Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have not had the opportunity to do an evaluation on a MIC or the housing programs and compare which is more applicable. Right now we have programs that are geared towards social housing, we have programs that are geared towards home ownership, we have programs that are geared towards lending and providing mortgages. All these programs are very important. We are not putting any priority on any one given area. So I believe we will continue to provide those programs, and then make them available to all the residents in the NWT. Thank you.

Item 6, oral questions. The Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As I was just talking about earlier in my Member's statement, I just wanted to go back to the Honourable Michael Miltenberger's statement in last week's session on the treatment of the clients with developmental disabilities. I feel that when the honourable Member stated that is not our role to get involved in disagreements in the internal wranglings and differences between institutions and the Alberta government, and whatever other agencies are in Alberta, I believe that statement is not in compliance with the government policy. I think it is our role, Mr. Speaker, to be directly involved with any wranglings or differences between any institution which this government pays $1 million plus per year in ensuring that NWT clients are well taken care of, whether they are in Alberta or any other jurisdiction. Mr. Speaker, I just want to make reference to a letter I also received from the Minister, which states that several program audits are in various phases of completion, and we are awaiting final reports to base any decisions on the relocation of our clients. I just wanted to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if the Office of the Public Guardian's report, which is dated April 20, 2004, prior to the letter of May 7th that was sent to me, whether this report has been taken into consideration when the decision to remove the clients was being made? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a government we do have an obligation to ensure that the services that we purchase, that the clients that we place in other jurisdictions are adequately cared for within that jurisdiction, that their safety and well being is protected, and we've taken steps to do that. When we considered the decisions we made, we looked at all the information that was there available. We have had staff down there for a number of weeks, we have been working with the Alberta government, the Public Guardian's Office, and when the decision was made it was based on all the information that I had before me at the time, including all the reports from the various parties. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to go back to the letter. There is another point in the letter that basically the Minister stated that no further action is planned until the various allegations on APYS have been thoroughly investigated. I just want to ask the Minister if there are any other reports with regard to the allegations and whether they have been completed. In particular, a report from the Alberta Association of Rehab Centres, and if that report is available if I can receive a copy, because the only one that I got is the Office of the Public Guardian's, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm prepared to share with the Members on a confidential basis the reports that we have. I am respecting the client confidentiality, and I would be happy to set up an opportunity to do that. There is an extensive stack, and I would be happy to do that, or at the very least I could share a relatively detailed summary that we also have available that outlines the various issues, the compliance questions, the service issues, and the monetary fiscal questions that have been raised. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not sure whether all the facts in the case of the nine clients in Alberta have all been analyzed and are really known at this point, because we are having a lot of different stories coming out of the APYS version, and the Office of the Public Guardian in regard to their report, which probably gives APYS a pretty good grade in their standards and proper care of these clients. I was just wondering if any weight was given to the Office of the Public Guardian's report in the Minister's decision to ask and request the relocation of our NWT clients. Thank you.

Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my opinion we gave appropriate consideration to all the people involved in all of the organizations and institutions involved in this particular issue, and it has been a relatively fluid situation and some things have possibly been overtaken by events. But at the end of the day, Mr. Speaker, Nunavut, as I indicated, pulled their clients in March, the Alberta government as well pulled their clients. Our obligation is to ensure that the safety and service that we were buying, and the safety of our clients was ensured, and we've taken steps to do that, but we did give due consideration to the very many pieces of documentation provided by the various players. Thank you.

Final supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just for clarification for the House, I know that the Nunavut government did pull their clients, and that these clients are being relocated to an institution which this government had previously pulled all the clients out of before they all went to APYS. I just want to make a note on this Office of the Public Guardian's professional's comments in one of the final summaries of his report where it says information represented by professionals involved with the agency and individuals represented by the Office of the Public Guardian do not support a conclusion that these clients were at imminent risk. In fact, they clearly identify that these individuals have made substantial progress since moving to these programs. This does not suggest that there are not areas of practice training procedures or processes that could not be improved, it would suggest instead that there are strengths in the agency programming and practices that have benefited clients and need to be considered. I just want to ask the Minister if he did consider any of these professional opinions with regard to the well being and the improvement of the lives of our persons with developmental disabilities in Alberta, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we did consider that. We also considered the fact that there is a host of other significant other related information tied into compliance and monetary issues, as well as some program issues. We recognize that clearly there was strong support for the program by clients, and that some of the professionals involved in the day-to-day work with clients spoke highly of the programming work that was being done there. But the reality for us, Mr. Speaker, is that there are other issues and variables that have significant bearing as well on the situation, which were significant determinants in the final decision that was made. Thank you.

Item 6, oral questions. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. My question is for the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, as well as the Premier. In the face of rapidly rising fuel prices, does the government have any plans to alleviate the unfair and disproportionate burden being placed on NWT residents who live in smaller communities where electricity is supplied by diesel generators? Thank you.

Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, Mr. Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly we are monitoring what is happening with fuel prices. I might also mention, Mr. Speaker, that throughout the North in the communities with diesel powered generators, we do have a power stabilization program in place that ensures that customers are not subject to the rise and fall of prices on a continual basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Mr. Speaker, I am glad the government is recognizing that rising fuel prices will affect elders on fixed incomes more than other people. Does the government have plans to introduce power subsidies for the elders, like existing fuel subsidies with regard to power rate prices? Thank you.