Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister doesn’t know that we make those policies, we make those guidelines, we make those regulations, we have the power. When an elder becomes eligible for a pension, no one asks them if they have spent every penny and sold their vehicle before they are eligible. When a business owner goes bankrupt they are allowed to keep their registered retirement savings. So why does the income support system require a single parent who cannot work because they are looking after their children to use up all their assets before they are eligible for income support and thus...

Thank you for that detail. What are the GNWT contributions to the Biomass Energy Strategy?

Will we be starting these renewals with existing funds?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to talk about caribou briefly. I know there’s a lot of concern from the Minister and certainly from biologists about the loss of cows, particularly from depleted herds through hunting. Again, as the Minister knows, we’ve had years and years of restrictions for non-Aboriginal hunters to bulls only. I suppose hundreds or thousands of animals were taken and I’m not aware of any charges for shooting cows. Yet the department is still letting cows be taken even from dangerously reduced populations like the Bathurst herd. Biologists will tell you that cows are the...

Thanks to the Minister. I know that the Minister is working hard on this. Unfortunately, it’s an inherent thing that I think even enters the policy-maker’s view of things and ends up with these policies that create poverty traps.

The Minister recently provided information in a response to a written question on the cost of running our income security programs. Income support spent $3.5 million to distribute $16 million. In comparison, Student Financial Assistance costs $660,000 to distribute $16 million while the cost of living tax distributed $21.5 million and did not cost us anything. Why does...

I’ll leave it at that and see if I can get a different response next year at this time. Thank you.

Thank you. I recall that now. It was the one that we had already achieved when we set that because of the recession, and I suspect that’s not likely true any longer with the amount of oil and gas exploration activity and mineral development activity we have, the number of new mines coming on. So it would be good to get an update. I know this information is not up to date. Perhaps the Minister could commit to getting the up-to-date information, and what is our plan. Are there dollars in the budget for renewing these strategies?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That certainly was the discussion at our level. Unfortunately, at the technical level, being privy to the discussions with the Utilities Board, I don’t think that’s what’s happening, so I appreciate the Minister looking in on that to see if there can be a correction there.

I’m very appreciative of this solar smart grid program. I think there’s some real potential there, so I appreciate the efforts. That was $125,000. I didn’t hear where the rest of the dollars were focused. Maybe there is an application or proposal program or something. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I cannot think of a single reason why Charles could not get the help he needs through a similar system. There is no difference between the cost of living tax credit and an income support payment. It all comes from the same pot. So let’s treat everyone with the same respect and help people get back on their feet instead of psychologically trapping them in poverty.

I will have questions and I will have more on this tomorrow. Mahsi.

That’s good news. I just want to follow up on one more thing that the Minister has heard about before and that’s our requirement for less than total return on deposits for milk containers. I know the Minister was interested or at least somewhat open to giving a full return so that we’re not discouraging the use of milk as a beverage. Has that been done yet do we know? Thank you.