Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's unfortunate the Member is upset. I appreciate his concern, but the bottom line is the air-handling systems to actually do this appropriately would be very, very cost prohibitive in our older health centres.

On a case-by-case basis we have worked with families to help with transportation costs. We look at every one. Every time we get asked to do that, we look at it to see what we can do, and in many cases we've been able to help families. Not always, but for the most part we do what we can to help.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is still a lot of planning to do and a lot of work that needs to be done. I'll have to confirm with the department when we think we might actually be able to break ground. Before we break ground, a significant amount of work does have to happen. We have to find potential partners; we have to find potential builders. We're looking at the H.H. Williams site. That building will likely have to come down before we get there. I will get more information for the Member to get as close to a potential break ground date, recognizing that a lot of work has to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is something that has come up time and again. As we move forward with new facilities such as the facility in Providence, the facility in Fort Resolution, and other facilities, we actually do include this capacity in those new buildings. We are not planning at this point in time to build an addition or a substantial change to the facility in Fort Resolution to accommodate that, but, as it moves down in the capital plan, we would certainly be looking at something along those lines in all of our new facilities.

In many of our facilities where we have commercial kitchens we have had difficulty providing a service of traditional foods, but this is one of the things we are working on in the Department of Health and Social Services, is to find mechanisms to ensure that individuals are getting traditional foods. We are always able to bring traditional foods in and cook them in the shared kitchens as opposed to the commercial kitchens. In many of our facilities we do have interpreters who can provide language services to those who are unilingual, and where they don't we try to make sure that there are...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in the previous Assembly, I was honoured to be the Minister of Health and Social Services, and I did have an opportunity to travel into Jean Marie at that time, and that exact question came up. We indicated to them at the time that we would be certainly open to some discussions if they wanted to propose something to us to build and own. We are still open to those conversations. I am certainly happy to work with the Department of Infrastructure, or rather have the Department of Health and Social Services work with the staff in Infrastructure to explore that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have that information at my fingertips. I will commit to getting that information to the Member and committee. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am probably not the best person to ask that. I am the client in this particular situation. I really cannot speak to the technical requirements around building or how they are building the buildings. Sorry.

Mr. Speaker, we have worked collaboratively with the city on a number of different initiatives. They have been partners with us throughout this whole process. They have taken on the responsibility of the Safe Ride Program. We have taken on the responsibility of the sobering centre. This is costing us right now about $1.4 million, to do the sobering centre and day shelter here in Yellowknife. Those funds are, as I have indicated, already core funding. We are not at this point planning to provide additional funds to the city for their Safe Ride Program, but we will continue to provide the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, a planning study has determined that the health and social services needs of the community of Lutselk'e can best be met by renovating and building an addition onto the existing health centre. That was a number of years ago; that was five years ago, when that was done. That was pre-me. There was another Minister in at that time.

The building is meeting many of our program needs. The building is in good shape. It does not need to be completely replaced. Unfortunately, this was in the queue many years ago, and some other projects have bumped it along the way. I...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I do take the Member's point about regular maintenance, and that is something that we obviously do try to keep on top of to make sure our buildings last as long as possible and that we are able to provide highquality services in those facilities. We will certainly continue to monitor all of our facilities. With respect to a vehicle, the Member did raise some questions in the House earlier this week, and it is not in this capital plan, but I did indicate we would look at it to see what, if any, opportunities exist, especially in light of the liability questions...