Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have stood up in this House many times to talk about drug dealers and the bootleggers in the communities and what this government is doing to curb the activity and the harm that they do to our residents of the Northwest Territories.

I want to take it one step further today and I want to talk about what this government is doing in terms of creating a proceeds of crime legislation, such as a Civil Forfeitures Act, like the provinces of BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec. What this act would do is freeze, take possession of or forfeit any property that’s used...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of my colleagues just made a good suggestion here that when we do seize some of these assets, that if we sell them that we can start building some compounds to store them, so that might be an option here.

I would just like to ask the Minister, in terms of seizing property, has the Minister looked at doing any types of freezing on businesses that run illegal activity, freezing either if it’s a hotel or maybe a restaurant, has he done any of that type of freezing in terms of the Forfeiture Act? Thank you.

The assets that would be seized, I know that storage has become an issue, but we also have some departments that have big compounds that might have storage space that we can use.

Would the Minister, seeing that is an issue he said has been brought up in discussions, would he work with other departments, such as Public Works and Services, Department of Transportation and possibly MACA, to see what kind of storage space they have in their compounds to utilize those for such property that would be seized? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Karen Wright-Fraser and I’d also like to recognize all of the Culture and Heritage Award recipients and their guests. Good job, keep up the good work, and also Mr. Charlie Furlong. Welcome, everybody, to the House and I hope you enjoy the proceedings.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve heard some really good questions from Members on this side of the House today in terms of how we’re trying to address the cost of living in the small communities and all communities across the NWT. We’ve also heard subsidies. Just in terms of heating fuel, this government over the last five years, including this fiscal year, has subsidized public housing units and affordable housing units to the tune of $39 million in heating fuel alone. We have residents out there who pay market rent or who also own their own homes.

I’d like to ask the Minister of Finance, seeing...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 69(2) and have Bill 33, An Act to Amend the Elections and Plebiscites Act, No. 2, moved into Committee of the Whole.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is correct in looking at alternative energy sources. A lot of those in past budgets, committee on this side had to do a lot of fighting to get some of those into the operating budgets.

We’ve got about 80 homes for sale in Inuvik. That means people are leaving and wanting to leave. They can’t pay their heating bills or their power bills because it’s too high. That’s 80 homes. That’s a lot of people leaving the community.

I’m not asking for a subsidy throughout the whole Northwest Territories. My Member’s statement and my questions today are specific to Inuvik...

Thank you. We’ve had this discussion throughout the elected Assembly with the issue going on in Inuvik with the LNG fuel shortage, all those concerns brought up before. My question was specific to the homeowner and small business operator and that they can actually get subsidized, so at the end of the day they have a few dollars in their pocket so they can get the essential services, such as food, that the Minister mentioned in his response.

Once again I’d like to ask the Minister, is he looking at some type of subsidy for the homeowner so that at the end of the day they’re not paying the full...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all know there’s a high cost of living here in the Northwest Territories, and the further north you get and the more isolated you get in the communities, those prices go up. The high cost of living in Inuvik is causing many hardships that I have never seen before or that residents of Inuvik have never seen before.

Last week we heard in the House that even though the price of oil has dropped throughout the world, we don’t see that reflected here in the Northwest Territories, specifically for home heating fuel. Why isn’t this regulated? Why don’t we get people bringing...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just in light of the events that took place last year in the communities that were put at risk and not only that but having enough resources in terms of manpower, I think that the motion brought forth that we have before us is a motion that shows government supports our forestry division.

I honestly think that keeping the 215s, we need as many resources as possible along with the 802s, and I think they would be more efficient in terms of having initial attacks with the fires. Having more fleets would also be a safety mechanism, so we wouldn’t put some of our individuals on...