Thank you, Minister Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it has been suggested that the program could be started as early as the first week in March. Can the Minister tell me if the plan is to have the application forms out next week for this program?

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

Mr. Speaker, yes. Minister Allen, through the Housing Corporation, is working on getting the application forms out. We expect to be able to do that next week. We realize people are anxious, lower income people in particular are anxious to get some help. We want to expedite that as much as we can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would it perhaps be possible on a sliding scale to ensure that those who claim to have a lower household income were assigned a higher priority in getting their cheques out fast, and that would be one way to accomplish the sliding scale?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think the way it will likely work -- and again this is a question Mr. Allen is probably much more familiar with than I am -- is that the people who believe they are eligible will make an application to the housing associations. Those applications will come in as people submit them, but we will have no ideas which ones will come in, whether they are from low-income families or whether they are from people near the top of the threshold.

I believe our intention is to process as much as we can as fast as we can. Certainly if there is a big stack of them on someone's desk, I would hope that we are able to ask those most in need. How this is done will be determined largely on how people put in their applications. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a number of programs, of course, in the area of arts and crafts as well as support for the performing arts and so forth. We have the heritage funding for the Heritage Centre, the museum in Fort Smith, for example, and in Norman Wells, and cultural organization contributions that we provide cultural contributions to various organizations such as the Dene Cultural Institute.

Mr. Speaker, the amount of funding is always a struggle in this particular area and it is certainly one area that I am personally interested in. To date, in all honesty, I have to state that we have not been successful in order to obtain further funding in this particular area to expand the particular programs that we have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, could the Minister indicate whether he has had any discussions with his colleague, the Minister responsible for RWED, in terms of trying to coordinate the work being done to support the arts and crafts sector and industry, not just from a cultural point of view, but from an employment point of view? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On a ministerial level, we are speaking very broadly about all sectors of potential employment in the Territories, which includes arts and crafts. That has not been overlooked. However, we do not have any details on that particular area yet, Mr. Speaker. On the administrative end, I know our people, my officials and I, meet with the officials from the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development from time to time, if not consistently. Certainly on our level, speaking on the maximizing employment area, arts and crafts is one area that is part of the overall outlook. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Supplementary, Mr. Dent. Sorry, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know we are hard to tell apart.

-- Laughter

Mr. Speaker, my supplementary question to the Minister is in regard to Maximizing Northern Employment. Will Maximizing Northern Employment clearly deal with the issue of the arts and crafts sector as well as the other broad areas of hydro, oil and gas and diamonds? It has been identified as very critical to the northern economy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is early days yet for all the details for us to have addressed, but certainly it is part of our discussions, like many areas are part of our discussions, including employment in government, private sector, all potential areas from the government finance officers, for aboriginal groups, et cetera. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ootes. Final supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Maximizing Northern Employment Initiative is going to have money attached to it. If we accept the fact that the arts and craft sector is critical to the northern economy, will the Minister seriously look at enhancing the funding of NWT Arts Council from its $140,000 that it has laboured with for the last two years to give them enough money to be able to do some meaningful support for the arts community? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We would have to prioritize where we would put our funding, Mr. Speaker. I do not disagree with the Member that the amount of funding received by the Arts Council certainly has limitations, but there are other areas as well. Performing art contributions are not that great, either, as it is for community radio stations and for cultural institutes. We would have to prioritize that, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.