Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like the question referred to the Minister of ECE. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. The honourable Minister for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Income Support Program being delivered by Education, Culture and Employment, it is probably more appropriate that I respond to questions around that program. Mr. Speaker, apparently the Income Assistance Program is one of last resort. In this program, the way it is set up right now, clients are expected to use up all of their assets and all of their resources before any supports are provided. I have recently announced, though, that there are some changes beginning on September 1^st with the program which will allow clients to keep an increased level of assets going up to $50,000 from the current limit of $5,000 and you have a program that is going to provide increased supports. There is going to be a somewhat more flexible program.

With a case managed approach where ECE workers work with Health and Social Services staff as well as Housing staff, we are hoping that we are going to be able to find ways to more effectively deal with unique circumstances that families may find themselves in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, fortunately I was prepared in case the Health Minister didn't want to answer the questions. I was ready for the income support Minister. Mr. Speaker, my next question will be for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Will he look at addressing the shortfall that is created by this Income Support Program? The Income Support Program only allows the person up to $1,200 a year as little extra money that they can declare without it being clawed back. Mr. Speaker, my constituent's mortgage is way more than that and has to be paid 12 times a year. So what is this Minister going to do to make sure this family doesn't have to use up all of their assets that he has cited and lose their home because we cannot find a simple balance to work through this problem? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is just a point of clarification. The current rules of the program don't allow for a $1,200 exemption. The beginning of September the 1^st, up to $1,200 or $1,200 of unearned income can be exempted by a family. That is in addition to the $400 per family plus 15 percent of all earnings above that that can be exempt from the program. So the program is changing significantly from a program of simply last resort to one that is intended to better support people. But any program like this where government subsidies are given out is a balance between affordability and what people need. So the government has had to set some limits on what supports are available. We are quite confident, though, Mr. Speaker, that in any case we are providing adequate supports for families in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Minister would take time to look at this scenario and this specific case he would realize that this family is going to lose their home by these fair rules designed by the system. Mr. Speaker, because we do not exempt the mortgage that a family member is paying and this government doesn't pay the mortgage and fact that a doctor tells them that they need full-time care at home, that leaves no one left to go to work to pay the mortgage, Mr. Speaker. So when the father helps, they get it all clawed back so they lose any net gain they would have gotten from income support. The bottom line is, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister look at this specific case to find out what is wrong with this situation and find a balance to make it work so they don't lose their home? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, the Minister keeps pointing at September 1^st that everything is going to be okay, but the fact is this family is in jeopardy of losing their house. I will tell you for a fact today, Mr. Speaker, that if they sold this house to a brother, sister or close relative for $1, we could rent it from income support and pay the full cost of the mortgage through a rental program. But yet we can't seem to find a balance between getting help and solving this problem. So, Mr. Speaker, I want to hear a commitment today. Will the Minister go look at this whole situation and find some flexibility in this program so this family doesn't lose everything? In another month or two we will be covering every single cost, not just helping them here on this situation. We are going to lose and we are going to have to help them everywhere and this family is going to be broken up. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As things stand right now, the program is governed by regulations. Those regulations change on September 1^st. So the rules may change then, but I can't arbitrarily change them today. There is no flexibility built into the program that allows a Minister to do that under our current legislation and regulations. As of September 1^st, there may be a different method of looking at this program. In advance of that, there is no reason that ECE, Health and Social Services and the Housing Corporation can't be working together to ensure that all that is possibly available to a family in need is provided. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier. I want to say the Minister responsible for the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, which would be the Minister of Transportation, but for my arguments today and my questions, I would like to ask the Premier. Getting back to my Member's statement earlier, nowhere in the Deh Cho Bridge Act does it say that a bridge across the Mackenzie River should be built at any price. What the Deh Cho Bridge Act does is give the government the ability to negotiate, on behalf of the residents of the Northwest Territories, an agreement. But the problem, Mr. Speaker, is that Regular Members on this side of the House have not been party to any of those negotiations. The project has gone from 60 to 70 million dollars to now $150 million. What residents here in Yellowknife and the North Slave region want to understand and have is peace of mind. I think the government should come clean on a cost-benefit analysis on the Deh Cho Bridge project based on those current numbers. That is $150 million and that is $6.75 a tonne today and in 2010 when that bridge is going to be completed it will be over $7 a tonne. I would like to ask the Premier how come there has not been a cost-benefit analysis on the Deh Cho Bridge project with current numbers? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The bridge is a result of negotiations for financing, contracting, consultant services, oversight and so on. There is a whole range of negotiations going on. That kind of analysis is an ongoing exercise. Mr. Speaker, I give the Members assurances that that bridge at today's prices is doable for $6 a tonne in 2002 dollars. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is that is 2002 dollars. It is five years later. The cost of those tolls is going to be $6.75. That is in today's dollars. When the bridge is constructed, it will be 2010. You can rest assured, due to inflation, those costs per tonne are going to be over $7. Again, I would like to ask the Premier, where is a cost-benefit analysis of the Deh Cho Bridge project based on current factual information? That is $150 million. That is $7 a tonne. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am really disappointed that the Member is so reluctant to move ahead with an important piece of infrastructure here. Clearly, he hasn't seen the empty store shelves, the shutdown of construction projects because there is no material, the mines to construction industry, everybody being affected by this let alone the number of students who can't fly home at Christmas. There are no assurances and so on.

Mr. Speaker, when we come to negotiations, we don't negotiate this in public any more than we negotiate most things that are negotiable in public. We are elected. We will do the negotiations. We will assess whether or not it is viable. We will go ahead based on whether or not it makes good economic sense. Mr. Speaker, the bridge, as the Member has said, is roughly $6.75 per tonne for heavy loads going North in today's dollars, exactly what it will be 10 years from now or five years from now, I can't give any assurances for 20 years from now, but it is indexed. It was indexed based on a formula in 2002. That is all doable without having to ask anyone to bail out of the bridge somehow. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.