Mr. Speaker, mahsi cho. I, too, would like to say briefly that my condolences go out to all the loved ones involved in the loss of the RCMP officers in the line of duty. At this time I would like to say a special thank you to all the RCMP officers that serve us in the North. Mahsi cho.

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I would beg the Speaker's indulgence and I would also like to present my Member's statement. I am very concerned with the transfer of the responsibility of social housing from the NWT Housing Corporation to the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. I am yet to be convinced that this is a necessary program of refinement. It took us 30 years to get to where we are today in delivering housing programs at the community level. It is not perfect, but it works for the majority of clients and the NWT Housing Corporation.

The question for me now is how badly things will get screwed up before they get better. With apologies to Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, it seems to me, Mr. Speaker, that this initiative is on a four-year mission to blindly go where no man has gone before.

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Mr. Speaker, any time there is a fundamental shift in the way government delivers programs and services to residents, there are problems. Issues like new people trying to deliver programs they are not familiar with, employees from the NWT Housing Corporation having to adapt to the corporate culture of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and just general confusion of which department will be responsible for which programs, will all combine to cause problems for residents trying to access the social housing network.

For this year, Mr. Speaker, the plan is to continue with the status quo. The local housing authorities will deliver social housing programs on behalf of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. The funding to deliver these programs will be transferred from ECE to the Housing Corporation and will flow to the local housing authorities in the same way it always has.

However, Mr. Speaker, I am concerned with how social housing will be delivered in 2006-07. How will my constituents be treated? Will there be sudden changes in program eligibility? Will income thresholds be calculated differently? How will income support workers be involved? If support workers are involved, will social housing clients even want to deal with them? Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member’s statement.

Speaker: MR. SPEAKER

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude you statement, Mr. Menicoche.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues, for allowing me to conclude my Member's statement.

These questions and many more, Mr. Speaker, will need to be answered in the coming months. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment will have to roll out any changes to the way social housing is delivered in a measured manner over a period of time, so that people can adjust in a timely manner.

Public consultation is another issue that needs to be addressed, Mr. Speaker. I do not want to see the department blindly going ahead and implementing new social housing and income security policies without input from the people who access the system. I will be following up with the Minister of ECE in the weeks to come. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Speaker: MR. SPEAKER

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Before we go on I would just like to draw your attention to the gallery for one of our Members here. Robert McLeod has his wife, Judy, and daughter Kimberly, in the gallery. Also with them is Donovan Avery and Richard Ross, Jr. They have to leave right away because they are here representing Inuvik in the curling playdowns.

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