Thank you, Madam Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Minister. Indeed, even with the three-year period left in the existing lease, the Rockhill apartment building, while it's in reasonable shape for a building its age, there may be some more renovations that are required of it. It takes, as we well know, Madam Speaker, a couple of years to scope these things out, budget for them and get them into our capital planning and budgeting process. So the picture that the YWCA is looking at is for some kind of firm process that they can count on to get this decision made. Will the Minister be working to achieve that with the other departments involved? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Minister Dent.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We have to work in concert with the other departments. Health and Social Services is also involved in this process. We have to come to some agreement about the renovations, because Public Works and Services tell us that renovations are critical to the continued occupation of that building in the not-too-distant future. They don't have to happen this year or next year, but we shouldn't be signing a subsequent 10-year lease for the building if there aren't some important renovations done.

The issue of the renovations and whether or not we should do them or look for new space has to be settled first. That is the point that we are in in these discussions, whether or not this government is going to embark on a process of renovating that building or if we are going to perhaps look for different space. I can assure the Member that we are working to resolve the situation well in advance of the May 2008 deadline.

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of

Education, Culture and Employment. Just after we concluded the budget session in March, I was approached by an individual who was on income support for a couple of months and went back to work. He was employable, certainly before, and entered into the Income Support Program for two months while going through some difficult times in his life. He went back to work after two months and he was surprised, the mail box changed and four months go by and all of a sudden somebody gets in touch with him and says we have four months worth of income support mail for you. He went and picked it up. Not only did he have four months of income support payments that he should not have received, the government also paid his rent for four months.

The first question I would have for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment is what is this monthly report card that ECE sent around to income support clients last summer? Is it being used? If it is not being used, why? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I thank the Member for bringing this issue to my attention earlier. I have had the department check into this situation and this is the only example of this type of circumstance happening that we can find. I can also assure the Member that we don't believe the rent was paid after the individual moved out. However, the individual never gave notice to the landlord that they were leaving and so the landlord claims that there is more rent owing than what the individual believes.

It is a situation too, where we offer a number of clients on income support the opportunity to be payrolled. This opportunity is offered often to people who are disabled, to seniors, to people whose circumstances aren't likely to change or that we expect will come in and inform the staff when they do change. People who receive income support are clearly told that they must tell income support whenever their circumstances change. In this instance, this individual never did advise the income support worker that their circumstances had changed.

Often people are put on a payroll system for up to 12 months. So in this circumstance, after six months the individual's circumstances changed, the office wasn't notified and, the Member is right, there were four months of cheques that were issued that should not have been. However, to his credit, the individual did not try to cash the cheques, but instead notified the department and all of the cheques had a stop payment put on them. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister how an income support officer makes the determination whether somebody is going to be on a payroll basis or not. The individual I am talking about here walks into the office and has been employed for years and has a certain skill set. How can they pigeonhole people into being payrolled, is what I am trying to say, and who makes that determination? How is that determination made on whether an income support client is payrolled or if they have to submit these monthly report cards?

In this instance, Madam Speaker, if I could, the individual who was deemed to be a payroll income support client received letters saying you have to fill out the monthly report cards. If they weren't filled out and he was still paid, there is certainly a disconnect there. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Minister Dent.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The income support officer is given the authority to determine which of their clients should be payrolled. As I outlined, it is typically for those clients where the expectation is that the circumstances are not likely to change in the immediate future, but it is clearly expressed to the client that there is an obligation to the client to come back and report that change.

In terms of why the report cards weren't being followed up on, I'm afraid that I can't answer that question. It does indicate an issue that there is some concern about and we have certainly worked to strengthen our reporting requirements in the office in the last year. We have also looked at increasing the number of staff to deal with the volume of clients in that office. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am having a little bit of difficulty understanding what the reporting cards are for. In the letter that I have, it says if the monthly report card is not returned, income assistance will not be provided. This will mean a delay in receiving your monies. Will the income support clients actually receive their monies, even if they don't submit the report card, or what exactly happened? If the report card is not submitted by a certain time, does the department still issue cheques? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Minister Dent.

Madam Speaker, for those people who should fill in the report cards, no. If the report card is not returned, that should raise a flag in the system to stop the cheques from being distributed. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Minister Bell.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I don't believe the city intends to provide life guarding services this summer at the beach. It's been a couple of seasons now without lifeguards at the beach. I think the Member knows the history. We provided, in past, a contribution that the city turned around and used to provide life guarding services. Obviously we are not in that business and don't do that, but we had provided a contribution in the past. The city felt that it wasn't significant enough. We entered into a negotiation which eventually failed. The city left that negotiation feeling that if we couldn't pay for the entire cost of the provision of the service, that they weren't going to provide it. I believe that's where it stands.

I have moved and asked the department to enter into negotiations with the city and discussions around the entire park. I think the park might be better run by the city, who could then provide the level of service and the type of service that they want. Those negotiations really have not moved to the point that I would like to see them. I am anticipating meeting with the mayor and council here going forward to try to have some political discussion around whether or not that is a direction they would like to move in. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Bell. The time for question period has lapsed, however, I will allow Mr. Braden to ask a supplementary question. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Minister is right; we are going into potentially our third year where a major piece of the city's summer recreational options, especially for families and kids, is not going to be safe. I think it's truly a shame that between our two governments we can't arrive at a way to do that. The eventual devolving the ownership and responsibility of the park to the city is a good one, but in the meantime why isn't it that at least our government can't take this really important service on? We already look after the rest of the park. Why can't we roll this into the same service, make sure it's provided, make sure it is safe, enjoyable and accessible this summer? This is the third year going on, why can't we do this?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Minister Bell.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We are not insured to provide the service. The city already does provide it at the pool. I would also add that we don't do it anywhere else in the territory. There are other beaches you can make exactly the same case for, I believe, such as the one in Hay River, which is inside municipal boundaries.

In terms of the safety issue, it's a safety issue before the hours that a beach would be supervised, say at 10:00, and after the hours the beach would be supervised, say 6:00 p.m., if the city, for instance, chose to provide life guarding services from 10:00 until 6:00 everyday. So it is a very real safety issue. Prior and post those hours, parents have to be very careful and shouldn't leave their children unattended at the beach. So there are a number of safety issues that can't entirely be resolved by having lifeguards. We do, I believe, know that the city posts the beach as unsupervised and we advise parents to make sure they are watching their kids at all times when they are on the beach. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Minister Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.