Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the honourable Minister of the Financial Management Board and his responsibilities over the Liquor Board or the Liquor Act. It's constituents that come to me, Mr. Speaker, and ask me to speak on the fact that there's lots of bootlegging happening in our communities, especially to minors, Mr. Speaker. So the concept or the idea they had shared with me is whether it is possible for our government to institute some signage in the liquor stores to advise potential people that bootlegging or even buying booze for your younger friends is supplying minors and is an offence, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if I understand the Member's question about putting signage up to inform people who go into the liquor stores to purchase products for others to inform them of the penalties of that, that they would be involved in supplying minors, that is something I think we can definitely work on; putting up signage that would reflect those concerns. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm sure glad that the government or the Minister heard me so clearly the first time.

---Applause

I think this will go a long ways because I think a lot of people are doing it thinking it's a harmless endeavour to help out their friends like they were just going to school with them last year but now they're eligible to buy alcohol. But it is a crime and people should be made aware of it and it happens quite a bit back in my constituency and I'm pleased the Minister is going to be doing that. I'd just like to ask the Minister as my final question, Mr. Speaker, if he can act on this soon and look at getting this signage up rather quickly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will have the department work on that as soon as we can put some horsepower to it and we should be able to work with the contractors out there in getting signage up. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Ramsay unfortunately must have hit the facility on a day when there was a significant amount of transition. It is true that a good portion of the facility is disrupted because of the ongoing renovations, but right

now the Fox Moth gallery is again open, as is the feature gallery and the mezzanine gallery. The plan is that in June the auditorium will open and will feature videos throughout the summer. The north gallery will open with a photo exhibit from NWT mining, celebrating with an exhibit that's been sponsored or brought forward by the mining society. The feature gallery will have an interactive cyber explorers' exhibit and the mezzanine gallery will have an exhibit of Tlicho archival photographs. So while the renovations are underway, we are going to attempt to have a good portion of the facility open and available for northern visitors. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear the Minister say that some of the renovation work is going to get done and some of the galleries are going to open this summer, because, as I mentioned in my Member's statement, we are going to get a great deal of traffic through the capital city here in the summer months with the AFN being here and the increase in road traffic. So I'm glad to hear the Minister is paying attention to that. I'm wondering if the Minister could let us know when he expects all the renovations to be completed at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre. Like I mentioned earlier, it's having an impact on the staff and visitors alike. So I'd like to know when he expects it all to be completed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The total project is expected to be completed in 2006. The permanent display will open in the north gallery in the summer of 2006 and the permanent display will open in the south gallery in the summer of 2007. In 2006, the south gallery will house a travelling exhibit of Dene artefacts from the Royal Scottish Museum. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise on the heels of my Member's statement with questions to the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my Member's statement, $72,000 was given to one person and as far as I see it, we could have given three people $24,000 for a down payment and that would have been considered reasonable. Could the Minister explain to me in somewhat reasonable detail, obviously without giving out the name of the person who we gave it to, why there was such a variance between one down payment of $6,500 and another down payment of $72,000? That I just don't think is right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it may seem that the numbers are screwy with regard to how you look at it, but I think the Member has to realize that this program is developed throughout the whole Northwest Territories. We have communities who have just as much need for assistance as they do here in Yellowknife. You also have to realize that this program is not only for high income clients. It's also there to assist people who are trying to move from income support, clients who are in social housing, to get them out of social housing and into home ownership. There is no set guideline in regard to maximums. There is a maximum amount in regard to the subsidy of 40 percent of the value of the home. That applies mostly to outlying communities because of the high cost to those clients, but also in order to meet those goals we are able to work with people in both sectors. This is a universal program. It's not just for people in high incomes. We are there to assist people who have large families, whose threshold is over 30 percent with regard to core need and are paying the high rents in social housing and assisting them to move out. That's why you have some clients who have these high incomes.

I think, Mr. Speaker, more importantly we've assisted 570 people to get into home ownership and it's put almost $70 million into the Northwest Territories economy. So if that's a bad news program, I'd like to ask the Member exactly what is wrong with this program that we were able to assist 570 people and put $67 million into our economy. Maybe the Member could elaborate a little more on exactly what he's really pointing at with regard to his argument. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has been here long enough to realize that he's not supposed to ask Regular Members questions. I was kind of hoping maybe a point of order on that, but I'll answer the question. I'm very proud that we're putting people into housing and I'm proud to hear this government puts in housing, but you know what? The bottom line is I'm mad to find out that we're putting $72,000 into one house. We could have done a lot better than that and it seems unreasonable. All I asked for was for you to explain the details of why one person received $72,000 when we could have helped a lot of people with that. We could have given three people $24,000; we could have given 10 people $6,500. Explain the one scenario. That's all I've asked for. I'm not breaking your legs over nothing. Explain the details. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Speaker, I'll try to be clear for the Member so he understands. There is a maximum subsidy that is given. I said 40 percent based on the value of the home. But again, it's based on the client's ability to pay. The affordability question comes in with regard to being able to pay the operational maintenance costs of the home and also ensure that their expenditure does not exceed the 40 percent that anyone should be able to pay for shelter. So because of those restrictions, those individuals who are in that area of more need, because of their income, receive more subsidy. So hopefully that can assist the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.