Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just a few words on the Minister's comments. I am glad to see that he is in support of the intention of this motion.
As far as a one-time fuel rebate that he mentioned, this is not committing the government to any yearly subsidy or program. I think that this is kind of a one-time thing to address our residents' needs in the coming winter.
Energy, heating our homes and lighting our homes is not an option in the Territories. It is something that has to be done. We know that is going to be expensive next winter. We would like to see something come into place.
As far as timelines are concerned, as was mentioned by my colleague, Mr. Dent, the last fuel subsidy rebate that was put in place was a very short time frame. It was something like three weeks. So we thought we were being very generous when we said by October, 2001. We think that is a good time to give it some thought and make sure that it is done right and that it benefits as many of our residents as possible.
We know there are a number of initiatives in place within the government to deal with energy, and I encourage that. I hope that those initiatives continue, but I think we have to do something in the short-term. We have to do it quickly. By October, I think we have time to look at it and have the government do it right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause