Thank you, Ms Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With all due respect, Mr. Speaker, we have a legal instrument. This is something we call the NWT Housing Corporation Act that we use to assist those who are involuntarily forced to move. So that was the discretion that I used at the time, after a number of consultations with the tenants. As well there were previous consultations between the tenants and the committee of the Town of Inuvik town council. So that was the base of that decision. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Ms Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister mentioned that legal instrument being the NWT Housing Corporation Act. At the same time he mentioned the word discretion, and I understand the discretion to mean a power of the Minister to make decisions. I would like to know, which is it? Is there a law that provides a program on this, or is this completely based on the Minister's discretion and are there any guidelines as to what criteria the Minister has to use to use his discretion? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Mr. Speaker, I don't believe there is any legal debate going on here whatsoever. Mr. Speaker, I am simply asking the Minister how he is spending public money. Not too long ago, he made decisions to give out 12 cheques in the amount of $10,000. I want to know what these people had to do, fill out a form or anything, to get the $10,000.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of avenues that we entertain when we deal with those people who are at risk and require assistance under certain housing programs. We have a number of policies. We have 16 different housing programs that are administered across the NWT. We also have a formal housing strategy that identifies both market and non-market communities for...(inaudible)...sufficient funding for housing. We assist every community and we work with those individuals who apply under certain programs and that's application based. So we deal with each one on an individual basis. In some communities, we have to entertain the idea that it's a community problem, so certainly I convey to the Members that we have done the best we can under certain aspects of our affordable housing strategy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Your final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe I am asking a very specific question that the Minister has failed to answer thus far. Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister is what did these 12 people have to do? What did they have to do to get the $10,000? What was the criteria? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I referred to earlier, there was a consultation process. It was a consultation process between the tenants and the town. We had done due diligence. We met with the tenants. The tenants indicated that they could not afford to pay some of those costs, so we made a decision based on a portion of the act. So that's the end result. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.