Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do recognize the tremendous difficulty people are going to have in registering their guns and acquiring licenses. Many of our people are now having difficulties getting ammunition to go hunting.

I have gone through the problem of registering the firearms I have, as well. And the paperwork that is made is not adequate, I think for many of us, because many, many people in the Northwest Territories have more than just three or four firearms in the house. The paperwork does not even provide for that.

Again, as you know our government is not getting much assistance from the federal government to meet the needs we have on roads and infrastructure and training to get ready for oil and gas and more diamond mines. We have been lobbying for two years. You add on the burden that we are facing of trying to get our people ready to meet the requirements of firearms legislation and it is just another cost that is going to be added on.

Right now, we are not cooperating with the federal government in trying to overcome the difficulties that this creates. At some point or other they have to be accountable and they have to accept full responsibility of this piece of legislation that all of us, as law-abiding citizens, have to comply with.

It is unfortunate. I agree it is not a northern attitude, to walk away from our people and deny responsiblitiy. At the same time there is no half measure. Either we are going to help all our people register their firearms, do their paperwork and accept that responsibility; there is really no other measure to take. I do not think at this time we are prepared to accept that responsibility. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I cannot believe I am hearing the Premier that he will allow a lot of people in the North because this government is unwilling to deal with a situation that they did not have a lot of say in.

I guess at the very least I would like to ask the Premier if he would meet with the representatives from the federal government to encourage them to provide these services, to either open up their firearms centres in Hay River and Yellowknife, if he would meet with them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe it is our duty to pass on the concerns of the Members on behalf of their constituents to our Member of Parliament, to the Prime Minister and to the federal government to make them aware of the hardship and the difficulty that they are creating, because they will potentially make a criminal, even out of my mother, who is almost 84 years old and still has a 22. I do not believe she intends to register it, but she needs it every time she goes out and she has had that since she was quite a young girl.

We do have a looming difficulty that is coming up in our communities and in our families. We certainly will draw the attention of the federal government to this major concern that is developing in our communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a lot of very experienced operators in road maintenance and road repair working out of our office and our garage facility here in Yellowknife for Highway No. 4 and Highway No. 3. I have offered the Member a number of times to go down with him to the garage and let's have he and I sit down and talk with these people who have that expertise and experience and who are working on that road almost every day.

The offer is open and I would enjoy listening to the debate between the operators and Mr. Lafferty. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, certainly I take all correspondence, all suggestions that we get from MLAs and from other people very seriously. With regard to how to grade a road, for example, I choose not to try to use my expertise for that one, but rely on the guys out there who have a lot of that expertise. I do not know that I have ever directed them to grade the road this way or that way. They know their business. If there is a difference with others, I would enjoy hearing both sides and would make a decision or give directions following that. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, again I make the offer to the Member to come with me sometime, we will go over to the garage, talk to the guys, I will listen to the debate back and forth -- because Mr. Lafferty has more expertise on how to grade roads than I do. I have guys out there who know it very well. Following that discussion, I will give direction, but up until now, I have not directed them grade the road differently, other than to do it the best way they know how. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, yes, we would have copies of all the correspondence. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes. It is regarding my Member's statement. Mr. Speaker, right now, there are roughly 30 elders who reside in their own homes in Fort McPherson. Yet, Mr. Speaker, the information that I was able to get from the department is that 15 people have applied on the program. Mr. Speaker, that is less than half the people eligible. Out of that, 50 percent of the people who did apply were denied, and basically asked to require them to appeal. The appeals process, Mr. Speaker, is 30 days. Yet, Mr. Speaker, under the existing legislation, it requires that in order to determine the household income, you must use tax returns or pay stubs as the means of getting that information.

Mr. Speaker, the program that is at hand allows a person to apply to the household income test, which means you have to file under the Income Tax Act, line 236, which, Mr. Speaker, as we all know, the income tax is filed for the previous year. The program we are talking about with regard to the seniors' home heating subsidy is for this fiscal year.

I would like to ask the Minister, in regard to this injustice, what is the department doing to ensure that the program is being delivered on the year that it is basically implemented?