Mahsi. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Premier and the Ministers, we take every opportunity we have to engage with the Prime Minister and the federal Ministers on issues like the Nutrition North program. We are fortunate that this term we have a Member of Parliament who is part of the governing body, and we also have a Minister from Nunavut who understands the food problems that Northerners in isolated communities face. We also know that the program is being reviewed, and we’re hopeful that positive changes are coming. We continue to lobby the federal government to follow through on their promise to increase the northern allowance by 33 per cent and hope to see it in this year's budget that is being tabled on March 22. This change, should it come through, will result in Northerners having more money in their pockets come tax time next year.

In my Member's statement today I also spoke of the high cost of fuel to heat our homes and to pursue traditional on-the-land activities like hunting and fishing, activities which can help residents lower the cost of living and eat healthy. Can the Minister tell us what the government is doing to lower the cost of fuel in our communities that are represented?

The cost of fuel is one that this government has taken immediate action on to lower the cost of living in the communities served by the Petroleum Products Division. The Minister of Public Works and Services announced on Tuesday that, effective February 5, the price of home heating oil was reduced by $0.09 a litre in Paulatuk, $0.07 a litre in Sachs Harbour, and $0.08 a litre in Ulukhaktok. With this reduction, heating oil prices in these communities have been reduced by approximately 20 per cent over the last year. We recognize that the cost of heating fuel and gasoline in our smaller communities is a great concern to residents. It was also announced by the Minister of Public Works and Services on Tuesday that the department will be closely monitoring the prices of fuel that is delivered over the coming months and passing any further reductions onto residents as soon as possible. The reductions in the gas prices have been a little less. They've been five per cent over the last year, but if the current prices remain, then we should be able to pass those savings on to the community residents as well. For the members of other communities, Tuktoyaktuk is considered a market community; the Petroleum Products Division does not operate in the community of Tuktoyaktuk. Through the NWT Housing Corporation, our home heating costs for public housing are subsidized at about $9 million a year, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources provides funding through the Community Harvesters Assistance Program, funds that can be used to offset the fuel costs for harvesters.

Can the Minister of Finance outline what other plans this government has to lower the costs of living for residents of the Northwest Territories, especially residents of Nunakput who face the highest costs?

Lowering the cost of living is one of the agreed-on priorities of this Assembly. In addition to the efforts that I’ve outlined earlier in this exchange, all of the departments are being tasked with examining their business plans to look for opportunities to lower the cost of living for NWT residents. I expect that we will have some proposals that we will be able to put in front of committee during the business planning review that should help. We continue to encourage people to move north to grow our population. This helps with our Territorial Formula Financing, and the more money we have means more money that we can spend on new programs to reduce the cost of living. We also have to look internally at reducing government spending in the near term so we can have the money to invest in programs that can help lower the cost of living for all Northerners, especially those in our isolated communities like the ones my colleague represents.