Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mr. Speaker, the criteria for qualifying under EDAP remains the same, which is that applicants have to be 19 years or older, must have resided in the NWT for five years one year of which is continuous, prior to approval. There are other things such as family size that is used when prioritizing applicants. The criteria has remained the same. The next step after applicants are qualified under the criteria is how they get on the priority list.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, some applicants have qualified and then have been screened out because of the prioritization that the Minister talked about. I wonder if the Minister could outline what are the priorities placed on the applicants on behalf of the NWT Housing Corporation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is true that in most areas we have far more applicants than those that we can provide assistance to, especially this first year. For example, in the Member's constituency where we have more than 60 applicants we can provide assistance to just a bit more of a quarter of that. So we have had to prioritize who we approve. The first applicant that we will approve are families in public housing, immediately after that are couples in public housing. We will also put on top of the list families in poor need with suitability or adequacy problems, and so on. There are seven criteria in the priority list, which I will be pleased to provide the Member in more detail.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my riding, which is one of the fastest growing communities in the north with an 18 percent growth over the past five years, the demand has certainly outstripped the availability of the money for the EDAP. My question to the Minister is, for the community of Iqaluit, is there any possibility of rebasing some other funds from other areas, which maybe have slippage in the EDAP program, so that the people in poor need in my community, where we are short 70 housing units, will be able to get access to this worthwhile program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday of this week I will be tabling the results of our latest needs survey. It would be a good idea for the Assembly to, whether it is through committees or through Caucus, to discuss the survey in detail between now and the fall. If I could summarize the results, there will be no surprises. The situation has not become better. It is true that in Iqaluit we cannot assist as many people as we would like, but that is the case all over the Northwest Territories. If there are any areas later on where we could adjust to other areas where there is further need, that will happen, but from what we can see right now, each of the districts will be using their full allotment this year.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Enuaraq.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be speaking in Inuktitut. I have a question to the Minister of Transportation, the Honourable Jim Antoine. In Pangnirtung the new school to be built will be sealifted to Pangnirtung this summer. I wonder if the Minister of Transportation would be able to find out from the transportation company if these building supplies could be sent in July? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (Translation ends)

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes the Department of Transportation will try to find out the shipping arrangements for the supplies for the school. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Enuaraq.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Minister is going to look into this transportation arrangement, would he be able to keep the community informed? Thank you.(Translation ends)

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, we will work with the communities and inform them as we find out the information. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Steen.

The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Ms. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As part of our business planning development and consistent with the government's community empowerment priority, MACA identified land reform as a major strategy change and the initiative involved devolving the responsibility for Commissioner's land within municipal boundaries to municipalities and recovering costs for land development and administration. There was a document I tabled earlier in the year, Finding the Right Balance: Options for Changing Land Development Practices.

I know that the department has been to the communities, consulting with the communities on this initiative and I realize it is hard to comprehend this initiative within the smaller communities. It was one of the initiatives when in our lands claims for Nunavut, Article 14, states that all the land will now be under the municipal government in the communities and now the communities have that authority, to fix the pricing of those lots. We are working with the communities in regards to how to do land development in their communities and I realize that some communities, even though they have been consulted, probably need to be consulted again, but that is the initiative that is going on in land reform. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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