I am a little perplexed that, at this point with such a close deadline, the Housing Corporation has not seen the application and isn't aware of the shortfalls. I heard the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation previously discuss not wanting to set proponents up to fail, wanting to make sure, if we are going to provide our funding for any housing project, that we know that it is sustainable. I do not understand how the Housing Corporation is capable of doing that without looking at the response from CMHC and without knowing the shortfalls in the application. My question is: is the Housing Corporation, then, fully relying on the judgment of CMHC to commit their money? Have we done any review of the application?

Going forward, we are looking at the process. I don't want to sound as if the Housing Corporation is discouraging the application. I would really want to stress that the application is a federal application, and it is federal funding. The Housing Corporation did have a conversation with the Yellowknife Women's Society. We did come to a conclusion in that we are here to work with them going forward. I really don't know how much further to comment, but the application does sit as a federal application. The decision is based on what the Yellowknife Women's Society is asking. The project, I believe, is $4 million.

Going forward, I need to see what it is that they have been approved for so that we can work together going forward. I would like to encourage that the application that was completed, it was completed by consultant. I have encouraged the Yellowknife Women's Society to involve us in the process. The application belongs to them. It is a CMHC funding process, but we are here. We have supported them. We have met with them and, just going forward, want to improve their communication.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Yellowknife Women's Society has reached out to the Housing Corporation throughout this process. They have reached out to almost everyone in this House. There has been nothing but attempts to reach out to the Housing Corporation and work with them. My concern is: on one hand, the Housing Corporation Minister is talking about not wanting to set people up for failure, wanting to make sure we have a strong investment, which I support. Yet, on the other hand, they are saying they are not even part of the application process. There is a deadline on here. I do not want the Housing Corporation, once the CMHC has provided their funding, to all of a sudden raise some new concerns that should have been raised months ago. My question for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation is: can we set out a guideline of what our role is in making sure we can successfully get the co-housing federal money from the federal government? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I could hear the frustration in the Member's question. Going forward, looking at the process, I do find it very complicated, myself. I look at the project; it looks like it is almost simple to go forward, but it is the paperwork that is in between. It is federal money, territorial money, and looking at co-investment, co-investors, and to work with this project going forward. Right now, the Housing Corporation is engaged, and we are working on a process going forward and looking at how are we going to deal with projects like this and making sure that they are set up for success. Right now, I do have a meeting that's scheduled with CMHC to clarify a lot of the justification that they identified on the application, but going forward, I understand, and I hear the Member that the communication needs to be clarified.

Going forward, the Northwest Territories does have access to this co-investment fund that is sitting there. We do have other interested parties going forward, but we really need to be clear on the process. I understand that the Member has expressed that there is a deadline for this project to go forward. I really want to stress that the Housing Corporation is not holding up that deadline, that there are requirements that are needed on that application. It needs to be completed, and I would really advise that, whatever the CMHC has included in their details in their letter and their conversation, that it needs to be met. The requirements need to be met. As the Housing Corporation, we are there to support the application. I hear the frustration, but, as the Housing Corporation, we are trying to work and figure out a strategy of how we are going to be working with the co-investment fund going forward. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput, round two.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It's a good day today, Madam Speaker. The Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is going to make changes for us in regard to our T4 system. Can we try to work with the Minister to get a timeline and using her Minister's directive in telling her staff before April 3^rd, before this House is convened, that we have something in place where the LHOs could just start utilizing the income verification by cheque stubs in the communities instead of a T4 system or make it optional? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Member. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Thank you to the Member. I am not familiar with policy changes and how fast we could make this happen. The policy that is in place currently, right now, I feel that it has been accommodating consistent income. Right now, we have changed, and we are recognizing that we do have seasonal workers. Going forward, I need to be very strategic and very specific on making these changes, so, unfortunately, I cannot commit to the April 1^st date. I need to make sure that how the assessment was completed at first, that included the changes to the policy that we currently work with right now, what were the changes, what did they engage, what did they consider.

Looking even at the cost of living and what does it honestly take for our units to be maintained and for them to be administered, I want to take those into consideration, as well, because, as the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, we do spend $30,000 annually on the units; we do take care of the sewer, the fuel, the property taxes, the lease payments. I just need to make sure that, when we are calculating these rental incomes, it does accommodate the seasonal workers, just as we have made the adjustments to accommodate the consistent income earners.

In regard to that, policies can be changed anytime. Once the Minister has directed and once the Minister makes that decision to go forward with it, she can make change. Change will happen when she tells her staff to make it happen. In regard to it, I appreciate all the work and what she is saying to us and stuff like that, but again, we have to realize that, the housing units, we get $45,000 a year, per person per year. That is every man, woman, and child, babies, everybody. The thing is, the housing, they are substandard housing in my riding, anyway. They are 30-plus years old. We have some new ones but not enough. We are short about 300 houses in my riding.

Madam Speaker, this Minister could make change by April 3^rd if she gives a Minister's directive. Would the Minister commit to me about making change and using no more T4s or make it optional? Even making it optional, you are still doing the same thing, the department, but you are making it optional for the person to come in every month to show you that slip, and you will get the exact amount, what you are doing, instead of ripping them off.

I would encourage the clients in the riding of the Member to get into the LHO offices right now, do a rent assessment. Looking at the T4s, if they feel that they are paying a lot more and too much for the current public housing units that they reside in, that is an option. We do use the T4 slips annually to calculate their rent, to be consistent, but also there is the option to do the rent assessment. That can be done month by month, and it does not have to be based on the T4 for the rest of the year. We do recognize that we do have income earners who are not consistent throughout the year. I would really encourage the Member to speak with his constituents to get into the LHO offices in his riding and have a rent assessment completed.

I thank the Minister. Everybody in Nunakput, go get reassessed, in public housing. That is what I want you to do, please and thank you. It's going to help you. In regard to that, like I said before, the reassessments, not everybody has government jobs to go off T4s. All the jobs are taken in our small communities, and people are hurting; so if the Minister would come up and just say, "Yes, by this day, you can use your T4 or your monthly cheque to get assessed," would that be possible?

That is exactly how the program works. Bring in your monthly income, month to month, and get reassessed for that month, and bring those T4s forward -- sorry, bring those income slips forward into the LHO offices so we can reassess those rental incomes.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Nunakput, final supplementary.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Will the Minister commit to making this policy more flexible so that the documents used for income so that, again, I really want to make it clear for everybody, the T4 or a pay stub, to go and get reassessed every month? Are they allowed to do that?

I see that. You know I hear this throughout the Northwest Territories, that it's something that needs to be discussed a lot more. I think advertisement on the programs that the Housing Corporation currently has, but, right now, if the Member and their constituents are to get into their LHO offices with their T4s and their pay stubs, they are eligible for rent assessments, absolutely. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.

Masi, Madam Speaker. [Translation] I want to ask a question regarding children. They go through difficult times. They have a lot of problems. I want to talk about the treatment. [End of translation] It's been brought to my attention on the territorial treatment centre here in Yellowknife. We have a treatment for clientele ages eight to 12, for those who have emotional, behaviour, or psychiatric difficulties. Madam Speaker, it has been brought to my attention that, at the facility, the centre does not currently have a full-time psychologist on site at the treatment centre, and it has been almost five years or just over five years since they had one full-time at the site. When there was one full-time at site, it was well utilized by these high-risk clientele, these students or these children. Are there plans in place to have a full-time psychologist at site in the near future, similar to what they have had in the past? Masi, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Member is referring to the Territorial Treatment Centre, which was formerly known as the Receiving Home, and the psychologist services are available to clients, but there is not a resident psychologist on site, so clients are driven to appointments with a psychologist. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

That's the very concern that was brought to my attention, that the psychologist is not there on a frequent basis. Very rarely, a psychologist goes to the site, and by the same time the children are not assisted at the centre. The children have to be taken out of the centre. Those are just real concerns that are brought to my attention by parents and by Northerners in the Northwest Territories. How often is a qualified psychologist on site on any given basis, on a yearly basis? I'd like to know how many times that individual or that psychologist visits the centre.

That's a great question; something that I can't get back to the Member right now, but I do want to say that the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services, the Yellowknife region holds the contract with the UP Community Services, and this is something we can work with the contractor on to have a look at.

This particular facility holds most of the Aboriginal clientele throughout the Northwest Territories and a lot of them came from my region, as well, the Tlicho region. I'd like to know: what kinds of programs are available to these high-risk clients with respect to Aboriginal programming from a northern perspective?

The Territorial Treatment Centre provides specialty services for up to eight children. Currently, there are four in attendance at the facility. Right now, the programming we deliver to the clients daily includes recreation, cultural, and therapeutic activities, and these are scheduled throughout the week.