Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I assume from that there will be some discussion certainly of small business tax rates and something will be coming back. Can the Minister indicate if the small business tax threshold, which currently is pegged at $200,000, is also on the agenda for discussion? Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, if I remember correctly, the advice we got after we went out to consultation on the draft BIP was that the business community felt that we should keep tax issues separate from the BIP. Their advice is to deal with it as a tax issue, not as a piece of the Business Incentive Policy. If I remember correctly, that is the approach we have taken to it.

As we prepare our main estimates for the business plans and main estimates for the next year, then we will certainly be looking at the BIP and how it applies, but also at taxes generally. That will be the approach we will use. Thank you.

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

Thank you. When the Minister says he will be looking at taxes generally, I take that to mean tax rates as well as thresholds. I am wondering if the Minister will just confirm that for the record, that they will be looking at both rates and thresholds for small business? Thank you.

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

Yes, Mr. Speaker, we will be looking at both rates and thresholds. I say that without making any commitment to changes on either of those. We have to look at the total impact. As Mr. Bell has said, if we went right to zero on corporate taxes now, it would cost us about $1.6 million or so. If we raise the threshold and then go to zero, the impact is much bigger. It is fairly complicated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I am very pleased to advise the Member, as well as this House, that we have been trying to set a new direction on how we can meet the ongoing problems of bank financing in the small communities that do not really qualify. We have been trying to leverage other local, development dollars with NWT Housing Corporation dollars to maximize the type of housing construction needed, as well as trying to develop some housing markets in those communities. It has been a valiant effort, I believe. The program changes that we are presently addressing are required. Hopefully, we will be able to simplify the programs and make it much more client-affordable. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Allen. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you. I raised a concern in my Member's statement today about the EDAP program. In the communities I represent, we have very few people who qualify for the EDAP package. Those who do usually end up having problems with meeting their financial commitments. I would like to ask the Minister if he can tell me if there is indeed a larger percentage of the funding that is in place for EDAP going into the larger centres?

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

Mr. Speaker, we have allocated funding to every community across the Northwest Territories to meet the housing needs as identified in the housing needs survey. There is some flexibility we have been trying to employ as we work with those in greatest need. For instance, in the band communities, we have been trying to get the banks to write some mortgages, and also where the NWT Housing Corporation can and will, where permissible, guarantee those mortgages. There are a number of different factors that we have in play that we are trying to forward up some of the housing construction needs. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Allen. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you. In the communities I represent, again I have to state that we are getting very few EDAP houses. Our applications are increasing annually. I would like to ask the Minister if he would commit to looking at designing an appropriate program that would serve the residents of the smaller communities. Would he commit to doing something of that nature? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have simplified the homeowners delivery program as much as we can. We have tried to condense the number of other programs that are out there that the communities can have access to. We recognize that the smaller communities are treated differently than the major, metropolis areas of the Territories. At least in larger communities, there is a market.

In the smaller communities, we have tried to adapt our programs where it becomes more efficient so that the communities can access these programs.

We understand the fiscal problems that confront those communities, so we are still working in terms of policy and the NWT Housing Corporation Act to redress those very key questions that the Member has asked. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Members should remember what has taken place in the 13th Assembly in regard to how capital projects were changed. Finally a decision was made to amend the Financial Administration Act to ensure that did not happen. There are Members on the opposite side of the House who were Ordinary Members at the time, who basically were part of that decision to change the Financial Administration Act to ensure this type of irresponsible movement of money is accounted for. I think that we as a government have to ensure that when we have such things as the evaluation of how budget controls are in place, that we follow them.

I would like to ask the Minister of Finance again, with regard to the Financial Administration Act and with regard to the guidelines and where it states that when a department makes any adjustment to a capital project which significantly affects the scope, which is $100,000 or 20 percent of the project in this case, we are talking about $500,000, or timing of a project. The timing of a project, in the letter I received from the Minister, states...

Mr. Krutko, in the interests of time for question period, please make the question shorter. It is your second time around.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will make it fast. So the timing of the project has now been delayed by a year, which clearly states for a year or more that the project has left the responsible Minister will advise the appropriate MLA and standing committee of any adjustment regarding interest changes to the property and report it to the Member and the standing committee. Again, I would like to ask the Minister of Finance, exactly why is it that the two capital projects of $500,000 having been moved from my riding to the Member of Inuvik Boot Lake's riding does not fit within that category?

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