Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am going to use my Member's statement today to raise an issue that seems to come to the surface every time around this time of year, and that being the mailing out of property tax statements by the Financial Management Board here in the GNWT. Mr. Speaker, I have been bringing up this issue in this House on numerous occasions in the last three years and it always seems to get swept under the rug only to be raised again when statements are mailed out around February. The outstanding amounts are still going up in everybody's statements. Interest is accumulating and stress levels are peaking in Fort Liard, Fort Providence and Fort Resolution because of the property tax issue. Soon the ads will come out in the News/North listing all the people with these outstanding property tax arrears in the NWT and raising the anxiety levels even more in the communities because of the notice that the government does have the authority to seize their properties and publicly auction them off to recover some of these outstanding arrears.

The Minister of MACA publicly stated here in this House that he will set up a working group to address this outstanding issue, but I have yet to see any action that has been taken to address this concern today. I have seen nothing happening in Municipal and Community Affairs or FMBS.

Mr. Speaker, I have a statement right here from a constituent of mine dating back to 1991, Mr. Speaker. It is coming up into the $20,000 mark. That causes a lot of stress for this constituent because he just doesn't have any money to pay any of these arrears. He is disabled. He has a large family. It is funny to note here, Mr. Speaker, that, on the bottom of these statements, it states, "note that your account is 120 days past due." Mr. Speaker, this is like 17 years past due. I think that this government's inaction on this issue is way past due. I encourage this government to address it soon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause