Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I raised the concerns of the high temperature system and its impact on the private citizens of Inuvik.

Mr. Speaker, as I said we are thankful. The community of Inuvik is thankful to Cabinet and Mr. Todd for coming forward with the money to change over the system, but there is an impact being felt by residents of Inuvik who are still on the system.

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, I have a couple of copies of bills from residents who are on the system. When you include their electrical bill along with their heating bill and water, they are paying out in a month $1,700 to $1,800 which is absolutely ridiculous. Compared to other constituencies, and I spoke to Mr. Miltenberger from Thebacha, he pays on average $36 a month for his water and sewer and $120 for his electrical. Although some would suggest we move further south, Inuvik is a good place to live. We just have to bring our technology up to current levels and efficiencies. My concern, again, is for the private residents. There are not too many left on the system. It costs them approximately between $15,000 to $20,000 to convert. Right now, there are a number of them still paying out these monthly bills in the winter season. My question is directed to the Minister of FMBS. I brought this issue up before, but I would like to know if there is anything this government can do to lessen the impact of the system that was handed down from past governments, to lessen the impact on these peoples' pocket books? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of individuals who have been pulled off the system this summer when they heard the rate increase was 125 percent. Hopefully, the Minister will look at all individuals who were impacted by the rate increase. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I have told other Members of this House several times in the last week, the formula is the equivalent of one full-time employee for every 2,000 cases. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, what determines a case? If someone comes and they are approved for income support, is that a case? If someone comes in, the income support counsellor has to spend a lot of time with them and then they are ultimately declined; does the formula reflect that time spent? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I have answered this question within the last week. The answer is that a case is a visit to an income support worker. That means, whether the person is accepted or rejected, the visit counts as a case. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How does the cost of the program delivery compare now that it has been given over to various organizations versus the cost when the department had control of this program? My question is, in

devolving this, was it a case of down loading whereby the resources that the department was spending were not in turn given to these organizations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The formula was worked out over the course of time with people who were delivering the program at the community level. It is important to remember that the department ran 11 pilot projects in communities across the Northwest Territories ranging from Yellowknife to Gjoa Haven to get a sense of what it would take to have communities deliver the program. Over time, they found the formula that appeared to cover the cost was one full-time equivalent for every 2,000 visits. In answer to the question, is this down loading? We do not believe it is. We are not attempting to save any money on the administration of the program. This program was being delivered by government employees who were also social workers. The intent was to free up the social worker to do more counselling and take what is, by and large, a clerical function away from them and find somebody else to do that job. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I realize that the Minister may not be able to provide this at this time, but could he provide for me a comparison of what it was costing the department versus what it is costing now at the Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre delivering this program because it is my understanding that they are paid for a three quarters of one position and, in fact, it is taking two full-time positions to deliver the program?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right that I am unable to provide that information right now. I will endeavour to see what information we can get for the Member from our files, but I must express some caution. In the transfer of this program from Health and Social Services to the Department of Education, for some time, the program continued to be delivered by people who worked for Health and Social Services just as a part of their job. The administration function may not be completely clean in terms of being able to say, here is what it cost in the past and here is what it is costing us now. That is why some effort was put into the process over a couple of years to determine what is a good average figure to reimburse communities to deliver this function . Thank you, Mr. Speaker.