The Acting Premier, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for his positive comments. First, perhaps to clarify that

it is not only a program for workers who work in the north but do not live in the north, but very much aimed at workers. If I could use an example of a family that lives in Coppermine and working at BHP, but does not have the down payment in their savings right now, this will give them an opportunity to buy their home in Coppermine through this program. Mr. Speaker, the total amount of the program is expected to be about $2.9 million, some of which will be from existing funds; but the Financial Management Board will be putting forward a supplementary appropriation for consideration by this House for a total amount of $1.695 million. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Premier for that. The Premier used the example of someone living in Cambridge Bay, I believe, and certainly that would have the opportunity to expand the program. That individual is spending money in the territories now. My second question, Mr. Speaker, is there are a number of employees working and deriving their livelihood from the Northwest Territories, who as the Premier noted are leaving all the time. A number of these employees, probably the largest one comes to mind is BHP and Diavik. I am wondering, has this department taken any steps to make sure that these employees know of the program and have available documentation to make applications for it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is the type of program that we had talked about for a number of years, but one of the triggers was the BHP mine and the concern as I recall, was raised by the former Premier of these fly-in and fly-out workers, and those workers that we wanted to have stay here in the north. They derive their income from the north and we wanted them to stay here and live here. So, the company that the Member mentioned is certainly a company that was thought of as a possible target and their employees. The information package that I have provided to the House and to the Members is a similar information package that we are giving out to real estate agents, companies, housing authorities and the like. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe a number of times when government has initiated programs that there has been criticism that the process of application is long and cumbersome. Could the Minister advise the House and the people of the territories that this will not be the case in this particular situation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is correct. One of the criticisms of the Housing Corporation programs, the EDAP program and others is that the application process is quite cumbersome in some respect, necessarily so. For this program, it is much more simplified, perhaps mostly due to the part that it is more open and there are less restrictions, partly due to the fact that it is a smaller amount that we give out as a grant. The answer is, yes, it will be a lot simpler to apply and to qualify for this program. Thank you.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I assume that there would be an application form. In the event that the application form is correctly filled out and the required information is provided to the department officials, does the Minister have a time frame of when the monies could be made available to the applicants? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Mr. Arlooktoo.

Oral questions. Mr. Ootes.