Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS the harmonization strategy fails to meet the needs of seniors and students in the Northwest Territories;

AND WHEREAS the strategy penalizes seniors who are forced to take in family members when there are no other accommodations available in communities by adding the senior's pension income to the household calculations;

AND WHEREAS the complete lack of rental accommodation available in small communities is not conducive to family members moving out of a seniors' home;

AND WHEREAS the strategy continues to place the responsibility for rental remuneration with the head of the household in many cases the senior on a fixed income rather than apportioning it among working members of the household;

AND WHEREAS seniors on fixed incomes who have secured loans based on their available income will have difficulty servicing their loans due to their rent increases;

AND WHEREAS the harmonization strategy will consider student financial assistant loans as income for the purposes of calculating rent assessment in public housing;

AND WHEREAS there are still far too many inequities and fundamental unfairness in defining and calculating income for the purposes of income support and rent assessment in public housing;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that the harmonization of income support and social housing strategy be implemented in the tax-based communities only. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.