(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rose today under Members' statements to indicate that I will be addressing to the appropriate Minister questions about the Sanikiluaq community centre, which is now too expensive and has been closed. This centre is needed. Mr. Speaker, I would like to direct a question to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. There was supposed to be an inspection done in the community on what needs to be fixed regarding the community hall. I would like the Minister to tell me the status of the project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a concern about the community centre in Sanikiluaq. As you are probably aware, the centre is currently shut down. We understand that it was over budget and was not able to be completed. I understand they are doing an investigation or a survey to see if they can continue construction of the centre. During oral question period, I will be posing a question to the Minister about the community centre in Sanikiluaq. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I stand today with regard to the rental scale. Mr. Speaker, the Minister of the Housing Corporation said that they were going to delay some of the introduction of the rental scale, but I know in some of the communities they have not delayed some of the process. Some of the clerks who are responsible for the introduction of the rental scale are having a hard time in dealing with the new rental scale, especially the rental clerks. It has to be recognized that their job is very difficult. But, Mr. Speaker, some of our communities have no idea what is happening and they have a lot of concerns with regard to the

fact that they do not understand the implication of the rental scale on their livelihood. We were provided with a whole lot of

material that has to be read and I know, myself, that I receive a lot of material to read.

For that reason, Mr. Speaker, they are starting to understand the process now but will require a lot more time to understand it further. During the times we meet here in the House, I have tried to convey the information to our constituencies. I even met with the Housing Corporation official in Iqaluit. He came over to our community and realized that the translated materials were not available regarding the rental scale introduction. It is not only the territorial government that is setting up the process, but Ottawa has also given reasons to start the rental scale changes. We always inherit problems from Ottawa so I think that should be explained to the communities as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good Friday morning. I can't speak as eloquently as the other Members in this House but, Mr. Speaker, I would also like to inform my constituents, even though we represent the whole Northwest Territories, that I won't be able to go home right

away next week, but I'll be able to go home during the weekend next week.

I would like to inform my constituents that I will be behind, but I will still be open to them if they have any issues or concerns that they would like to bring to me. I would just like to inform my constituents that I will be able to go to my community some time, not next week but the week after that. I am not leaving them behind and I am not just shutting out their concerns or their issues that they would like to discuss with me. I will still be open to them. I just wanted to inform my constituents of this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rarely table documents in this House, and when I do, I prefer to table documents that are signed. I'm sure this will be a great task for you, Mr. Speaker, to make a ruling on this. As my colleague, Ludy Pudluk, said, it's very difficult to support the people when they request support if they don't have their names on the document.

We have to represent our constituents the best we can because we were elected by them. Even though I've been here only a little over three years, many times we don't pinpoint one particular person. This, we rarely see in this House when we table documents. I think we have to set up a policy for what kind of documents we should be tabling, whether they'll be signed or not. Just as my colleague said, in the newspapers there are a lot of unsigned letters that are published.

Maybe we should be reminded that we think the letters tabled in this House should be signed in this House. From listening to the comments that are being made by my colleagues, I think that would be the appropriate procedure. I think we'll have to set up a policy as to what kinds of documents, whether they be signed or unsigned, we should table. We have to be careful that it's not aimed at one particular person in the public. I think we'll have to give this more consideration so we won't encounter so many problems. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The statement that the Housing Minister gave was good. If there were errors in Inuktitut and there wasn't going to be anything done about it...I'm sure the majority of the people didn't understand clearly and that it was going to take effect on April 1st. But, I seem to understand that he delayed it another month. If they already received the copy of the translation,

there will have to be clarifications made to let them know that if they don't go to the housing association office, their rent would be marked up to the maximum. This will have to be corrected because we all know the English and Inuktitut copies were different. I'm sure that they will have time to make the correction if they're given another month. Thank you.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We only have a small number of people who are trying to get their own homes. Do you expect those numbers to increase? Are you going to make it easier to access those programs? Are you seeing more applications through your new home ownership program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Up to today, we keep hearing from the Minister and from the public that there are concerns being expressed about the new rent scale. Mr. Speaker, I think people are becoming more and more concerned about what is happening as they come to understand it more.

We are aware that more people are going into the home ownership program and owning their own houses, and with the new rent scale, higher-income people will be offered new home ownership programs but people who have to stay in social housing are not going to be given access to these programs. Are the existing programs for home ownership going to stay in place? Right now, it is really hard for low-income people to access home ownership. I think this is becoming more of a concern. Does the Minister think that by offering new home ownership programs only to people who have higher incomes that it is being fair to people who are in the lower-income scale?

For example, if I worked and was in a higher-income bracket, am I going to have to go into home ownership? Do I have to buy my own house? Am I going to be evicted from social housing if I happen to live in one of the units? Or, are you going to make the home ownership program more accessible to people in the NWT? In the new rent scale, have you given consideration to those people who want to own their own homes through the home ownership programs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. It seems that the new rent scale that is being implemented on April 1st will go ahead. We all know people in public housing who have never had rental arrears, have kept up to date with their payments and who have been very faithful to their housing associations since they have resided in public housing. There has been no indication of giving benefits to those people who always keep up to date with their rental payments. The government is giving them a big rental increase. As the Minister said, 95 per cent of the people in the Northwest Territories have been informed and some people who have been away haven't received this information. Mr. Speaker, will they be notified by April 1st? Will the information come across to those other people who have not heard about this? Do you think all the people in the NWT will know about this rental scale before April 1st? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.