Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (English not provided)

Mr. Speaker, as I stated in my language, I talked about the motion that is in front of us today. I seconded the motion because I firmly believe that we need to change the existing system we have in place from 32 percent or 25 percent, whatever number is being thrown out there, we need to reduce that number.

The motion is before us. During the pre-budget consultation tour, we heard over and over, in almost every community, that this is a huge issue. In my riding, Mr. Speaker, and also Sahtu, both of us raised this issue on numerous occasions, and also other Members as well, that this is becoming a bigger issue than it is now. There are some members in communities that owe $76,000, to be exact, Mr. Speaker. They are still paying $2,400 a month based on the percentage we have in place.

Those policies or regulations need to be amended. That is why we are here, as Members of the Legislative Assembly. We will try to work with Cabinet to deal with this issue. It's been going on in my region since 1992 and also back to 1997 when this whole issue arose at that time. Before, they were paying $32 a month in 1997. After that, they started to pay more. A lot of elders we spoke to have indicated that there are tenant relations in the community, but those tenant relations have never set foot in the community...Sorry, in a household to add on who is living there and how much they are making. It's all based on perception in the communities. Not every community is like that, Mr. Speaker, but in my communities there are many issues around that.

Mr. Speaker, a couple of weeks back or a week back, I asked the Minister of Housing if there could be an investigation into these allegations and issues that are uprising in my community. It's a serious, serious issue that needs to be dealt with. The Premier is also listening and the former Minister Krutko has indicated to him that there is an issue here that needs to be tackled.

Mr. Speaker, just getting back to this motion, I would like to reiterate that I firmly believe that we need to do something here today, so we can take this back to the impacted communities, those people who are impacted, the elders and even the youth who are growing up now. A lot of young people are saying what's the use of working if we have to pay $2,400 a month? We are supposed to be proactive as government to say these are the incentives for you to continue with your employment. I realize where income support is coming from to say we are trying to get people off income support. At the same time, people are working out there making a fairly good amount of money in the industries, the three industries that we have, but we are going after 32 percent of their salary. Is that right, Mr. Speaker? Is that the way to go as the Government of the Northwest Territories? I certainly hope not. I certainly don't think so.

That's why I supported this motion. I feel like we need to deal with this issue today. Let's fix it today. Mahsi.