Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this issue has been something that's really been discussed on a number of occasions in this House during the last couple of weeks. It's an initiative that was started by the 13th Assembly. It was never a policy that we, as the 14th Assembly, have had much input on. We didn't initiate this harmonization strategy. We did not have the opportunity to debate it in this House. In fact, this initiative was only tabled yesterday after many requests and it's still considered to be a rolling draft. It's being compiled as we go.

Mr. Speaker, I am not convinced that proper consultation was going to take place. It's something we counted on the department to do and we've received a list of the different groups that were consulted and the list was tabled yesterday in this House. That list is very outdated. That consultation must have taken place at least four years ago. Most of the chiefs on the list are no longer there. It's something that really concerns me. In fact, when I try to find one name in that whole document that was from my riding, it was non-existent. There was nobody consulted in my riding. No wonder everyone is very upset and surprised at this whole initiative that's being brought forward. There is no consultation with aboriginal governments.

We are moving into negotiations for devolution. We are moving into negotiations for self-government, yet we don't have the decency to sit down with aboriginal governments and tell them we are going to initiate a new program for you. The Minister stated that the LHOs have been contacted and trained, so I followed up on that. It's true, they have been contacted. They have been trained, for one day. They had a one-day workshop for each LHO and most people are still not certain what they are supposed to be doing. They are not clear on what rent is supposed to be calculated. They are not clear about the mandate of this whole initiative.

It really concerns me that we are going to start calculating all income in the assessment of rent. When we ask for a list of what that means, spell it out, tell us what is going to be included as income. The Minister stated we are still working on it. This initiative is going to be implemented April 1st. We said we would train our staff in the communities to implement it. We don't even have the information in this House as what is going to be calculated as income. That, to me, is really unfair. We don't know who is actually going to enforce this whole thing. There have been jokes in here about bingo cops and bingo police and all kinds of things, but that may be a reality. What's it going to cost? What is it going to cost to enforce this program? We don't know that either.

What about the information that now is confidential and restricted to income support workers? That information is going to be shared across the board. Is that not a violation of the client's confidentiality and privacy? Does that make it open season to view what is being requested in confidence?

There is no consideration in this whole initiative of the condition of the homes. Some homes in the communities are very rundown. Some homes have had the seniors living in the house for 30 years. Now they are expected to pay rent. In the next couple of years they are going to pay full rent, but the conditions have not improved. If we are going to start charging them for market rent, let's give them quality housing.

Where do you go if you don't want to live in public housing? In my riding, the majority of the units are public housing. If you are not happy with this initiative, what are your options? It's not the same. This is why there are opposing views on this because the larger centres say it's a good thing. Yellowknife, Hay River, maybe it is a good thing for them. They have options, we don't. We only have public housing. If we don't like it, where do we go? Seniors giving up their houses, we say we'll look after you, we'll take care of you, you are not going to pay rent. Now they are saying pay rent. Where does a senior go? We don't have the independent senior strategy in my communities. We never had any houses built under that. Maybe Inuvik or other larger centres have it. That doesn't apply to us. EDAP doesn't apply to us. It's really forcing us into a corner, Mr. Speaker. Our list for housing is growing.

On the reserve, we had one unit available last year. We had 25 families apply for it. We only get two houses a year. This year, the Minister has been able to target our communities as core need and that's helped, but with two units a year, it's very difficult to catch up. We will never catch up. We are falling behind. Some families are now going to have to calculate all rental income as part of the household calculations. I know in my riding I have houses that, for a three-bedroom house, we have 12 people in it. We are going to charge everybody who makes a dime in that house rent, when in fact most of them are sleeping on the floor. Is that fair? We have to remember that not all our people in public housing are income support clients. Most of the people are in public housing are in public housing because that's all there is. That's the reality of living in a small community. You are not in a position to choose whether you are want to live in an apartment or anywhere else. You have public housing and that's all you have. You are lucky if you get a unit, waiting on the list for two to three years.

What really bothers me is we seem to forget, as a government, that we have an obligation to the aboriginal people in the North. The Minister offended a lot of people in the North when he stated all people are treated the same. We have to start looking at our federal transfer agreements. We have to recognize that there is an obligation. We have to all be informed of that. I don't believe everybody is up to par when it comes to that information.

Mr. Speaker, I am very concerned about this initiative. It may be something that we need down the road. At this point, we don't have all the information. We are still trying to develop it as we go. We've spent five years on it. Only yesterday this document got tabled. We spent half a million dollars on it. Only yesterday this document was tabled and it's not a complete document. It needs work. We have to do a proper communications strategy. We have to do this right. We can't just put in a document that's incomplete and expect everybody to live with it.

Mr. Speaker, we need a free vote on this issue. The constituents in everybody's riding, especially the Minister's, have to know how they are representing the people in the North. Their constituents are phoning some of us on this side. They want to know why we can't have a free vote on it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.