Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the work that the Tlicho Government has done with us cooperatively, particularly in the area of lands and identifying land. That has worked very well in 2006-07 and I think things are working very well towards 2007-08. So that one is important.

Second, Mr. Speaker, we do a lot of the delivery of services through the local housing organizations or authorities, and again I appreciate the support from them. We have liaison officer positions or money available to help liaise between the housing needs and the clients in our housing. That one is important.

There is a workshop coming up on the 22nd that our people are attending to figure out how we could be more effective in the work we're doing.

Mr. Speaker, we want to work closely with the Tlicho Government and with the local organizations to have that effective delivery. One of the problems we've run into is finding skilled tradespeople. Again, we are looking at and trying to find ways that we can get more apprentices into the business as well so we have more tradespeople at the community level. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I highlighted, we do have a qualified journeyman in the community of Behchoko, a red sealed maintenance journeyman. Can the Minister possibly consider a similar contract to the one they offer the housing authority to a local skilled journeyman to assist with the needs of our elders in the community of Behchoko and surrounding Tlicho communities? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, yes, we will do that. We have, in the past, gone out for RFP. I would hope that we do that again and if the individual with the skills would submit their proposal, their application to do that kind of work.

Mr. Speaker, I know the LHOs, our local education authorities, are very busy. So if there's ways that the private sector can help us, then certainly we'll do that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister indicated, on February 22nd there is a public forum on Housing and ECE as a combined forum. At the same time, can we expedite this process, because that will be an issue on February 22nd, for a fact, from the elders. What can the department do to expedite the process so something is shown on the 22nd of February?

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Members know, as referred to before, there's $825 allocated per unit for seniors and I'm ready to look at that again. I want to do an assessment of where we're at in terms of maintaining those kind of ongoing maintenance and servicing of furnaces and so on from that fund. Mr. Speaker, if there are problems with it, we want to identify them before the 22nd and hopefully on the 22nd have some responses that will be beneficial for the seniors to take part in that meeting. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources to follow up yesterday's line of questioning in regards to the 40 million litres or so of fuel stored in single-hulled barges around Hay River on Great Slave Lake and the Hay River. There are many unanswered questions: how often they dip the tanks, can they reconcile the amount that was put in this fall with what is currently there, the type of spill plan and containment plan that they do have. Given the seriousness and potential extreme hazard to this situation, I'd like to ask the Minister whether he would commit to sending down the director of environmental services here for the department, down to Hay River personally to take a look and review what is there, look at all the barges and make an on-the-ground inspection? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an issue that's very serious to this government and the people of the Northwest Territories. We've met with the federal Department of Transportation regarding this issue as it's their responsibility to do the monitoring. We've also met with the president of NTCL to voice our concerns. They have assured us that they have spill contingency plans and clean-up plans, and they have also provided us with some of the testing that they do on a daily basis and a weekly basis. We have had our own people travel to Hay River and accompany them on some of their testing. I certainly will commit to doing more. We'd like to see this whole process of using barges for storage in the winter changed and we're working towards that, but we'll certainly commit to having our people travel to Hay River and take part in the inspections. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to thank the Minister for that response. The final question would be could I get the Minister to commit to being able to report back to this House before we rise to adjourn on March 16th with the results of the review and assurances that can be made, hopefully, to the people of the Northwest Territories on this issue? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I think we can meet that time frame and we'll commit to that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. I will allow the Minister to answer that question. The honourable Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Public Utilities Board is responsible for looking at any general rate applications by any of the utilities that are under its responsibilities. The Public Utilities Board has received a phase one general rate application by the NWT Power Corporation and there was a significant increase, like the Member had indicated. Part of the process of the Public Utilities Board and part of the request by NWT Power Corporation was to institute an interim rate increase as we deliberate the merit of the phase one general rate application. Typically what happens there, Mr. Speaker, is the interim increase is so that there is not a shock to the consumers once there is final approval to that application, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, let me ask the Minister, has the Public Utilities Board ever refused a general rate application increase from the Power Corp in the past? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Menicoche.