Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't think I am against the implementation plan, Mr. Speaker. I am in favour that we will have to charge our tenants at the 100 percent mark, but I believe that we can graduate this plan because it's been so long and going immediately to the 90 percent mark is far beyond what even four or five tenants can handle in Fort Simpson, Mr. Speaker.

Even so, we are forcing our tenants' hands. I don't think they have a choice where they can go, Mr. Speaker. They don't have anyplace else to go as an alternative. I would like the Minister to recognize that and at least commit to minimizing the increase, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister look at minimizing this increase and eventually get to the 100 percent by next year, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, like I mentioned earlier, the whole idea of the phase-in over four years is so it would not burden the tenant with seeing a major increase in one year. They've phased in the rent increase over the first two years and now we are trying to conclude that. To be fair to everyone out there, we are trying to ensure that those tenants, some 34 tenants, who will be seeing a major increase at the high end, but we also have to realize we have one of the lowest tenant rates in the country. In most jurisdictions, it's 25 to 30 percent of your income. In the North, we are going to be increasing it from 11 percent to 14 percent. If you start looking at other jurisdictions across the country, we do have a fair rate system for social housing, not like other jurisdictions across the country. They look at 30 percent of your gross income.

So this system is to ensure that we phase it in over the next two years, but also ensure that you don't get the whole 30 percent or 40 percent increase in one shot. We are trying to spread it out over two years.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am in agreement with the Minister, but it's in terms of percentages. I am proposing to the Minister today let's phase it up from 60 percent to 75 percent of the rent scale and then we both agree at the same time, as well, Mr. Speaker, that it's 100 percent for the second year. It's just the first year of how we are getting there. I am proposing it to be at 75 percent because what we are having here is we are going to create a sector of people who aren't in arrears and getting them into arrears and further complicating their opportunity to get a house when it's their turn, or to apply for other housing programs. I would like to know how the Minister will be addressing this concern of our current tenants getting into further arrears. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as all Members know, notices have been given with regard to the increases. Under the Landlord and Tenants Act, we do have to give three months' notice. The notice period has gone out and we are looking at implementing it April 1st. So it is based on the phase-in program. We are trying to conclude a four-year phase-in. We have two years left to go and we are in year three. So notices have been given, based on the rent scale implementation that has been put in place since 1995. So we are trying to conclude something that's been there for 10 years. It's something that I can look at, but in order to change it now we would have to put out notices to change the whole increase all over again. Because of that complication, I don't think we can pull it back at this time, but we can look at it with regard to how we deal with it.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Your final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It seems ludicrous that the government won't be flexible on this at all. There will be a surprise if the client were to say you aren't going to increase it to 90 percent on the scale, but reduce it to 75 because a notice did go out. I think the government can be flexible and they can say yes, you got the notice but, on second thought, we are just going to do the 75 percent for this year because we are still doing 100 percent for 2006-07, Mr. Speaker. I think this is short notice and expecting people to pay higher rents, purchase their homes and/or pay off all their arrears within a few months will have a serious impact on them. I would still like to know what the Minister's plan is for implementing this and taking care of our clients and try to get them to be homeowners, Mr. Speaker. I don't think this is the way to do it, by impacting their household budgets with a 30 percent increase to rent charges. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are working with those clients. Like I mentioned, there are roughly 34 clients we are dealing with who are going to be seeing the bulk of this increase which will have an affect on them. We are working with them through our local housing authorities and also through our program officers and counselling these clients to make them aware how the increase will affect them and how they deal with their arrears. There is a way that you can pay off your arrears over a period of time or do a biweekly pay down of your arrears. We are working with clients to try to ensure the impact is as easy as possible. We have gone forward with the implementation of the rent scale rates at this time and notices have been given and we are continuing on that process.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I notice with interest an advertisement in the paper. I will direct my question to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. There is a course offering at Aurora College for people to learn how to read palms. It's called Palmistry. Mr. Speaker, we have a lot of demands on our education dollars and the needs of northerners in terms of education. I am not sure exactly what is involved in this course. It outlines the course in the paper. It talked about reading the lines on your hands to figure out how long you are going to live and what your future holds. Mr. Speaker, I would like to know if Mr. Dent's department, as overseen by the boards and Aurora College, if there is any territorial government money...I think taxpayers should know if our taxpayers' dollars, our budget dollars, are going into supporting a course for people to learn how to read palms. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, there would not be any government money into the provision of that course. The majority of courses that are offered by the college are third-party funded and that's paid for by application fees or by the students signing up for them. In other cases it's provided for by funds that are provided by First Nations or by employers. So a good portion of the programming that is offered through the colleges is third-party funded. This one, I suspect, is entirely funded by the fees that would be paid by the students who signed up for the course.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did notice that there was a fee attached to taking this course. I would just like the Minister's assurance that if there are not enough participants who sign up and this is not a break even, that this government or the budget of Aurora College is not administratively or financially subsidizing this program in any way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, no, there would not be government resources that would go into this. This sort of programming is available across the Northwest Territories. Any person who has an idea for a course can come and pitch the campus director and request use of space when it's not otherwise being used for college purposes. Then they have to pay for the course and the space themselves. The cost would have to be recovered from fees. The college would not be putting any money into courses like this that are offered outside of the regular programming.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So this is the utilization then of these resources in terms of our infrastructure. Is there any criteria applied to people applying in terms of what the course material contains? Is there any criteria an applicant has to meet in order to offer these courses through the Aurora College? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not sure of the exact criteria. I would expect that the college would require people to be conducting courses that are within the law, that would not be personally offensive to others and the standard sort of requirements that you would expect for use of public space. Anybody is entitled to go to the campus director and propose a course and say here is what I propose to offer, here is how I propose to do it and if the space would otherwise not be used for something else, it can be made available if there is enough public interest to see such a course proceed.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.