Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm quite prepared to look at the subsidy program as part of the income security review. That won't mean that it will happen this year, but it could perhaps happen in future years if Members of this House agree that that's where we should put our money. We have to keep reminding ourselves, though, that this program is not suffering because the cost of oil is going up. I mean, the people are not suffering because the cost of oil is going up. The program still provides them with the same amount of fuel no matter what the oil cost is. We provide the same number of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure that we can ever promise that we'll have a program that allows people to pay what they're willing to pay, because some people may not be wiling to pay anything. But, Mr. Speaker, the rent scale itself again is a question that should be directed to the Minister for the Housing Corporation. It's the Housing Corporation that is responsible for setting the rent scales. ECE, through our Income Security Review Program, or process, will determine what levels of subsidies are paid so that people will know how much they are going to actually have to pay no...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Members are aware, we've been involved in a review of the income security programs for all of our subsidy programs across the Northwest Territories for some time. But this government, when we transferred the subsidy from the Housing Corporation to ECE for delivery for public housing, made a public commitment that there would be no changes to the program for at least the first year. So we said that before April 1st, 2007, there would be absolutely no changes to the subsidies, and that was something that Members of this House wanted to hear. So we have stood by...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're hoping to bring in the federal government, RCMP, survivors' groups, to put together an interagency group that can develop the sort of action plan that the Member is talking about. I'd be very happy to, on a regular basis, make sure that all Members are kept up to date on the activities of this coordinating agency.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Members are aware, the Government of the Northwest Territories is working to make sure that we coordinate support services for residential school survivors. What we're hoping to do is provide a government-wide support system for emotional support, for financial counselling, for helping claimants fill out forms, if necessary. We want to be ready to respond to family violence, including elder financial abuse, and ensure that we're offering victim services. ECE has been assigned the lead and, at this point, a coordinating group has been formed which...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For instance, the library in the city of Yellowknife was built by the City of Yellowknife and it's run and operated by the City of Yellowknife. So what has happened in those communities that have libraries, the communities themselves have generally been responsible for providing them.

Last year, ECE helped six communities expand the services that they deliver through their school libraries to open them to the public. Where we can find ways to assist communities to do that, when we have the funds we're prepared to jump in. But when it comes to building a brand new...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As part of the Income Security Program, we are, in fact, trying to streamline all of our processes for delivering subsidy services to our citizens. I have committed to reporting to the Standing Committee on Social Programs as we work through that process. I'd be happy to commit to delivering the same information in this House.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will certainly challenge my department with that suggestion. If it would speed up the process, then I think it’s something we should take a look at.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that we're talking about two different things here. Right now, the LHOs are responsible for delivering the housing to clients, almost like a landlord. So they set the rents. The rents are not related to the income of the family or the occupants of the house. Each house has a rent that is established by the LHO. People then come to ECE, as they would in Yellowknife or any other market community, to get a subsidy so that they can afford to pay whatever rent is set by the LHOs. At ECE, it's not a question of how much the rents are; it's a question of how you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll put that on the agenda for our next meeting for discussion. But I want to assure the Members that the membership on this committee right now is at the most senior level. We're talking about deputy ministers and assistant deputy ministers who are actually involved in this now. I think that tells the Members the importance that this government puts on this sort of work, and I want to make sure that we're keeping it at the most senior level. So we will have the discussion, but I'm quite satisfied that right now this issue is being given the level of importance...