Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is in line with a statement I made earlier with regard to the report on tuberculosis control in the Northwest Territories, in which it states there are unaccepted rates of tuberculosis in parts of the Northwest Territories. The rates are 10 times the rates of the rest of Canada. In light of that, we all know that this is another report, and a lot of good recommendations have come out of it. I think it is important that as a government, we bring forth these recommendations and activate them.

I would like to ask exactly what plans the Minister of Health and Social Services has in her department's response to the findings of the report on tuberculosis in the Northwest Territories, and what actions will be taken with respect to the 26 recommendations? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Member for his question about this. Mr. Krutko indicated in his Member's statement that he was not apologetic for asking questions in this House. I believe that is good. That is the way it should be. I am glad the Members are as interested in health as they have demonstrated.

Mr. Speaker, I have just received the report from Dr. Fanning and Dr. Mulharen, who looked into this issue of tuberculosis. I have asked our chief medical health officer to carefully review the report and develop a response to each of the recommendations. It will be important to also consult with the health and social services boards because they are very critical players and partners in implementing whatever response we come up with. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell the House how soon can she move on a couple of these recommendations and bring it back to this House?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Madam Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I indicated at the press conference on Friday, I expect this work to be completed by the first week in March so that I can announce what steps the department will be able to take to strengthen the NWT tuberculosis program before the closing of this session of the Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, some of the recommendations or concerns that came out of the report were the areas of making people more aware of the disease, identifying that we need more resources in the area, and also better training for frontline workers. Could the Minister state exactly what is she going to do to activate those three particular items which are key to the report?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Madam Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct. The areas of awareness, training and resourcing for the NWT tuberculosis program are three of the most critical areas which almost all of the recommendations can be grouped into. At this time, Mr. Speaker, I do not have the specific actions that will be taken to respond to these. I do believe that already, just from our press conference and the media coverage and some of the things that have taken place since this report was undertaken, it has raised the public awareness, which is very important, about this disease still being in existence here in the North. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister assure this House that she will take action ASAP to ensure that we do offer tuberculosis testing to people who have symptoms of this disease, such as long-term coughing and what not, and also ensure that we do testing in the schools for tuberculosis where there have been cases? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Madam Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do believe it would be safe to say that in response to these 26 recommendations, we will be strengthening all of the various areas -- everything from screening, surveillance, testing, training and ensuring that health care practitioners who come into the North from the south who may not be as aware of tuberculosis, receive orientation with our materials, our manuals and our procedures. I think it would be safe to say, not knowing the exact response, that those areas will be covered. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today has to do with the fuel rebate as well. Mr. Speaker, I do not know how to ask this question, and I might sound convoluted, but I just want to take off from what my colleague for Yellowknife South was pursuing, which has to do with the fact that the way the policy is laid out now, a tenant in a house could be eligible for this allowance, even though he or she did have a rent raise. However, the house-owner would not get anything if he or she had a family income of more than $72,500.

This goes again to an inequitable situation of this rebate, and I wonder if the Minister would reconsider that situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly that is an issue that we have had to consider because we do not want to be paying two fuel rebates for the same house simply because someone has a room rented in that building. We have, and will include in the conditions, some definition that says that people have to be staying in an apartment or suite that is legally registered with the municipality and so on. I do not have the full definition in front of me, but there will be a definition of what sort of circumstances that people will be eligible within.

Someone living as a boarder in a house where the owner has already put in an application for a rebate would not be eligible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My concern has to do with the fact that the owner of that house, because that owner makes more than $72,500 in the case of Yellowknife, he or she will be eligible for nothing, even though he or she is paying for the fuel. Whereas the tenant, who may not have experienced a rise in their rent and who is not responsible for paying for the fuel, he or she may be getting a GST rebate from the federal government and this rebate on top of that. I do not want to deprive anyone from getting that sort of money, but would he not consider this an unfair situation and it is worth revisiting? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Handley. It sounds like an opinion, but you may answer it if you wish.

Mr. Speaker, I think we are beginning to get into some of the debate on how complex what seems to be a very simple program to help people who are most in need of some help with their rising fuel costs can become if we begin to try to cover every possible circumstance. It really does become a complex exercise. We complicate it even more when we start adding in sliding scales and so on. So we have to be careful that we do not take what is a good program, complicate it so much by trying to cover every possible situation, try to cover everybody and make it so that it will take us months to ever get this thing administered.

The objective is to get some money out quickly to those people who are having a tough time and difficulty paying their rent. I want to get those cheques out to those people fast. I care about the working poor. We want to help them out. Ms. Lee raises a good point and it is one we have looked at. Yes, we may miss some people, but to perfect the system for all circumstances is really tough, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.