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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs regarding my Member's statement. I have received quite a few calls from the leaders in our communities concerned about the capital projects that have been approved through this House, but yet, Mr. Speaker very little progress has occurred in that area.

I would like to ask the Minister, could you give me an update regarding the status of the Aklavik curling rink project, the Tsiigehtchic water improvement project, and also the Fort McPherson fire truck?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen. There were a few questions in there. I will let you pick which one you want to answer. Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member addressed three capital projects in three different communities. If I may, I could respond to Tsiigehtchic's water quality capital project. At this time, there was $100,000 for 2003 and $1 million for 2003-04. Public Works and Services is supposed to be visiting the community in November of this year to assess the water system operations and begin discussions on the new capital project with the council. Public Works and Services is also undertaking a filter testing program. That is called a macro filter system. It is supposed to be over and done with by the end of October, at which time they will be discussing the results with the community. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these capital items have been in the works for some time. I have done my best to keep them in the ranks of ensuring the capital dollars have been approved through this House, but yet, Mr. Speaker, we seem to see very little progress on movement of seeing these infrastructure come to fruition and be constructed so people can use them.

I would like to ask the Minister, what are we doing to improve the resource people and allowing them more access to communities by way of our engineers, people within Public Works and Services. You mentioned a bunch of time lines, but I would like to know, what are we doing to have a better working relationship between communities and the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and Public Works and Services to fast track these projects?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Public Works and Services has been working...the question is to the Minister of MACA? Both MACA and Public Works and Services have been working with communities and trying to improve our consultation process and our communications on all of our capital projects, so that the communities are up to date on where the projects are sitting. At this present time, there is no plan to change any of the time lines as far as completion of the projects, including the fire truck for Fort McPherson and the curling rink for Aklavik. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister, can he assure the House that we will see these projects completed by year end next fall, so that we know that we have a year, the money has been approved in the budget, and that those projects will be completed by the fall of 2003.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that Public Works and Services is putting out an RFP for the curling rink at this time. That is for the design of the curling rink. We are expecting the RFP to close at the end of October and award in November and complete the design. Take the design to the hamlet council and then proceed from there.

There is no intention to divert the project or slow it down in any nature. We do intend to complete it within the time lines.

The Member also questioned, Mr. Speaker, on the delivery of the fire truck for Fort McPherson. We are proceeding with a plan to update the delivery of the fire truck from 2004-05 to 2003-04. We already said that, I believe last spring when the same question was asked. We said we would consider moving it up at that time, so that is still in the plan. We are going to move it up by one year.

As far as the capital project for Tsiigehtchic's water system, once we decide on a filter system, if it is appropriate and satisfactory to the community and to Health and Social Services, if it brings the colours within standards and the community is happy with that, we intend to go forward with that and proceed, complete the project as planned next year. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, the construction season in the Northwest Territories is pretty short. I think it is crucial that we, as a government and as a Legislature, once we approve the budget for the new fiscal year, prior to April 1st, if we can have these projects constructed and the materials brought into our communities before the end of the barging season, which is usually in September.

I would like to ask the Minister, what are we doing to ensuring that we do implement these capital projects within the time frame that they are set, that we do not see cost overruns or projects being extended into the next fiscal year. What are we doing to improve that?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department is considering all aspects of a project, as far as timing is concerned, what has to be done and what portions of the project have to be completed by certain times in order to meet the time lines of barge delivery, or winter road deliveries...all those things are taken into consideration as we plan the project.

All through that, there is the process of keeping the client informed as to what we have to have in place as far as funding is concerned by certain times. As far as approvals from the communities are concerned, those all have to fall in place in order for Public Works and Services to meet the deadlines. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated in my Member's statement, I have advocated in this House repeatedly for the need to have GNWT programs adequately reflect the needs of all residents of the Northwest Territories. The current income thresholds in effect in our seniors programs do not allow for this. The current income thresholds in effect for seniors to qualify for Housing Corporation's Senior Citizen's Home Repair Program is $37,500, and this is for the entire household, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Housing, Mr. Allen. Would the Minister please state what his department is currently doing for seniors who have scrimped and saved for their retirement and find themselves in a position of being over the designated income threshold, and therefore cannot qualify for the Senior Citizens Home Repair Program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are working in concert with a number of agencies and interdepartmentally to try to find the most equitable method to deal with all seniors programs. We have also wanted to work with ECE and review how they had incorporated the sliding scale model in their delivery of programs to see if that would conform to the way that would best suit the seniors.

I may add that we also continue to consult with the various seniors' societies in the various communities to see what is most equitable to them as well, and affordable. That is what we are planning to do. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pretty sure I heard the Minister say that they are communicating with ECE and checking out the sliding scale model to see if it would fit. Could the Minister inform this House where they are in those negotiations? Will the Minister commit that he is willing to look at a sliding scale for the home repair program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, at the moment, just to clarify, our current model is based on income testing. We would like to see how effective the other models work in the various other departments to ensure the seniors that may be one of the options that may be considered.

We will continue to consult with the seniors as we progress with this undertaking. Thank you.