Thank you. Welcome, Mr. Mercredi. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a great deal of pleasure for me to introduce someone who is with a tremendous organization, the Salvation Army, we are all familiar with it, Captain Karen Hoeft from Yellowknife.

-- Applause

Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Any further recognitions of visitors in the gallery? Thank you. I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of all the Members to recognize and thank those people who have taken the time out of their busy day to come and see their Legislative Assembly in action. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for Housing regarding the harmonization of income assistance and public housing programs.

Mr. Speaker, my concern with this harmonization is the timing. This harmonization is supposed to take effect April 1st. Knowing that the notification has just been given to the clients and tenants, I would like to ask the Minister, with regard to this process, do you believe that is adequate time for such an implementation, realizing the implication this has on the residents of the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we are cognizant of the problems that exist in the communications strategy. We are working on a new action plan. We anticipate that we will be able to defer the implementation date -- at least, we are proposing -- until October 1, 2002. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Minister, for that. I believe a lot of the clients who depend on social housing would like some breathing space to ensure that they have due process in place to allow them to ensure that they are being heard.

I would like to ask the Minister, is there going to be an appeal process or some process for notification, that if a client feels unjustly imposed on where a major increase may affect their pensions or the cost of living, will there be a process in place to ensure that due process takes place, where a client can appeal this process if they do not accept what is being imposed on them?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, in the implementation process, we hope to re-evaluate the administration of the program, where we will be able to set out some specific guidelines, where the clients may appeal if there is no satisfaction to their application. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me, will there also be a process spelled out regarding eviction of individuals who may not meet the requirements of these changes?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, hopefully we can evaluate in the context of previous policies and make sure that those policies will be upgraded as well to meet the demands as raised in this question. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister assure us that before any drastic changes are taken or this program has been implemented that they will allow for full debate on this issue in the Legislative Assembly?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe we heard the message yesterday that we need to re-evaluate the communications strategy to this policy. We are prepared to do that. As I indicated earlier, we are prepared to propose a deferral. The balance of the program or policy will certainly be taken into consideration. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Legal advice was provided to the department and I had the department look at examining the policy base and what inter-jurisdictional is done and our view of the various forms in other areas, of how they treat income from various sources. The result was that IBA should continue to be considered as unearned income, Mr. Speaker. IBAs are considered a private contract in regard to the relationship between a contractor and a developer and the Dogrib people, in Mr. Lafferty's case. Education, Culture and Employment has no way of knowing the details of that, so IBA income is paid directly to individuals and such income will continue to be considered as income. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.