Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. The question has been taken as notice, Mr. Nitah. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question at this time will be directed to the Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, and falls in line with a question he was asked earlier by Mr. Braden in the area of municipal services and what programs are available. The Minister's response got my attention, saying that there are limited programs available for tax-based communities. Inuvik was mentioned, its programs and services and the impact of sudden development in a municipality of that size. He did say that developers that are in those communities would be able to take advantage of what was happening and be more ready to move on those.

Mr. Speaker, I will give an example to the Minister and will seek some information from him. The example, Mr. Speaker, is in the community of Inuvik. The municipality put out a request for proposals for development of a number of lots. No private developer would take that up. That was because of the fact that if the sales do not go well, they are left holding on to that and nobody wants to be in a position of losing money.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to know from the Minister, in tax-based communities, what programs are available for tax-based communities to access in land development? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for that example. Those concerns were part of the reason why we initially had a proposal to Cabinet, whereby there was a suggestion that the government may be able to subsidize some of the lots in tax-based communities. In particular, those tax-based communities that were being impacted, like Inuvik and Yellowknife. However, FMB and Cabinet did not agree with that proposal, mainly because we felt that these lots were -- there was no shortage of lots. If we keep in mind that what we were trying to accomplish here was to assist communities to make lots available for the public in the smaller communities, what you have just described as a problem with developers coming in and taking the risk of developing lots on the chance of selling them is a fact of life in the smaller communities. Therefore, MACA has agreed to come up with a program to develop an inventory of lots in small communities, say five, ten -- whatever the community sees as a possibility of being able to use in a given number of years.

Now, obviously what you have identified in Inuvik is part of the same concern that was in the smaller communities. However, the only policy MACA has to assist tax-based communities is what I said earlier to the Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden. We offered debentures to the community, or the other option they have is to go straight to the Minister of Finance and request a loan that the government may be able to take on behalf of them and offer them better rates. In other words, offer a loan to the community. That is the only policy I have in place at this time, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister then inform us that in fact, in non-tax-based communities, in small communities, that MACA already has a program in place that would see lot development and that they would qualify for that, correct?

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs -- a short answer, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, a short answer. There was at one time a program in place in the small communities where MACA developed lots. That was phased out but we are putting it back in place now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Short supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is that in small communities by debenture as well?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, that is not by debenture. That is simply MACA bearing the cost of developing and retrieving the cost through the sale of the land or through the leases. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So in tax-based communities, development of land is potentially by debenture or borrowing money through the government, but the people who would be responsible would be the ratepayers in that community, correct?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is correct.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. It is regarding the harmonization of housing and income support.

I still have a lot of concern with regard to the harmonization, especially for elders. A lot of the elders we are talking about who are now in housing units have either retired or built up a pension. They have worked 20 or 30 years, in most cases all their lives, to finally enjoy their retirement, and now we have a program where the biggest effect that I see, looking at the drafts we have, will be the increases that will affect the seniors. I really have a problem where these people have a fixed income, they have worked for their pensions, and now as a government here again we are clawing back revenues that our seniors should be enjoying.

I would like to ask the Minister exactly, between now and the review that is going to take place until October, will he do a thorough review with the focus on those seniors who have either given up their houses to move into low-income housing units that this government has, because they were told that they were going to get a better deal if they moved into the housing unit rather than trying to maintain their own unit?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to advise the Member that I have begun the discussion with our NWT Housing Corporation officials to itemize all the seniors who will be impacted across the Northwest Territories, so that we may provide them with other options in the interim, and to also look at perhaps those who want to remain in public housing to introduce a graduated rent scale. Those are at least two of several options we are currently discussing, and hopefully we will be able to roll that into the review and help alleviate the stress that has been experienced by some of the elders. Thank you.

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