Again, I do appreciate the Minister giving a great policy statement on how good things are, and I appreciate the fact that there are great things on the horizon. But I asked a question, which was did we clean up the mess, and I didn’t quite think that the Members here nor, I think, the people of the Northwest Territories received that response.

But interestingly enough, one only has to Google key words like GNWT, Retailer’s Club and polar ice diamonds and see that we have today companies like Basal Diamond out of Montreal still selling our alleged government certified polar diamonds. Can the Minister explain how is it this retailer is still linking their products to our defunct government certification program?

I thank the Member for bringing that to our attention, and I’ll certainly have the diamond policy folks at ITI act on that immediately. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister for saying that. I’d also recommend they do a full sweep. There were many more out there in cyberspace.

I believe that it is paramount that the GNWT have a solid secondary diamond industry strategy and policy framework from which to rebuild this international brand. When can we expect the Minister to show to the Members and to industry that we, indeed, have such a roadmap?

Mr. Speaker, I spoke earlier of the Diamond Policy Framework that the

last government brought in, one that I pushed very hard to see happen. If the Regular Members want the government to take another look at the Diamond Policy Framework, I would be more than happy to work with the chair of the EDI and the EDI committee to see that through.

Certainly, from where I stand, the previous government did a lot of work in this area. The Diamond Policy Framework is there and it states quite clearly what we need to do and how we are to go about seeking that investment, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re getting out there, seeking investment. We want a vibrant secondary industry. We want that value added. As I said, as things progress here, we’ll certainly be keeping Members apprised of what is happening.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve been dealing with the infrastructure people at Health and Social Services, and I’ve recognized that we’re, I think, at the very, very initial stages of looking at the health centre replacement in Fort Simpson. I don’t think it’s scheduled to be replaced within the next five years. Thank you.

Maybe I’ll ask the Health Minister to provide me the detail. I know that we have scheduled some planning study. I think it was for ‘13-14. If the Minister can confirm that, because I know that the facility did get an assessment by Public Works and Services saying that the planning study must be started soon.

Within the planning study, the department has allocated somewhere between $250,000 and $300,000 to complete a planning study. The planning study is scheduled to be finished by March 31st , this year.

If I can ask the Minister to provide me as much detail as he can with regard to the planning study, because I don’t want to be in a situation where we got… I heard through the grapevine that some beds might be reduced or we may not get a replacement facility but a much smaller facility. If the Minister can provide me as much detail, I’d like to see that.

I can keep the Member in the loop. There is no issue there. I’m hoping that this is a facility that will retain at least the number of beds that are in there, whether it’s the acute care or the long-term care beds, that the facility will be at least the size of the facility that is there now. Because the population of the people all across the country is not… The population is getting older and we do need that facility to be up to pace and not scheduled to go down. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Once again, I would like to see any planning studies or anything the Minister can share with me before the March 31st completion date, I

would really appreciate it, as well as hopefully have an opportunity to come visit Nahendeh during that time as well. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, if the planning study is on schedule, is completed by March 31st , I will provide the planning study to the

Member. I can also have the people responsible for the planning study engage the Member. Yes, after March 31st and we’ve had an opportunity to review

the planning study, I will accompany the Member to his riding. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently we have had some changes in some of our policies and programs relative to seniors, some of the criteria for our programs for seniors. One of them, for instance, is that we are now charging rent for seniors. We have a rent scale for seniors in public housing.

I have some questions today for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. With the changes that have come into place, now that seniors are paying rent in our public housing, I’d like to ask the Minister how the income levels are set which determine the rent that a senior will pay in any month. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Member to repeat her question, if you don’t mind.

Certainly, I am happy to. With the changes that have taken place with regard to rent scales, now that seniors are paying rent in public housing, I’d like to know from the Minister how the

income levels are set which determine the rent that a senior will pay in any one month. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the income levels for the seniors are whatever household income that they bring in with all the different types of income that they are eligible for. As well, we have a $1,000 exemption for the seniors. So $1,000 is exempted from determining their rent that they pay. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for that. Most of our seniors in the NWT are on a fixed income. If they are on a pension, then they are on a fixed income and it changes very little. But courtesy of the federal government, the Government of Canada, periodically we get pension income increases due to inflation over time and there are adjustments to people’s incomes. So when a senior’s income increases beyond a certain level and puts them into a second level for their assessment of rent, I’d like to know whether or not when we know that seniors’ pension incomes are changing upwards, are the levels that are used to assess seniors’ rent also adjusted for inflation over time. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the income levels for seniors, especially those that are on a very fixed income, the rent assessment won’t change very much. We do have a scale where they are allowed to get up to a certain amount in increases before the rent changes. With the small increases they get with pensions especially, that really doesn’t affect the minimum rent or the rent that they will be paying. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.