Mr. Speaker, I think the Member is not really addressing the price of pop as he is in the difference in the cost of living and so on in the two communities. Yes, there is probably quite a difference in the cost of living between Lutselk'e and Hay River, particularly if you look at a food basket, if you look at that side.

What we are doing on this draft criteria is looking at a criteria that looks at the cost of purchasing, owning and maintaining a household. That is the criteria we use rather than the food basket. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Minister Handley.

What kind of bread is what?

-- Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Your final supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister for Finance, Mr. Handley.

First of all, let me say we chose to base this as a proposal on the cost of maintaining a home, not on the cost of a food basket. In answer to the question what happens if the money runs out, we will have to find more money. We are not going to cut people off just because we have spent our estimated amount. Everyone who meets the criteria is eligible and they will receive a cheque if they meet the eligibility criteria. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. The Chair would like to remind Members to ask a question that may and should be in the Minister's domain to be able to answer. Sometimes the Chair understands what the intention is, but it is not the Chair's position to interpret all of the time what the intentions are. Ask shorter questions, Members. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have heard much about the fuel rebate in this House since it has been introduced. We have heard concerns from Members. I have some concerns with some of the criteria as well, and also with some of the standards being set. Hopefully, we will get some responses here. As the Minister has said, he is trying to aim for March 31st, which sounds like he is trying to meet the end of the budget cycle and get the good news out instead of trying to make sure we get all the people.

Mr. Speaker, he said it will be dealt with at the local level in a response to one of the Members. However, in the criteria, you have to have your response back to the Housing Corporation headquarters in Yellowknife. So which one will it be? Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, first of all, March 31st is just a deadline. It does not matter if it is March 31st, March 20th or April 7th to me. It may matter to the person waiting for the cheque. I just want to get them out quickly.

In terms of it being handled at the local level or the headquarters level, the application forms, guidelines and the explanations are all to be provided to local housing associations. The people there will be able to help the applicants in filling out the applications, determining whether or not they are eligible and so on. The cheques will be processed out of headquarters. It is the most expedient way for us to do it, out of the Housing Corporation in Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will single income families who are fully employed but have to go to income support for a top-up, as they call it, for hardship allowances and a number of other terminologies that are used, will they be cut off from this because income support clients are not eligible?

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

Mr. Speaker, the criteria says that we will look at their gross income for the household by all the people living in that house. If they are receiving income from another source besides a wage, then we will look at that. We are going to have to assess a lot of these specific cases because there are so many different circumstances. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister said he wants to keep this a clean set up, but it sounds like with the assessing that needs to be done, whether an individual is on full-time employment but has a top-up from income support or other factors, they might fall between the cracks. Is it realistic that we will meet what the Minister set out for a time line? Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would not have set the deadline for the end of March if I did not believe it was realistic. I look forward to meeting with the committee, if not this week, early next week and working on this. I have agreed to do that. We will do everything we can to get the cheques to people as soon as possible.

Merci, Monsieur Ministre. Item 6, oral questions The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I too have a question about the fuel rebate. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister has indicated over and over again that he intends to get the money out to those who need this help as soon as possible. I appreciate that too, and I want to do the same. Except, Mr. Speaker, I do not think the draft guidelines, as they are written, are going to do what he wants it to do.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to talk about one thing here because I do not have time to talk about all the other ones, but with respect to household income, I gave an example in my Member's statement. As it is written now, a one-person household who makes $70,000 could qualify for either $150 if they live in an apartment or $350 if they lived in a house. However, a family of four who may make $3,000 more, who may be working poor, would not qualify. Am I reading this right, Mr. Speaker?

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