant decrease in the cost of the operations of that system because of the offset that we are expecting from Public Works. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister responsible for division activities. The journey to division 1999 is going to be one that requires a lot of patience, cooperation, compromise and statesmanship, I would suggest. I understand that NTI and NIC have recently made some very harsh public comments about decisions made by this Assembly, in the government in regards to Footprints 2. Could the Minister indicate what his response will be in his reply to this particular incident? Thank you.