Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are again for the Minister of Finance. It goes back to what he mentioned in his last answer to me and the fact that looking at expenditures government-wide in terms of developing a secondary industry. He mentioned the fact that it was going to be done in house and that FMBS and RWED were going to be involved. I would like to ask the Minister, has he given any thought if it has to be done in house, given any thought to having the Audit Bureau investigate the expenditures? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess there are a number of things there. I am sure Members will get more information. Internally, we do our own audit reviews to make sure that the money that has been approved by this House is spent according to how it has been approved. As well, if departments feel that certain areas of things they want to have looked at, they will make contact with the Audit Bureau, and we will arrange for that work to happen. On top of that, we, as a government, will have the Auditor General of Canada's office review our operations and, as they have in the past, highlight to a certain degree our involvement in the secondary industry. What avenues we need to take to ensure that we do a proper accounting to come up with the best next steps we need to do, we will look at. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Minister, for the reply. I'd say that any type of investigation would have to be as transparent and as impartial as possible. I would like to ask the Minister if he could at least entertain the notion that the government look outside for somebody to come in and take a forensic look or a detailed look at what the expenditures are or, if he is going to get the Audit Bureau to do it, can he at least entertain that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this whole area of the secondary industry, the question is not whether money was not spent appropriately or accounted for. The question is one more of policy. Should we have a secondary industry? How should we support that secondary industry? What avenues do we have to ensure that support is there? Our question and our work need to focus on the policy end of how we do this. As well, we are going to do an accounting, as committed to in this House, of all the dollars and losses and put that together and bring it forward to Members. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am just looking for a reply from the Minister in terms of looking outside of the organization of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Will he entertain looking outside, or is it going to be in house? If it is in house, I have some issues with that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated earlier, the first look we do is one from the resources we have available to us now. That is working through RWED as well as FMB. Once we have that work, if we find there is a need to go outside that, we would look at that. But we will do the work and bring it back to Members. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week, I spoke about the rent scale changes, and the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation did provide me with some answers. I just would like to hear that answer again, Mr. Speaker, with regard to rent scale changes. Is he really looking at redoing the amount of increase that the rent scale changes? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have heard from the Members with regard to their concerns they have raised in the House, especially with regard to the phasing in of the rent scale and lifting the moratorium for the next two years. I had the department look to see what is the practicality of doing it and are there any legal implications by moving forward. I have consulted with the department to look at the possibility of phasing in so the impact won't be that great on our tenants. We are looking at the possibility instead of a 30/10 phase in over two years, we are looking at a 20/20, similar to what the Member suggested. A 25 or 15. I figure if we look at something like a 20/20 percent phase in over the next two years, hopefully that is something we can look at. Again, that is something that I am hoping to bring to the House by way of a Minister's statement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister responsible for his answer. I am pleased that the people have been heard.

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It does provide that little bit of window for clients to make alternative arrangements, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister assure this Member that his officials are looking at this scale and that he will give me an answer soon, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I could make this formal commitment to the Member and to the Members of the House today that I will be coming forward by way of a Minister's statement announcing that we will be making such a change. Right now, it is in the works. I would like to commit to the Member that I have looked at it, and I will be bringing it forward to the House.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Time for oral questions has expired; however, I will allow you to finish your supplementary question, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Has the Minister given our tenants and our clients anything in notice at all of a potential change in the implementation of the rent scale? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have informed our people through our LHOs that this is coming. Again, until the announcement is made in this House, technically it is not public. So once I make it official, it will be official then.

---Laughter