Thank you. Mr. Martin.

Thank you, Mr. Martin. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, is the vice president saying that the tenants will be paying their full power, full residential rates, as all living in residences? Does that mean they're paying their power from now moving forward as of 2018-2019? Thank you. Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the idea is that residents would be paying their full power, which would be at residential rates, which would actually be more economically viable, but the important thing to also recognize is that we're just currently looking at the rent that we are charging within the zones. We'll be taking that into consideration and that's one of the policy renewals that we're doing just currently at this time.

The goal is not to make people poor. The goal is to actually make people more energy efficient and responsible for their electricity and to realize that there is a cost. The cost of the power will be considered when we do the new rent assessments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that's not good news. Mr. Chair, I guess I often wondered because I don't get into the bills and so on, but I often wondered why so many people were having such a difficult time maintaining their power account, but it's so expensive in the small communities that it's difficult for the people to afford power. I felt that a user pay of a certain amount, like a flat rate for all user use, and I don't know, whether it be nine cents and whatever it was heading to was sufficient to govern the people to make sure that they are reducing their power usage, but it is not good news to hear that individuals this year, in addition to all of the difficult times -- we have heard in the House today about people appearing in front of the rental officer for non-payment of rent, and now they are probably going to be losing their power meters, at no fault to anyone, but just that people can't afford more bills in the communities. We can't afford more bills in the communities until there are more jobs.

People are, I think, going to have a real difficult time with this. I think we are going to see some serious issues here if people start paying all of their power, but that is just more commentary, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you. Would the Minister like to respond?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Like I said, the goal is not to make people live in poverty. That is not what my goal is. We have done, over the years, a lot of investment into alternative energy and things like solar in our units and putting LED light bulbs in all of our public housing units, and those are things that should bring down the costs.

In some communities, people are only paying $70 a month. I understand that that is all they can afford, but the reality is that, down south, people are paying 25 per cent of their income towards public housing. We are charging people between 4 per cent of their income to 19 per cent is our cap. I recognize that it is difficult for people, but we are one of the most generous provinces in Canada. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we shouldn't be compared to other jurisdictions at all. There are jurisdictions where it is common, right across entire provinces, to have 70 per cent employment rates across the provinces. In addition to that, the social housing program is designed for divestment, and it is targeted to divesting in the provinces, which is easy to do. There are many jobs down there. People are able to take over their public housing.

This government is initially trying to divest some units right now, 60 units, in fact, and now we are going to make it even more difficult for people to be able to afford to operate their house. We are going to have people evicted right across the territory if people are asked to pay all of their power.

It is generous to say that people are paying 4 per cent of their income to pay for their rent, but if the 96 per cent that they have left can't afford to feed them, then it's not so generous. At one point, seniors didn't pay anything, and seniors certainly didn't pay for power. That was reversed a few years ago. Seniors are paying. Now we are saying that poor people who are in public housing are now going to start paying power. I don't think this is going to be a good move going forward by the government. Sorry. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's all I have to say.

Thank you. Next, Ms. Green is on my list. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I want to just follow up on a couple of responses that I heard here this afternoon. What I recall about the LHOs is that some of them had considerable surpluses, and some of them didn't have surpluses at all. How is this cut going to be applied? What is the methodology? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Martin.

Thank you. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. With respect to the current situation, which is making the cut, do I understand correctly that 2 per cent is going to be cut from every LHO, whether the LHO has a $10 surplus or $1 million surplus? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Martin.

Thank you, Mr. Martin. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Further to that point, the Yellowknife Housing Authority had a fairly significant surplus, which they wanted to spend on creating more housing for their extensive waiting list. Has the Housing Corporation come to an agreement with the Yellowknife Housing Authority about how that money can be spent? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we have worked with the Yellowknife local housing organization. They are using a lot of surplus, actually, to build an eight-plex within Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Chair.