Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is indeed good to be back here and I also would like to welcome the new Member for Monfwi. It's a real pleasure to have him, and I look forward to working with him in years to come.

Mr. Speaker, in the last six years that I've been here I'm very proud of the little part that I played in increasing the funding for our schools in general, especially in special needs funding. We tout the fact that we have reduced the PTR from 18 to one to 16 to one. We repeatedly talk about the fact that we increased the special needs funding from eight percent of the total school budget to 15 percent, and I know the Minister is working towards more. We could say this is a 100 percent increase in special needs funding over six years and we're talking about $10 million extra money. We could sit back as we do and congratulate ourselves and pat ourselves on the back, but I have to tell you, Mr. Speaker, none of this really seems to be making any difference in our schools.

As I think about this, I look around this room, Mr. Speaker, and I count at least 10 MLAs who need glasses. We would never think of telling this group of people because we don't have enough money only 15 percent of you will wear glasses. I'm telling you, this is what we're doing with special needs funding. We say we are going from eight percent to 15 percent, we're increasing the funding by 100 percent, you should all be happy with that, and in the meantime there are so many kids in our school system who are going without special needs assistance and resources. The situation is not getting any better.

Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you that there are a lot of problems that we deal with in this hall that are not just about money. As we speak, I don't believe the Minister and the Department of ECE knows exactly how the priorities are set. They have no idea what the real needs are for special needs students in our schools and our board in our areas. They're just saying, okay, we'll just give you a part of school funding and you do with it what you can. I'm telling you, as I walk through the halls of Range Lake North School, in the six years, even if the budget went up by 100 percent, there is more need, and the situation is not getting any better; and I have to ask the Minister and this government to do a better job in designing and analyzing special needs funding to say what is it exactly that the needs are and what do we have to meet them so that 100 percent of the kids with special needs get funding, not just 15 percent or 10 percent or whatever arbitrary number we come up with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to welcome Mr. Jackson Lafferty here as the Member for Monfwi. It's wonderful to be up to full complement on this side of the House because we need all the help we can get to stay ahead of our friends on the other side of the House.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, October 9th to 15th, 2005, is National Fire Prevention Week. I would like to take this time to acknowledge those who contribute their time and energy to help promote fire safety and fire prevention in our communities. To that end, I particularly would like to thank the courageous and dedicated efforts of the firefighters in our community of Hay River.

The Hay River Fire Department is a volunteer fire department and that in and of itself reveals the absolute dedication of these men and women to make and keep our community safe. Mr. Speaker, we are constantly reminded of the daily heroics of firefighters, whether in Hay River, any part of this territory or even worldwide, in being ready and prepared to help, in risking their lives all in the interest of protecting the public.

Not only do the Hay River volunteers serve their own community, they also provide ambulance services to a very large area on the highway extending to Fort Providence, Fort Resolution, Fort Smith and the Alberta border. The GNWT funds $25,000 per year for this service and that does not even cover the costs of operating the ambulances. The age of both Hay River ambulances is also a critical issue when we are talking about adequate services in a life and death situation. The two ambulances they presently have are a 1986 and a 1995 model, and these need to be replaced. Given the large area that these ambulances serve, I think it's unrealistic to expect the Town of Hay River to provide this service with support of only $25,000 per year.

There are also liability issues that need to be addressed, and a more appropriate level of financial support for these services might assist Hay River in realizing their desire for a full-time, paid fire chief. I would urge this government, Health and Social Services, MACA and Transportation to take a serious look at whether we are properly supporting our volunteer crews by providing them with adequate resources and equipment to do their jobs.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to once again ask all Members of this Assembly to keep in mind the commitment and dedication of all of our firefighters who keep our community safe during this National Fire Prevention Week. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again I am very happy to be here in the Legislative Assembly representing the constituents of Kam Lake, and I would like to, as well, welcome the newest Member, the Member for Monfwi, Mr. Jackson Lafferty. I'm glad to see that there's some leadership from the Tlicho region here in the Legislative Assembly today and I look forward to working

with Mr. Lafferty and the leadership in implementing the self-government agreement that they have in the Tlicho region.

The issue I want to highlight today is why a local construction company, who happen to be my constituents, were and are being treated unfairly by the Housing Corporation. They were the low bidder on a tender to construct two housing units in Rae. My constituents were the only respondent bidder on that tender. The work should have been awarded to them, but something happened along the way to the award being granted.

The Rae Band Construction was concerned that they did not get the work and subsequently went to the Housing Corporation to cancel the contract and negotiate with them on doing the work. The Housing Corporation even tried, Mr. Speaker, to negotiate with both parties on sharing the work and this was done in vain. The Housing Corporation cancelled that tender on September 14th and is in the process of negotiating with the Dogrib Rae Band Construction.

The last time I checked on the public tendering process here in the Northwest Territories, it stated quite clearly that a tender cannot be cancelled without just cause. I've been trying to find out from the Housing Corporation for the past three weeks what their definition of just cause is and I've not received any official response back from the Housing Corporation. The Minister would have had to have made the call on cancelling the tender and today I hope to get some answers from him.

Is there only one company in Rae that the Housing Corporation can do business with? What will this do to the Housing Corporation's ability to construct houses in Rae? Am I to believe that there is no public tendering process in the new Tlicho region? The Minister and government must pay close attention to this situation to ensure that there is integrity and fairness when we're applying public dollars being spent. I look forward to the Minister's response. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I also would like to say welcome to all the other MLAs, yourself included, Mr. Speaker, back into the House for this Fourth Session. I would like to extend an especially warm welcome to our new Member for Monfwi, Jackson Lafferty. I'd also like to say welcome to the Legislative Assembly staff, the new Pages, and all our special guests and the general public to the fourth sitting of this 15th Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, I'll be brief in my Member's statement today as I'm not really feeling too vocal today. That being said, I would just like to briefly express my enthusiasm and support of this government's latest actions toward restructuring and revamping of many government programs and services over the past two years, which I feel are better suited to meeting the many core needs of northerners today. I commend this government for this and I look forward to moving ahead with many other improvements that are currently being considered and reviewed by this government today.

Mr. Speaker, although there is a lot of work that we have to do over the next two years in order to address many other fundamental flaws and inconsistencies in a lot of other areas of government programs and services, I am confidently optimistic that we can soon realize more tangible and basic improvements in many important areas such as education, youth, housing, health, economic development and community and regional capacity building; if we continue to strive to keep all northerners abreast of all our intentions and continue to build on all our working relationships, especially with the smaller 27 communities, their leaders, and all the aboriginal governments on all our fronts. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, am pleased to be back in this House today after a long break doing constituency work, et cetera. Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss if I didn't mention a warm welcome to Mr. Lafferty from Monfwi. I've known him a long time, since our Akaitcho Hall days, and I can say truly that he'll be a great contribution to this House and to the Tlicho people. I can say that with a full heart.

Mr. Speaker, I'm going to bring up the fact that almost a year ago today I rose on a statement to express deep concern about world oil prices and the effects that can cause crises elsewhere in the world. I was concerned about how this government was dealing with this situation. I was worried whether or not this government was monitoring that crisis or if we were just going to wait for the bills to arrive and just pay them as if nothing happened.

Mr. Speaker, I encouraged this government to be proactive, implement energy cost-saving plans right then and there. I asked, what are we doing about this problem? Reducing our usage? Looking at dialling back those heat registers? Are we looking at turning off the lights at the end of the day? However, Mr. Speaker, my kind and well-meant concerns and advice were met by laughter from this government.

Mr. Speaker, the Finance Minister responded by saying that maybe the government could issue a directive saying that no light bulbs should be brighter than 40 watts. That was horrible. I'm surprised they didn't issue candles, for goodness sake.

Mr. Speaker, instead of being proactive, this government actually cut the funding contribution to the Arctic Energy Alliance by $70,000. I think they lost more than their fair share of a pound of flesh. That really hurt that organization.

Mr. Speaker, at that time a barrel of oil went for $50 U.S., but today that same barrel of oil is going for $64.30; quite a significant increase.

Mr. Speaker, today I hope no one is laughing because I certainly am not laughing, least of all the public of our Northwest Territories, because we're ramping up for a seven-month long, hard, cold winter. It's the worst time oil prices could be where they are. Everyone is going to have to be careful this winter, Mr. Speaker, and I'm going to tell you that the public is keeping their eye on this government and I have concerns that we need to be on top of this issue. It's about smart energy usage.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, the Minister of FMBS, the Honourable Floyd Roland, will have the pleasure of my energy questions today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to welcome back my colleagues to this session. First of all, Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate our new colleague, Mr. Jackson Lafferty, on his successful campaign to represent the constituency of Monfwi. We all know that he will do a very good job on behalf of his constituents. Congratulations, Mr. Jackson. Or Mr. Lafferty.

---Laughter

Secondly, Mr. Speaker, it is with sadness that I must inform this Assembly that the people of Tuktoyaktuk have lost another well-respected elder. Mr. Frank Cockney passed away on Saturday, October 8, 2005. Mr. Cockney was a businessman, most importantly a father, and a well-renowned Beaufort-Delta fiddler. He was instrumental in teaching students and, in particular, the Strings Across the Sky students the basics of Delta fiddling. I received word this afternoon that Mr. Cockney's funeral will be held on Friday, October 14, 2005, in Tuktoyaktuk. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people of Tuktoyaktuk, I would like to offer condolences to the family of the late Frank Cockney. Our thoughts and prayers are with them at their time of sorrow. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Item 4, returns to oral questions. The honourable Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Speaker, I have a return to oral questions asked by Mr. Hawkins on May 26th and May 31st, 2005, regarding the Expanded Downpayment Assistance Program. Subsequently Mr. Hawkins inquired a level of assistance provided to clients in the city of Yellowknife under EDAP and whether applications had been turned away due to the lack of resources.

As of the date of Mr. Hawkins' questions, 31 applicants for EDAP had been declined because they were not eligible for assistance. All declined applications were a result of an applicant's ineligibility for assistance. At any given time there may be a number of EDAP applications that are considered and processed and require additional information from the client prior to final decision.

Mr. Hawkins expressed concerns about the level of assistance being provided to individual clients and I would like to inform the House that some of the numbers that caused concerns for Members resulted in a coding error that gave incorrect information in the response to the prior question. As requested, updated information on the EDAP in the Yellowknife area has been provided to the Member.

In regards to general concerns over specific numbers, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act prevents us from providing detailed cases that could be used to identify clients. The Housing Corporation is extremely concerned about the protection and the privacy of personal information of our clients.

I would, however, like to take the time to express to Members why it sometimes is necessary for higher award amounts for clients in need. In order to calculate the subsidy levels of EDAP, a sliding scale is used. House pricing includes land costs, monthly shelter costs such as taxes, power, heat, water, insurance premium, maintenance costs, and insurance costs. The national affordable standard is 30 percent. Once the applicant's income is factored, the calculations will result in assistance ranging from five percent to 40 percent and in order to meet eligibility for larger families, the NWT Housing Corporation came up with another sliding scale in 1993-94 to recognize the size of the bedroom count based on two, three, and four-bedroom units. This allowed the corporation to assist applicants more fairly, based on the size of their families compared to the national operations standard set by CMHC.

The level of funding provided to clients under EDAP has exceeded 40 percent of a home's value. A prospective client must be able to afford the operation and the maintenance of their homes without spending more than 30 percent of their gross income on shelter. The funding takes a formula on a forgivable loan, which is paid out over a 15-year period. The client must be able to obtain the balance of their mortgage through conventional financing. In the case of a higher subsidy level, which is reflected in the higher need of the client, the client receives an amount in excess of $50,000. In most cases clients would have difficulty qualifying for public housing due to their income levels, but do not have the means of accessing conventional financing from a bank. Often those clients have large families, require more bedrooms and a larger sized house.

Assistance through EDAP is better used by the corporation's limited resources, taking clients out of public housing to assist them in getting into homeownership. This creates specific savings to the government over the long term. The funding required to maintain public housing units exceeds the level of subsidy provided under EDAP.

Large EDAP amounts such as those that cause concern for the Member allows the Housing Corporation to provide affordable housing to large families for whom assisted homeownership is the only affordable shelter to them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (Translation) Today, first of all, we have one Page who's from Whati. That's Page Sarah Coey-Simpson from Whati. She's going to be working here until Friday. The girl is attending Whati school and is in Grade 8. How she was selected is the principal, Bill Hurley, selected her as a Page. She was there as a role model for the students in that school, which is why she was selected. I wanted to thank her parents on her behalf.

Also, I was talking about the celebration in Behchoko in the Tlicho Nation. We have leadership from the Tlicho Government, and I would like to introduce Chief Leon Lafferty from Fort Rae, Chief Henry Gon from Gameti, Chief Charlie Joe Nitsiza from Whati, and beside him is Dan Marion. Dan is the...(inaudible)...person. Most of all my mother and father, my parents, are here in the House and I would like to thank them.

This is the opening of the fall session and this is my first time. I want to thank all the visitors for coming into the House to listen to this session. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize former constituents from Tsiigehtchic, Tina Norwegian, who works with the Status of Women Council, and a former colleague of mine in the House, Mr. Leon Lafferty, now a chief in Rae. Welcome to the House.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize a constituent who is often here with us in the House, Ms. Barb Wyness with the UNW, and a couple of folks that it's really nice to see, Bishop John Sperry and Ed Jeske. I'd like to welcome them back.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.