The Minister, Mr. Arlooktoo. Again, to remind the Members that when you are asking for details, that are not within the Minister's knowledge or you know that the Minister might not be able to answer, that you put it in written form, so that you do have the appropriate Minister respond and in the appropriate manner. Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mr. Speaker, yes, I can find that information. What I do recall is that one of the reasons that we did change, or we did award the contract to that particular company was in fact the savings. It was cheaper to do it the way we did it then.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Goo Arlooktoo. There is a concern, Mr. Speaker, that has come up over the last few weeks with people who have arrears in one community, and then move to another community and have no housing available. Now when they apply for their housing, they cannot get a house because they might have had arrears in the previous community, and thus they have no place to live, and in some cases, they have had to live in tents or shacks while waiting for proper housing. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of housing, on this policy is there any leeway in this policy on arrears, what happens when a family has arrears, it does not have a house in January, living in a tent? Maybe, the Minister could tell us the policy and explain the parameters of said policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. Mr. Arlooktoo.

I am not aware of situations where families are living in tents anywhere in the NWT because of old arrears.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I would like to thank the Minister for that clarification. Now the parameters here on the housing arrears is a delicate one. Mr. Speaker, if you do not allow someone to go into a social housing unit and then subtract the arrears that they owed previously, you will never get that money. I have seen that come up now in the past few weeks in Iqaluit with certain instances, so much I have brought to the Minister, where a person has moved to Iqaluit and has a family, has arrears in another community, and then when they go to housing they cannot get a house. So, if they do not have a house from housing, how can they pay their arrears? So would not it be more conducive for the government to say, we will take you in the house for three months, and because that person is working now, on the basis of work or employment, then they can start paying off

the debt from before. Because if you do not put them in the house, how are you going to collect his money. I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, I do not think the Housing Corporation or the housing association is running around all over the Northwest Territories looking for people who have arrears. So, maybe, is that an opportunity for the Minister to direct his officials to look at the parameters?

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mr. Speaker, the local housing organization in the communities are the ones that are responsible for the collection of rents and arrears and enforcing those policies. If a community decides to make an exception, I would imagine that would be the community's choice, but you would be, I would think, setting a precedent where there are a fair number of individuals that have arrears that are paying those arrears, to pay them off and also to be eligible once again for social housing. The situation in Iqaluit that the Member brought up, I have reviewed that particular case. I would not comment on it specifically here, but I would say that the individual will have to pay the arrears first before being considered by the housing organization.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what we are seeing here is a situation where we are putting a lot of pressure on the local housing authority, because these rules and policies are in place. Now, with January and February, if people do not pay arrears and then when they try to seek a house, I am not talking about eviction, I am talking about people actually looking for housing, they cannot get those houses because they have arrears. What I am saying to the Minister is, would he direct his departmental officials to say, if Ed Picco has a job, I apply for a house, I have got arrears, yes. But under the condition they will give me a house, and they will deduct X-number of dollars off my pay to pay back my arrears. The situation here, Mr. Speaker, is that we have such a need for housing, we have such a shortage for housing, I mean, how long can we go on penalizing these people? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Mr. Arlooktoo.

Most people want to pay their rents.

Mr. Speaker, it is not a matter of penalizing people. It is having tenants living up to their obligations and having them pay their rent, just like everybody else. The thing that I would point out is that there are 3,500 individuals in the NWT that are on waiting lists for housing, and the numbers that we have with our current tenants is that most of them are good tenants that pay their rents in full and on time. For the individuals that do not pay rent on time, if that person cannot or is evicted from a house or cannot get in, there are another 100 people waiting behind them that will take that house and will pay for it on time.

Thank you. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand the situation, we are trying to get monies paid and arrears. My question here is the fairness of that, given that when someone, all kinds of calamities could happen to people and they cannot pay their rent or they fall behind. They might be four months behind. Then, when they move from the community they have arrears because they are taking a job, in Iqaluit let us say for example, so they still owe four months back rent because they might have lost their job in Arctic Bay or Pond Inlet or wherever. But they cannot get the house because they had that four months arrears, they have no place to live. I am saying, is there something we can do here for those types of people? We are a caring government, I am asking the Minister. at least look at situations like that, because there are unique situations.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mr. Speaker, I think it would be up to that individual to try and make arrangements to pay off their arrears. Otherwise, if we did make a special case for an individual like the one that the Member is talking about, what of the 70 to 100 families in Iqaluit that are waiting for a house and that have no arrears and that pay their rent on time. That would be my response.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Barnabas.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to direct a question to the Minister of Education. (Translation ends) In Arctic Bay, we have been receiving books through the community that have been ordered by mail, and we have books that we have been receiving from Iqaluit library. My question is to the Minister, who will do that when the librarian is laid off? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister of Education, Culture, and Employment, Mr. Dent.