Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, depending on the time of year, because power usage varies and it goes up as people turn on their Christmas lights and the weather gets colder and so on, the amount that would be available from the current project as it exists would be somewhere between eight and 11 megawatts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is, in my mind, a fairly significant amount of capacity not being utilized now. I have to assume if it's not being sold, there is no customer for it at the present time. This would lead me to ask the question if we have not, since the Pine Point mine closure, been able to find a customer for the capacity the Taltson already has, what makes us think that we are going to find customers for increased capacity? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, all of the existing diamond mines and the now permitted Snap Lake mine have indicated an interest in buying hydro power to meet their non-motive needs. So that's where your customer would come from. Mr. Speaker, the amount of megawatts that they will need would certainly exceed the surplus that is going over the spillway at Taltson today. So it would mean an expansion and the proposal would be to expand by about 36 megawatts to meet the needs of the additional customers if the mines were to sign on to an agreement. Mr. Speaker, oil being over $50 a barrel, this is a fairly attractive option right now for anyone who is burning heating oil. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in a previous response, the Premier indicated that the mines have alternative options with respect to fuel besides hydroelectricity. Could the Premier please tell us what those other options other than diesel might be? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I don't think the mines have any options that could meet their needs other than through diesel-fired generators or through hydro. They may have some small things they could do with wind power, but the option I was referring to was a proposal that another Ontario-based company has given to the Lutselk'e band where they say if they could divert some of the Lockhart River, as I understand their proposal, and build a hydro project on it and have the agreement from Lutselk'e, they could supply power from there. If they can do that, Mr. Speaker, that's half the distance and that would make good sense. I have not heard any consensus from Lutselk'e that they really want to go ahead and divert a piece of the Lockhart River, but that's the alternative I was referring to, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I made a statement with regard to the problems that some of my constituents are having in dealing with their housing arrears. Many of these people, Mr. Speaker, can afford their own houses only if they could deal with the money they owed to the housing association. What options exist for people or persons to deal with arrears and whether the corporation has any programs or services to help persons in arrears move into their own housing units? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. The Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Right now, we do have a major problem with arrears. It is not only in Rae. We, as a corporation, have to realize that there is a major cost to going after people with arrears with court action or evictions. There is a process in place where the local authorities work with the clients to work out a pay plan where they can pay back their arrears over a period of time and also include their rent. There are ways that people can get out of their arrears, but they have to work out a plan with the housing authority and make an effort, so they can either get back into the local housing authority or access housing programs.

You have to realize that we have to be fair to the tenants that have been paying their rent, that have no arrears. We also have a lot of people on the waiting list that want to get into public housing. So we have to balance what we are doing here realizing it's a problem. People with arrears are having problems accessing our programs, but there is a payback plan and those people can sit down with the local authority and work out a plan over a period of time to pay off those arrears.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if that process is in place, why isn't the Housing Corporation dealing with various clients in my region to deal with their arrears? It's a classic example the Minister gave us which could be utilized, but, unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the district office or even the local housing authority isn't going in the direction the Minister is suggesting. So that scenario doesn't exist. Can the Minister direct his officials to go in the direction he just mentioned? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have directed the local housing authorities to go after people who do have arrears and we are trying to bring in half a million dollars this year just on collections from people who do have arrears. Like you stated, there are people who have arrears that have been going on for years and they are at a point now of making a decision. Do you take these people to court and collect their arrears? That is a very expensive and drawn out process. Or do you sit down with these individuals and work out a payment plan so they have an opportunity to get out of their arrears and also have access to programs and services. It's a question of fairness. We do have people there who pay their rent on time and are good tenants, but we have tenants who have not paid rent for years. We can crack the whip and lay the law down right across the board, but we will have a lot of people who will be going through the court process to collect those arrears, again, if that's the decision we have to take. But we are making attempts to get our local housing authorities to correct more arrears right now.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Zoe.

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Minister in terms of fairness. Nevertheless, I would like to ask the Minister if he thinks it's more economical to either forgive a $5,000 to $20,000 debt and free up a social housing unit rather than build a $200,000 new social housing unit? Don't you think that would be more economical? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. He may be asking you for your personal opinion, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that the question of arrears is one that affects all the local housing authorities. At the end of the day, if authorities are not collecting this rent, the money they are spending for the operational costs to be able to build new units is taken out of the budget of those local authorities, and that has a direct affect on the operation of those authorities in those communities. By not collecting that rent, it is having a direct affect on the bottom line of those authorities, which is putting them in a deficit. I think in order to be fair to those authorities and to people who are good tenants, we cannot set that sort of precedent where you just write off someone's arrears and get on with it. If that's the case, everyone in the Northwest Territories who has arrears today will basically have their arrears waived, yet the people who are good clients and people who are in line to get into public housing, there is no fairness to those people.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Your final supplementary, Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am of the opinion that the Housing Corporation's rent collection policies contribute to the percentage of households in core need in the Northwest Territories. Can the Minister inform the House whether the corporation has reviewed this policy recently?