Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are hoping we can develop a policy that is rational and meets the needs of the people of the Northwest Territories. I would hate at this point, with the amount of time and effort and consultation that's gone into reviewing this policy, to announce any changes suddenly. We intend to make some rational changes to this. Let's be very clear about this; there may be some changes to the policy around how we subsidize housing for seniors. I expect that there will be, but I would rather we bring forward all of our proposals in a comprehensive, cohesive manner and make sure that we are doing things right the first time, rather than having to make some more incremental changes because we find that we made some mistake along the way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to have a discussion with the Minister of Housing, the Honourable David Krutko. I am tired, too. I want to ask the Minister, in terms of the manufactured homes that are going to be impacted by the proposed gas pipeline, these manufactured homes, what critical stages would the people in the communities that are going to be impacted, I have three communities, four communities possibly in my region that are going to benefit from this concept. At what stage do we need to get on board and say, yes, this is the way to go right now? All I know, there is a time when we have to make a decision and go with it. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are still in discussions with the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline Group with regard to the social impact benefits that we are trying to get as a government. More importantly, we also have to include the federal government by way of CMHC and see how we can get federal contributions to this project in order to make it viable. We also need the federal commitment. Those

discussions are ongoing. There is a meeting coming up next week. At some point we will have to sit down and evaluate where we are at, making sure we have parties onside before we can proceed. Right now, we are still in the preliminary stages. There is no final decision being made at this point. We are still negotiating with all parties.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister make a commitment to come into my region sometime in the next few months to really have a discussion on this concept? We want to hear both sides. We want to know how it's going to impact our communities, the benefits to our communities and the things we have talked about in this House. The community needs to be comfortable and to lend the support. This concept could bring a lot of benefits to our community, but if we don't do it right, it also could be a disaster. So we want to have a good discussion with the Housing Corporation on this Novel concept. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I previously committed to the Member, we will be holding housing forums in the Sahtu and the Deh Cho within the next number of months. I feel that's probably a more appropriate time to add this to the agenda during those meetings. So maybe that is something we can add to the agenda when we host those meetings in the Sahtu and Deh Cho.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, the Minister can't unilaterally make a policy decision that has to be ratified by Cabinet. In this case, I have to take it back to Cabinet to ensure that Cabinet agrees that I can suspend the policy or change a policy that is going to have an affect on the government by way of expenditures. We have to go through that process. As we all know, I committed to that to the Member from Yellowknife that I will suspend the policy. We are going to be having a Cabinet meeting on the 22nd. I will bring it to Cabinet at that time and see what the direction of Cabinet is for proceeding forward. It's a policy that has to be reviewed and I can't unilaterally change it, because I have to get Cabinet direction. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, I just need to understand, then, exactly what the Minister is going to ask the Cabinet to approve. What is he is going to bring forward in his proposal? Is he going to bring forward a proposal to suspend rent subsidies for seniors under the present means of determining rent for going forward or for retroactive? What is the Minister going to ask the Cabinet to approve? What policy?

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Speaker, as we all know, the problem we face here is we don't have a means of doing an asset-based test on what assets these seniors have. In order for us to change it, that seemed to be where the problem is. How do you assess an individual by way of an application process to ensure that they are aboveboard on whether they can afford rent or can't they? That's why this problem is unique to the market communities and that's where we have to focus our decision. Again, we will be having to come forward and have a discussion paper to look at how we can make these changes. We are already looking at what's happening in other jurisdictions across the country to ensure that what we do here is not only unique to us, but we also have precedents that are out there that we can use. We will have to bring a discussion paper to Cabinet with regard to how we change this policy. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of seniors currently living in public

housing, I need to know if the Minister in the next few weeks is going to go to Cabinet and ask them for some kind of moratorium on the existing current Seniors' Rent Subsidy Program. I need to know what context that that request is going to be made. We can't do this open ended. Do seniors know by now that the government is considering a change in the policy for assessing rent? Yes, I think they do. Between the work of ECE and the Housing Corporation, I think they do. But Mr. Braden asked for something more specific and something more immediate and I think we owe it to them, on this last day where we have a chance to get this clear, to know what it is the Minister is going to ask the Cabinet to do. Are we going to put a moratorium on more subsidized seniors applicants moving into public housing until this policy is in place? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Deputy Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is going into a couple of areas. One, where the responsibility for subsidies for seniors in public housing, which now falls under the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment as we've transferred that program. There is another program within the Housing Corporation that deals with seniors in independent housing. I think the question on the work of the work that Mr. Dent is doing on the subsidies situation of the government would best be directed to Mr. Dent in this case. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my response to Mr. Ramsay, the promise that was made publicly and in this House was that when the subsidy program for public housing, which includes the subsidy for seniors in public housing, when that was transferred or responsibility for that program was transferred from the Housing Corporation to Education, Culture and Employment it would be taken over with no change in the policy. At this point there is no change. We are examining all of our income security programs and all of our subsidy programs that are administered by Education, Culture and Employment and I expect that we will be proposing some changes to those programs in the course of the next six months or so. But those proposed changes won't be sprung on anybody. There will be an appropriate period of notice and it will only be done after consultation with Members in this House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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