My final comment on this particular subject would be, I wonder if the Minister could provide as much assurance as possible that no community, no municipality will be left April 1st unprotected without any insurance? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, without a doubt, it is our responsibility to ensure that no one is left without insurance. We are endeavouring to make sure that we, as I expressed earlier, come to a quick resolution to ensure we will have that answer rather quickly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a question now about the block funding arrangement as it relates to the water and sewer subsidy that was left outside of the block funding formula. As far as I know, Fort Smith is the only community that does not get any water and sewer subsidy. I understand that if it was part of the block funding formula, we would be eligible for up to a quarter of a million dollars or thereabouts. I understand there were some discussions with the department trying to come to a meeting of the minds, as it were, with the municipality and MACA. I was wondering if the Minister could indicate whether that meeting of the minds has in fact been achieved at this point. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Murray.

Thank you, Mr. Murray. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will wait and see how things develop then. I will make sure that I mention to the mayor the need to get this information to you in as timely a fashion as possible.

The final issue under regional operations is -- it was raised in Transportation, I believe -- the fact that the federal government is going to be going back to communities, many of the larger ones with airports, Fort Smith, Hay River, Inuvik, Norman Wells and I believe Fort Simpson, to upgrade the firefighting services. I noticed that in this area, there is talk of fire protection activities. My understanding is that they are not going to be putting in new staff and such, but they are looking at working with the communities to somehow enhance their capabilities to deliver fire services at the airport. Is Municipal and Community Affairs involved in those discussions, or is it still early days yet in terms of that particular initiative? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Murray. We are on page 4-33, regional operations, budget summary, operations expense, total operations expense, $49,305,000. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What I heard in the last response there was that in the water and sewer area, there was going to be another look at this area this summer. That just underwent a fair bit of work and revamping. I remember discussion topics like the yard stick measurement and all of this when they talked about looking at water and sewer subsidies and how some communities receive more subsidies, some communities receive less. There was some discussion on that, so hopefully we are not going back to the well as they say, and redoing the whole thing after we just spent a lot of time and money just completing one. Can I get some clarification on what they intend to do in the water and sewer area? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Murray.

Thank you, Mr. Murray. We are on page 4-33, regional operations, budget summary, operations expense, total operations expense, $49,305,000. Agreed?

Regional operations, grants and contributions, grants, total grants, $30,583,000. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With regard to the senior citizens and disabled persons property tax rebate, the concern that I had, and I raised this in the House this morning, is the whole area of ensuring that people are aware of the program and assisting the people who are eligible for the program. Especially our seniors, who do own their own homes. We encourage them to continue to live in them.

I would like to ask the Minister exactly what happens if we find out that a senior has not been receiving these rebates and has been paying the property taxes for some time. Is there any way they would be reimbursed or receive the amount of the taxes they paid over the years?

I believe it is 60 or 65 years, and the lady I was talking about is 80 years old. She has been paying, not knowing that she could have applied for a rebate. I would like to ask the Minister, what do you do in that case? Are they compensated for the monies they paid into this program?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We will investigate this particular problem and, if necessary, we will reimburse the pensioner. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Krutko.

I would like to thank the Minister for that, but my question was, do you reimburse the senior citizen who is eligible for it, but for some reason was not receiving the rebate over a number of years? Do we fully compensate them for the dollars they may have paid into the program and where they did not fill out the rebate form or were not aware of it? They were paying into something where they could have been getting that money back. Is there such a provision or opportunity for seniors to be compensated because they either misunderstood or they were not aware that this program existed?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Minister.