Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm a realist and I don't expect a magic wand from the Minister. However, I do expect that realistically at least we can do some engineering studies and a Class 'A' estimate for this community. Does the community have the ability to direct these bureaucrats to at least cost this gymnasium out? Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm glad to hear that the Member is supportive of us looking at some of these initiatives and a lot of this stuff is built into our budget. So I'm anticipating this Member will be supporting our budget and our request for some dollars for planning for this year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, my questions this afternoon are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and they relate to the Student Financial Assistance Program. Mr. Speaker, why are housing assistance policies for Aurora College students not adjusted for private sector rent increases? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Student Financial Assistance Program is reviewed on a regular basis to examine whether or not the amount that is available to students is adequate. I know, from the case the Member mentioned this morning, it sounds like there may be an issue with the rates we're allowing for housing. It's certainly something I'll have to have a look at. Unfortunately, I didn't get notice of this until just before session. I haven't had a chance to talk to the department about what we can do to review the amounts that we have in our program right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to this topic, at the Aurora College campus here in Yellowknife, housing is made available by policy only to out-of-town students. Why do we discriminate against Yellowknife students who might have exactly the same housing needs and situations as out-of-town students? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, housing is a problem at all three of the Aurora College campuses and it's an issue that the college board has raised with me time and again; unfortunately, because of our fiscal situation, we have not been able to deal with it. The board has urged me to try and find a way to work with this government and increase the amount of housing available at all three campuses, but it is certainly something that we would like to do. Based on the limited number of spaces that we had, the college took a look at the program offerings and decided that they had to find some restrictions for the housing that was available. They chose to limit the housing as they have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, it seems that for our students going to the Aurora College campus in Yellowknife, if they need housing we make them go through at least two sets of policies and rules and paperwork; one being through the Student Financial Assistance Program and the other being the college's own administration of housing. Is there any way that we could possibly streamline this and make it easier for students to find out their options and get the service they need? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's a good point. It's something that we should certainly try and do. The difficulty we find is that because there isn't enough housing provided by the college for all of the students who want it, we have almost a dual-stream system. If we had enough housing, it would be easy to solve or if we had no housing, we could adjust the SFA amounts to deal with community rents. So it is an issue, we understand that and we will look at it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has acknowledged that at all three campuses there are critical housing situations. Is there any program or any assessment underway right now, Mr. Speaker, that could give this Assembly some guidance on what we need to do about it? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The college board has provided me with some advice as to the ranking by order of priority for providing housing and the Aurora Campus is next on the priority list, but the board has said that all three campuses are in urgent need of more housing. It's an issue that they would like us to deal with very urgently, but we have to work it into our capital plan.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Premier of the Northwest Territories, the Honourable Joe Handley. Mr. Speaker, in my travels in the Sahtu, I met with community members and the elders and they want to know what this government will be doing or whether it has any plans in terms of helping them with the high cost of living in small communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.