Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the close of the 12th Assembly, I believe the deficit was in the neighbourhood of $100 million. The 13th had to come in and make some serious decisions and slash programs and services in order to get that $100 million down. It seems like we are in the same situation now. I am wondering if the Finance Minister is in fact planning to come with this tough love and talk about slashing programs and services. Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, when this government took office three years ago, we were facing a serious fiscal situation, and probably within some months of our reaching our borrowing limit. We did very well on a strategy of investment and generating revenue from any source we could.

Mr. Speaker, that has served us well in terms of being able to meet the needs that we have had in the Territories. At this point, I have no intention to begin any slashing and cutting and so on of our priority needs. We are going to continue to meet the needs of the northern people as best we can. Thank you.

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

Thank you. About a week ago, my colleague, Ms. Lee, referred in the House to the spending habits of this government. She suggested that this government had been spending like drunken sailors. I am wondering if the Finance Minister can tell us if we had a strategy of spending as much money as possible so that the federal government did not think that we had too much.

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

Mr. Speaker, a lot of people who make suggestions that we are spending too much sometimes say we are spending too little. I can go back in the Hansards over the last three years and find, for probably almost every Member here, that we have a long list of areas where they told us that we should be spending more money in, and long lists where they told us we should be spending less money in.

Mr. Speaker, in my role as Finance Minister, I do the best I can to balance those needs against the priorities that are brought to our government's attention. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to refresh everybody's memory on this, the issue was the fact that if children or other relatives move in with seniors and then the household is assessed on the amount of income in order to qualify for fuel subsidy. The assessment is done on the basis of looking at the tax returns for the individuals who are in that household. Of course, because they are tax returns, they may be way out of date. I committed that we would look at this, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that we look at ways and means of updating the information to make assessments on individuals, and that we have current information. It is of concern. The winter is upon us already. I want to move forward with this very quickly, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regard to the assessment method that is presently being used, it is outdated, where the information requested is based on Revenue Canada reports, which are usually a year or two old. I would like to ask the Minister, what is he doing to inform the regional and local staff that they should assess the current income of the seniors for the fiscal year that we are in?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our officials have been informed of this issue, and I have asked them to immediately look into this, to come to a resolution so that we can ensure that we have action on this. As the Member has mentioned, with winter time upon us, it creates a lot of difficulty for people if they do not have the fuel subsidy, which in many cases, perhaps they should be entitled to. The process that we are using is a time lag because of the issue of looking at the tax returns.

My officials are working on that, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, anytime government changes program eligibility or criteria, that there is a need to educate the public on these changes. I would like to ask the Minister, can the Minister inform the House, exactly what is the department doing to let seniors know that there is a possible change in regard to the application for the income assistance under the senior fossil fuel subsidy program?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do believe that most seniors are familiar with the seniors fuel subsidy program. What has come forward as a problem is the issue of outdated time frames on the checking of the amount of earnings that individuals have. That is an issue.

With regard to advising individuals, we have not advised them yet because, as I said, our officials are working on this whole issue. They will be in touch, if they have not already been in touch, with the regional officials who will help to institute any change in policy. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, there are many seniors out there that are not really aware of the seniors' fuel subsidy, which are eligible for people 60 years and over.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell whether the staff in the field target seniors and basically consult them individually, or do they simply wait for an application to be filed and someone comes into their office?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe there have been some advertisements in publications. Recently, I saw some myself. With regard to the question of the contact, is it done by seniors to officials or officials to seniors, I would have to get back to the Member on that. I do not have the exact answer on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.