Thank you, Mr. Chairman and good afternoon.

Seniors' Fuel Subsidy

On February 10, 1997, we provided a report to the Assembly on this issue. As we stated in that report:

"The standing committee believes the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment has been given clear, political direction to keep the seniors' fuel subsidy in some form. As we noted in an October report to the Minister, there is clear consensus among the Ordinary Members and agreement from the NWT Seniors Advisory Council that this program should remain in place. When we approved a change to the fuel subsidy as part of the 1996/97 budget, it was with the understanding that the change would address only those high income seniors who were getting the subsidy. The actual implementation went far beyond what we thought we were approving.

On October 9, 1996, in response to the Minister's concerns, the Legislative Assembly passed a motion, referring the issue of changes to the seniors' fuel subsidy to the Standing Committee on Social Programs.

The committee addressed the issue with the Minister with no resolution. On October 18, 1996, we gave an interim report, Committee Report 12-13(3) in the House identifying the need to retain the subsidy in the short term. In that report, we also identified possible options for funding the program.

We again tried to address this issue during the review of the draft main estimates in December. The Minister continued to indicate that he was unable to find the funding necessary to continue the program but would consider options put forward by the committee. As a result of our decisions, we offered a number of potential sources for some or all of the funding required to support this program.

There is a social envelope working group looking at the array of programs and subsidies available to seniors. This group may recommend changes to the seniors' fuel subsidy or replacement of the subsidy with a different option. However, there is no indication, at this point, of the timeframe for completion of this comprehensive review of seniors' programs and subsidies. It is not appropriate to eliminate the fuel subsidy until the standing committee and Members of the Assembly have had an opportunity to review and approve other possible options.

We had hoped the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment would be willing to work co-operatively with the standing committee to ensure seniors were able to access some form of fuel subsidy. The Standing Committee on Social Programs strongly believes that the Minister could have identified the $250,000 necessary for this program within his $280 million budget.

On February 12, 1997, members of the committee introduced a formal motion in the Assembly directing the Minister to ensure the seniors' fuel subsidy remains in place until such time as the Assembly directs otherwise.

Recommendation 6

The Standing Committee on Social Programs recommends that the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment be urged to continue the Seniors' Fuel Subsidy Program with the following changes:

- Increasing the single income ratio to at least exceed the Statistics Canada poverty level for a single person, indexed to Yellowknife's cost of living;

- Indexing qualifying incomes to the cost of living across the Northwest Territories, using Yellowknife as a base; and - Including seniors who rent private housing in the eligibility criteria.

and further that the funding necessary for this program should come from instituting a rent policy for seniors living in public housing; and further, that the revised Seniors' Fuel Subsidy Program remain in place until the recommendations contained in the report of the comprehensive review of all programs and benefits to seniors and elders is reviewed by the Standing Committee on Social Programs and the Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Chairman, if it is okay with you, I am going to let my colleague and deputy chair, Michael Miltenberger, continue with the report.