The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

The question is for the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Handley.

Joe Handley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my department has been working along with other provinces and territories and the federal government on the preparation of this document. It is largely a policy document at this point, so there are no specific strategies or dollars that are deemed in it. There is one section in the report that deals with transportation in remote areas. There are a number of broad statements in it, but again not a specific strategy. At this point, it would be difficult to outline exactly what it has for the North, except the one positive thing in there is certainly recognition of unique problems in remote areas.

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Bill Braden Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These days we are certainly getting a lot of recognition, but it doesn't really seem to be rolling out into a lot of tangible things. So this is a policy document. Perhaps the Minister could then advise us what kind of issues did the NWT communicate to Ottawa that we would like to see addressed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Minister of Transportation, Mr. Handley.

Joe Handley Weledeh

The main issues that we have continually brought to the federal government's attention is the lack of transportation infrastructure in the North, particularly surface transportation. Second is the cost of building infrastructure in the North, given our climate and our geography and then the third is the remoteness and the limited small population we have, but the valuable resources have in the North. So a lot of our arguments have been presented around those three main points. Thank you.

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Bill Braden Great Slave

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask if there's going to be any further consultation or negotiation with northern governments and the northern transportation industry to see if some of these policies can be translated into tangible results. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Minister of Transportation, Mr. Handley.

Joe Handley Weledeh

Mr. Speaker, we have time, and we want to go through the document very carefully to identify any statements in it that the federal government have now made in the document that would indicate support for northern, remote infrastructure. I guess a general concern I have, Mr. Speaker, is a lot of the thrust of the document, a lot of the thrust of the federal government has been towards urban transportation and rapid transportation in densely-populated areas. So having said that, I have to say that I am pleased to have the recognition of transportation infrastructure needs in remote areas. I want to build on that. I think it will be a continuation of a lot of the work we've done on infrastructure up to now with some good success. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Item 6, oral questions. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This set of questions is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. We have heard a lot about the harmonization initiative put forward by this government and we were told that the majority of our constituents would be seeing decreases in their rent and anybody who would be seeing increases, it would be of minimal amounts that wouldn't create hardship for them. Mr. Speaker, one of the changes I believe that's going to occur in assessing income is that single parents who are receiving maintenance or child support payments are now going to have that amount treated as income for purposes of assessing their rent in public housing units. I would like to ask the Minister if they have attempted to quantify how that is going to affect those particular housing clients. Thank you.

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.