Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the case of a community, if there are no eligible clients for a particular unit, what is the Minister’s plan to allocate for that particular unit in the community? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, if we have no eligible client for that one particular unit, as I have said before, we will try another targeted intake to see if there may be eligible applicants that we may have missed. If that fails, then we would speak to communities to see if they have... We have had community groups approaching us about the availability of some of our youths. We have said to hold off until after our application process. All that being failed, we have to... We will consider turning them over to a public housing unit, because that is one of our biggest needs in a lot of our communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The program continues. We continue to support the program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, that is good. What does that mean? From what I understand, there has been no intake in that program for the last year at least. There is, as far as I know, no planned intake. As far as I know, my research shows that

there is only one person enrolled in the program and they are coming to an end very soon. I am glad to hear that it is continuing, but what does that mean? Is there going to be a new intake? Are we going to put some more people in the program? This is a great program for transitioning hospital-based nurses into community health centres. The numbers show that it has been very successful to date.

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Member. This is a very important program, but like any other programs, it has to work within the existing budget. It went over budget by quite a bit, so our approach right now is to support students that are already there. We are spending $750,000 this year. We will bring in new intake as the budget allows.

Mr. Speaker, I have to say that I am very confused. Like I said before, I understand that there is only one person enrolled in this program. That certainly can’t possibly be costing us $750,000. If there is $750,000 set aside for the Community Health Nurse Program and there is one person in it, how are spending that money? It seems a little odd.

Mr. Speaker, I will get back to the Member on the details of where that budget is being allocated. The Member should know that there is a lot of cost associated with having a CHN. It is a very important program, but it needs a partnership from the authorities and mentors and extra costs in supporting a student through the program. I will undertake to get back to the Member on the breakdown of that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am well aware of the costs associated with running an individual through the program. I know the program covers a portion of the salary, but it also covers some training O and M. But I guarantee you it is not $750,000 for one nurse. If there is only one nurse in the program, I see no reason why we can’t have any intake on that program immediately. I would like the Minister to commit to reviewing the program and if there is only one employee or one nurse enrolled in the program, I want her to commit to having an intake immediately to put some people in that program.

The program works, Mr. Speaker. It has been successful and it gets nurses in communities, and 14 out of the 20 are still there today and six of those are indigenous aboriginals. It works. Make it happen. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the department and the government is doing a lot of work to put our nurses through our various training programs. We

just direct appointed a number of nurses. We support nurses going through this program.

Mr. Speaker, this year’s budget for the CHN Program, we have a contract with Aurora College for $460,000 and we spent $350,000 in salary subsidy for CHNs in their second year program. It is important that we support them through their programming, and we will be interested in taking on new students, but we need to make sure that we have the budget in place to support them.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to let the Member know that we support this program. I support this program, but it would be irresponsible for us to not pay attention to the budget. Mr. Speaker, I think we agree on the point that we support this program. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of MACA, the Minister responsible for consumer protection. It is regarding the control of payday loan gouging. I understand that a legislative proposal may be underway, the first step in creating laws to control these abuses. We certainly need action now. I am wondering if this Minister is moving forward quickly on this. Can we expect solid support from this Assembly for the fast-tracking of this law to protect not only Yellowknife residents but travellers from communities caught short on money when they are in the capital? Will the Minister confirm that legislation is forthcoming and that bringing this forward is a priority and perhaps confirmation on the status of that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Obviously this is a concern that we have heard on a couple of occasions now. Although MACA, through the consumer affairs department, hasn’t really received any complaints, we understand that it is still a concern out there. There is the cost of credit disclosure that is going to be introduced and that would compel the lending companies to fully disclose the interest rates that they are charging on loans. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, that gets into my second question here. I think there are two essentials for any law on this. The first is that firm and reasonable controls on the actual amount of additional charges, that can be attached to a loan agreement. So I’m hoping that there will be those

controls as well as the clarity and declaration to the customer.

The Quebec legislation, which is considered the most strong -- and I hope that is being referenced by the folks drafting this bill -- establishes a percentage ceiling that forbids additional charges exceeding a certain percentage of the principal amount.

The second one is clear language, of course, as the Minister has noted, so the borrowers know what they are signing.

So will the Minister confirm and commit that both of those will be in this legislation? Thank you.

I haven’t had an opportunity to look at the legislation that’s being drafted. However, I will commit to the Member that, as committee, they will have opportunity to have some say into what goes into this particular piece of legislation.

Yes, so the first was firm and reasonable controls on the actual amount of additional charges. So I will look for that.

As the Minister knows, it is a much more expeditious, faster process if those can be in first rather than coming to committee to, again, identify them later and go back, a time-consuming approach. The new law is meaningless, however, without enforcement, Mr. Speaker.

We learned in recent media reports that MACA officials don’t monitor lenders’ practices to prevent abuses. People being ripped off have to use the courts, which is difficult, costly, and, for most people, impossible. I’m sure the Minister recognizes this, that the clients often do not have the sort of capacity required, and that’s the same reasoning for how they are being taken advantage of.

So will the Minister commit to placing a high priority on bringing this forward before the end of the 16th Assembly, legislation that is clearly enforceable and the enforcement requirement to back it up is there? That may take approaching the people rather than waiting for complaints. Thank you.

It is our intent to have this...(inaudible)...legislation passed through the 16th Assembly. We do take all concerns very

seriously and this is one that we are starting to hear a bit more about in recent days. As a 16th Assembly, if this is a priority of the 16th Assembly,

then that will enable us working with committee to move the legislation along a lot quicker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment to this and I think it is something that we are hearing a lot about and I guess when it comes forward, I am wondering if the Minister would accompany it with some

information on the degree to which this exists in other communities. I know it’s a big one in Yellowknife and the people from other communities are being taken advantage of in the city. So it would be good to have that information, as well, from other centres. Thank you.