Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Premier has now used accountability twice in response to questions that I have raised. This policy, as I read it, contains no stipulation that the Ministers have to account for their trips. How does this policy increase accountability?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Mr. Speaker, the Ministers are allowed travel, duty and home travel. We are trying to provide flexibility so these will continue but also to allow for non-portfolio travel and to allow for spouses and designated people to attend functions with Ministers. These are understood to be requiring approval. Ministers have always travelled with the concurrence of their colleagues to ensure that we attend to important business and that we are here as well to take care of the business.

We cover for each other, we travel for each other and we are also asked to attend functions that are sometimes outside of our portfolio, but are not within existing guidelines. I think for the Arctic Winter Games, Aboriginal Achievement Awards, there is a range of events that require, in our judgment, the presence of the Government of the Northwest Territories. It is fitting that spouses or companions, whatever you want to call them, are attending these functions, because sometimes they take on the nature of social functions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up with questions to the issue I raised in my Member's statement. It is with regard to evictions in my riding. Over the last little while we have had six families evicted. It is my understanding that there are 12 more who are in serious trouble and are targeted for evictions in April. Down the road we are looking at an additional 30. We have roughly 50 people who may be evicted in the next while in Fort Providence.

I wanted to ask the Minister if he could outline for me what the procedures for evictions are and more specifically, if there is any policy that requires the LHO to notify the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation that they will be evicting someone in the winter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Housing, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, there is a procedure. There are a number of reasons why an individual would be evicted. Once the eviction notice is given, because of some legalities that may be provided to the rental officer, which is a funded position by the Department of Justice, so we are at an arm's length of that officer, once it goes into the legal realm it is out of our hands. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had asked the Minister if he would indicate if there was anything in the procedures regarding notice to the regional office or the head office for winter evictions. I will ask a question again under evictions.

It is my understanding that there is a policy that the Housing Corporation has that directs them to provide counselling services to the tenants who are in trouble, including facing eviction and I have talked to most of the people who have been evicted and some who are on the verge of being evicted and I am not hearing that anyone has been counselled in terms of how to deal with this issue.

I would like to ask the Minister, can he tell me if the policy is being uniformly applied? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Housing, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have a funded position in all of the LHOs, it is called the tenant relations officer who performs those functions. We expect the tenant relations officer to be able to enter into a home to provide counselling, mentorship and also information to those who are adversely affected and those who may be inadvertently evicted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is very difficult for me to understand how the tenant relations officers can provide counselling when none of them have been trained and with their workload they really do not have the time to do any meaningful consultation.

I would like to ask the Minister, have there been any independent reviews completed on the local housing authorities?

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Housing, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the year 2001-2002 we have conducted six LHO management and operations audits. We will continue to audit other LHOs to determine if an adequate level of service is being provided to those LHOs and also to the tenants. Financial counselling is one of the key areas that we need to concentrate on. We will continue to work to perform that function. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister, will he commit to doing independent reviews on all the communities in the North, including Fort Providence, to ensure that legislation and policies are followed when it comes to evictions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Housing, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am more than prepared to provide that to the Member as well as to other Members of the House. I am also prepared to revisit those communities so that we can set some specific guidelines to prevent future evictions in mid-winter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. I will just take this time to remind the honourable Members on both sides of the House of the necessity for brevity in their questions and responses. The Chair has a full list of Members wishing to ask important questions, so please, the Speaker will apply the rules relatively strictly today. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can only respond in the context of the role the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation plays in the new rent scale. I think part of that, Mr. Speaker, and if I may have your indulgence here in my timely response, is the harmonization chronology which dates back to 1995 and this is as current as February of this year.

It outlines a number of steps taken to address and readdress how it is going to impact not only the seniors but other public housing clients. I am under the understanding that this has received universal support from the Members of this House through a number of processes.

I see that when we do want to communicate back to those who are affected, we do have a communication plan in effect today. That is again another portion of this documentation that is fully supported by this House from what I can recollect. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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