Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, like several of my colleagues here today, want to continue to make the case for equitable fuel rebates.
Mr. Speaker, I really think we need a fair program. We have heard it argued that graduated rebates might be one way to achieve this, and they be inversely related to income. I think the idea here, Mr. Speaker, would be that those who need the help most are going to get the most help. The government's program as we have seen it so far, the existing criteria, some of them seem to make sense. For instance, you must be paying for home heating oil or propane without other subsidization in order to qualify. They have told us that this does not include the recent federal rebate. That is reassuring, Mr. Speaker.
However, your employer cannot be offsetting the cost of home heating fuel either. How will our government tell, Mr. Speaker? Are we going to look at federal government employees receiving isolation pay which offsets the cost of living and decide that, indirectly, this is a subsidy?
Mr. Speaker, we also know that renters are going to receive a $150 benefit, but what if their rent has remained stable over the past year? Many people are into one-year leases. Will this end up being a fair and equitable program? Mr. Speaker, our government seems very concerned that we have a program to administer and a cheap program to administer. However, I think that if that was the only criteria, certainly the Finance Minister would just write cheques to every man, woman and child in the Northwest Territories. Certainly simplicity is important, but not as important as getting the money to those who need it. We have to remember this, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Allen indicated last week that the Housing Corporation already collects enough information to implement graduated returns, but in the interest of speed, I presume, a simple pass or fail test is being set up at $70,000 or so per year, per household.
Mr. Speaker, only 25 percent of households in the Northwest Territories will qualify for rebates, but I can assure you that more than 25 percent of Northerners are struggling to make ends meet this winter, due in large part to the cost of fuel. Make no mistake, Mr. Speaker, a fuel rebate is a worthwhile initiative, but let us not turn our backs on 75 percent of the households in the Northwest Territories.
I think the Minister is going to have to decide what is most important to him, Mr. Speaker, as Mr. Dent has indicated. Does he just want to quickly put out a million dollars to get government critics and media off his back, or does he want to set up an equitable rebate program? Time will tell, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
-- Applause