Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This has been a concern of the department for some time because we do invest in northern people to train as teachers. They graduate and in some cases are not easily able to obtain jobs.

We have always made it known to the boards who the graduates are and how they can be contacted. So that's there. We do not do the hiring; it's up to each of the boards. We have a program in place to provide incentives if northerners are hired. As I understand, the Department of Education is now reviewing that program to increase the incentives. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that extra information by the Premier. I have never heard of the incentive aspect. Mr. Speaker, that still doesn't speak to the crux of the problem. Have the authorities expressed any further problem with hiring northern graduates? Do they not want them? Do they not know that they are out there? What is this incentive? Why aren't they hiring them? I need to know from the Premier today, have they communicated problems as to why they are not hiring these northern grads? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. I heard two questions there. Mr. Handley, you can answer one or both.

Mr. Speaker, we are not aware of any general issues they have with hiring northern teachers. Certainly they could have difficulty with some individual possibly, but, as a whole, there are no known reasons why any board would be finding it difficult to hire this category of teachers. Mr. Speaker, as I said, it may be individual cases that some don't do well on interviews and so on, but I don't think there are any overall reasons. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell me from his position what kind of hammer do we have in place to tell these educational authorities to hire our northern students, because we have a policy on our books to hire these northern students? It can either be a hammer or it can be a carrot. I need to know because we have northern students who are graduating from our teaching programs who are working at Extra Foods and other places while southern hires are being hired. So what hammer or carrot is he willing to

commit to today just to solve this problem? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, again, it's up to the boards to do the hiring. We do have a program of incentives. The Department of Education is reviewing those incentives. We would prefer to do it, as the Member calls it, with a carrot rather than with a stick. If we force boards to hire individuals, it is not likely going to be a very happy relationship either for the board or for the individual involved. We don't want to put people in those kinds of situations. We are sure our people are good teachers, they've graduated and we provide incentives that are appropriate to hopefully encourage the boards to achieve what we want which is 100 percent employment in the North for all of our graduates.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear today that the Premier will tie that promise to funding all education authorities. I want to hear it clearly that he is tying their funding solely to the fact that they have to do this as a first step. As I see it, we have lost wages by these students who graduated on the promise that they would be hired. Mr. Speaker, will the Premier either withdraw that commitment made by the highest office in this Assembly or promise to fulfil that commitment, one or the other? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, we have a program that provides boards with incentives. The Department of Education is reviewing that to see whether or not more incentive would make a difference. If we feel it will, then the department will proceed with increased incentives to hire northern teachers. Mr. Speaker, because these are boards and they have the authority to do their own hiring, we can't force them, but we can provide appropriate incentives to encourage them and hopefully they will follow the spirit of what we want to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 8, oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today my question is in line with the housing theme and is directed to the Minister of Housing, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I listened to my honourable colleague, Mr. Menicoche, when he questioned the Minister on the rent scale in the Northwest Territories. I have some concerns, Mr. Speaker. I met with some of the elders in Tulita on the 27th of January. They are concerned about the rent scales and the effect it will have on them. They asked me to question the Minister in terms of the rent scale. Would the Minister consider having a change of heart and rethink the proposed rent scale that would be acceptable to the people in the communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with regard to our seniors who live in social housing or public housing, they will not be affected by this increase. If anything, there won't be an increase because, in most cases, seniors who live in public housing can't pay. With regard to trying to ensure we are fair, we have, through the local housing authorities, individuals or tenant relations officers who work with the elders and explain how this program is going to be laid out and how it's going to affect each one of them. There was also an information package mailed out to each tenant to make them aware if they were going to be affected by this increase and how much the increase would be.

Again, in order to be fair to the seniors and the constituents we have, we have been working along with the seniors' societies to keep them involved. If anything, we have been working with our seniors along with the seniors' societies and through our tenant relations officers in each of our communities. We have also made it clear to seniors and people with disabilities and students that there aren't going to be any increases if they are in those sectors.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for letting this House know the seniors will not be affected by the rent scale. However, when the seniors were talking about the rent scale, they were looking at family members and they were speaking on their behalf. Some people are quite afraid that the rent scale would have some effect on them. However, hearing from the Minister, I am glad to hear that. Would the Minister have his department consider or reconsider a transition phase that would be acceptable for this rate increase in the North? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, like I stated, we are working with the tenants. We do have the tenant relations officers in each of our local housing authorities to explain these increases with the clients. They are also going to ensure that if they are going to have financial difficulties with arrears, we are trying to counsel them to tell them how to pay off their arrears such as you can pay it off over a period of time or instead of doing monthly rental payments, do bimonthly payments. There are ways we can work with our clients with regard to social housing and also making them

realize we are trying to find a system that's fair to everyone. We don't want to see anyone go through hardship. We are also working with the clients at the higher end who are paying a large portion of their income towards rent and we want them to get into housing through our access programs so they can become homeowners and move out of social housing. At the end of the day, we are there to work with them; we have programs and people in communities to work with those clients. We are presently doing that.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe a lot of people in the small communities want to become homeowners and they want to be the owner of a house that they can pass on to their children. Mr. Speaker, it has been a long trend that the small communities have gone through. Moving from social housing and becoming a homeowner is sometimes a new idea. Even though we have this plan of action, it's going to be rough for awhile. So I am asking the Minister to consider this in terms of the numbers he proposed to the House and to Members to maybe have a rethinking of it in terms of having a smoother transition.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Krutko.