Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm glad to see the Minister continuing to speak on behalf of the people we, on this side, are trying to represent as well. I just want to add that all the things that he mentioned are certainly the ones that have to be considered in redefining the corporation's mandate, but there are a lot more too. We're faced with certainty that the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation is getting out of funding housing in the North. We are faced with a booming economy in some centres in the North but not in others, so we have a shortage of housing for various reasons. We are facing shortage because of skilled labour, many issues that I think it is timely we look at the redefining of the mandate. I'd like to know from the Minister how we are going to get involved with that, because I think what the Minister is saying is things that everybody here on this side have been saying. So I'd like to know if this Cabinet directive or whatever the Cabinet is approving is going to be a document written in stone. What is the plan to get this into either the Social Programs committee or...I think it should

be Social Programs committee because it is the mandate of the Housing Corporation and I certainly hope that whatever is coming out of the Cabinet is not on a final form; that it's one that has room for discussion and consultation with not only the Members in this House, but with the stakeholders and general public out there.

To make sure the Minister does not take up all of my remaining time I'm going to ask the second question.

---Laughter

That has to do with continuing discussions that the Minister is having with the federal Minister about the funding for housing. The Minister has indicated on many occasions that he has been talking to the Minister and there was a press release last fall about discussions involving formula financing of housing and that there might be some opening at the federal level to change the funding formula to not just per capita, but perhaps base funding plus per capita. I have to tell you that I think that we could only hear for so long that the Minister is meeting with the federal Minister. I think in a short distance we need to be able to hear from the Minister that we are making some in-roads. I'm wondering why discussions about housing are not...Well, maybe they are and I'm just not aware of it. Where are they in the federal agenda, in the mix of all the other stuff that's being talked about? Certainly I think the federal government made it clear about 10 years ago, I can't remember, when they withdrew housing funding. I remember the previous Premier Donnie Morin being very upset about it and he had lots of high profile meetings with the federal government to try to stop this from happening.

I don't think I'm going to be satisfied with a paragraph here and there saying I'm meeting with the Minister, I'm meeting with the Minister. I expect to see more concrete results. I'd like to know what kind of things are being talked about at this level of meetings. What are other Ministers of Housing saying? Where does the position of the GNWT Housing Minister sit with all the other Ministers of Housing? Is there any indication on the part of the federal Minister that there is any possibility that they might restore funding or they might revisit not financing Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation? Where are we on this thing? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll deal with the last question first. As I mentioned a few times, one of the things we're doing is developing a northern housing strategy for housing in Northern Canada for the three territories. But the whole idea where that came from is from the First Ministers' meeting we had with the provincial-territorial Ministers on housing that was held in January, which what we were looking at was ensuring that we have the federal Minister on side in order for him to have something he can take back to his colleagues in Ottawa, but also for the provincial Ministers who also realized the housing programs that CMHC presently delivers are not meeting the housing needs across Canada. One area we keep touching on is this declining dollar with regard to social funding for social housing. We all know this is no longer there. So what is going to be there to replace that?

Again, the reason we're developing the northern housing strategy is because the federal Minister of Housing is requesting from us to have a strategy prepared so when we go back to the next Ministers meeting -- I believe it was supposed to happen in April or May -- we have something we can take to the table and say these are the housing concerns we have in Northern Canada, this is what it's going to take, these are the costs, this is how we want to face the housing challenges we have in Northern Canada. All jurisdictions across Canada are doing the same thing. So when we do meet and the idea is that by changing CMHC housing programs which will be replacing the old ones as they're no longer accessible or there are time limits, we have to do something to replace those programs.

And you ask where the money is, I think in order to get it, the federal government wants to see something by way of a document or report that they can say this was a report from all Housing Ministers across Canada and then through their assessment process determine how much money is going to be needed. That's the process we're following to do that.

With regard to your first question about what we're doing about developing or reviewing the mandate of the corporation, it's in a draft form and, as we all know, every department that develops a business plan or defines a mandate, it has to go to Cabinet and then from there it will go forward by way of a recommendation to the committee. That's the process we're following. Like I said, it's in a draft form right now. We're preparing to get it to Cabinet by April 1st. Once it gets there, it will make its way to committee. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. I have Mr. Yakeleya next.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to ask the Minister about the Expanded Downpayment Assistance Program in the Sahtu. I understand there might be a decrease in that program. Can he get some numbers for me in terms of that program, if it's increasing or decreasing? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the overall program from last year has declined by $700,000, but this year the amount of money that's designated to the Sahtu is $127,000, which is the same as last year. But the overall program, because we weren't getting the uptake that we needed, was one of the programs that was cut and it was cut by $700,000.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Minister. In regard to the Housing Corporation, is the Housing Corporation looking at some process in terms of an appeal board? I remember there were some comments from this side about rejection of applications or refusal of applications and that there is really no independent appeal board that the community members can go to. I just wanted to ask if the Housing Corporation is thinking along those lines for some sort of mechanism for people who have applications to have someone take another look at their applications for homes in any type of

programs that the Housing Corporation has to offer in the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chairman, these are the types of things that we're looking at when we are reviewing the mandate of the corporation, because we are looking at the policies, procedures and also our operational method. I imagine that we do have, so those are the types of things that we can look at when we do our review of the corporation. Again, once we get through the Cabinet, then the draft document can be made available to committees and, at that time, committees will have input in regard to where we're going and if we're going in the right direction or if we should be making changes. Those are the types of things that we're looking at through the mandate change.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I was reading the federal budget highlights given to us by the Minister of Finance, Floyd Roland. In the highlights, on page 8 of 19, there's $225 million to expand the energy guide for the Housing Retrofit Incentive Program. I wanted to ask the Housing Corporation if they are looking into tapping into these dollars; the $225 million. If they are, how much are they expected to hopefully receive, and when can we hear the corporation's intentions in terms of this project? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as I stated, one of the elements that the federal Minister wants to see in our Northern Strategy is energy efficiency. I'm looking at more new energy practices so that we can try to bring down the usage of fossil fuels and also looking at Kyoto and global warming. This federal government, especially the Liberal Government, are putting a lot of emphasis on energy and on looking at those new initiatives. So that will be one of the components of our northern housing strategy, because I think we do have to look at it. As an example, in a lot of communities in the southern part of the territory we have houses which could presently be heated by hydro at a lot cheaper cost than it's costing us right now to heat them with diesel. I think those types of things have to be looked at. Also, we have to consider looking at sun or wind or different types of energy sources out there. We are also working with the Arctic Energy Alliance to look at some of these ideas along with the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. So we are looking at it and I think it's a crucial component of our northern housing strategy and it has to be in there so that we can put forward our position as to how we get those federal dollars in the North for energy-efficient housing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have two more questions. Mr. Chair, also in the federal government budget there is $295 million over five years for First Nations housing construction and renovation on reserves. As you know, Mr. Chair, I think there's one reserve in the Northwest Territories. Is there anything that this government is doing in terms of working with the reserve south of the lake in terms of tapping into some of those dollars so that maybe we can free up some dollars that can go into other regions? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I look forward to the discussions and the end result of those discussions with AFN and other communities in terms of seeing some more affordable houses in our communities. I just wanted to state, for the record, that I support the market housing initiative that's going into the Sahtu in terms of building those units so we can have those key people in our communities, such as the teachers and nurses and other professionals, come and stay in our region for more than six months to a year and they can actually possibly look at living in our communities for a longer time. Mr. Chairman, I wanted to ask the Housing Corporation what type of plans are they making in terms of a communication plan. Do they have some discussions right now with the teachers or the nurses or whoever, in terms of looking at the new units going into the region? How are they proposing to get them into the new units? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we have been talking to the different departments and also the education and health boards in the different regions to inform them of what we are doing and also for them to inform their possible people that they are hiring through the schools or the health centres. So they are aware that these units are there. Also, we're including our partners, such as the departments of Education and Health, in this process.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Hawkins is next.