Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the O and M requirements will go ahead concurrently with the capital project. It will be identified in the business plans and the budget for that year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in my opinion, we will be able to provide the same level of service that the calibre of staff that work on the floor with the kids is available in Hay River. It is available now in Fort Smith and Inuvik. We also invest in training northerners. Yellowknife is not the only jurisdiction or community that has the capacity to look after children; children, many of which, don't come from Yellowknife. The quality of education in Hay River, I would suggest, is as good as it is in Yellowknife. The access to specialist services is the one difference, and it's about...

Yes, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On the consolidated clinic piece, we are working towards bringing forward that plan in time for the 2007-08 budget. The intent, of course, is as well everything falls to the new Legislature. They will make the decisions. As a system, we are going to have a plan in place, a strategic action plan, that is going to take us at least to 2010. These key pieces will be built in. My assumption is that they will make such good sense to the 16th Legislature that they will be carried on with and the work will continue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member raises a very good point. Mammography services are available in Yellowknife. Women get referred here. As well, in the South Slave area, there have been arrangements made with Alberta with their mobile mammography equipment to come through the communities. That is, as well, still available. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We, at this point, between our own funding and available federal funding, invest in the neighbourhood of about $7 million for homecare. We see this as an area of continued investment that is identified across Canada as a service that has tremendous benefits that can keep people in their own homes and out of facilities that are very expensive to run. We are working to expand the support we can provide in the communities to work with the individuals, to help them stay in their own homes as long as possible to provide respite care services to adults. There is a whole...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member, for the most part, is correct. Historically, cancer rates in the Northwest Territories have been lower than the national average. They are, however, on the increase and moving towards the national average. I don’t have the specific statistics right before me, but if my memory serves me correctly, for example, the issue of colorectal cancer is not at, or slightly above the national average. For the most part, a lot of the cancers are still below the national average but moving up. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the issue that the Member raises is a very good one; well, it’s not a good one, but it’s a very difficult, complex issue. What we have had working together is the social envelope Ministers, which are Housing; Education, Culture and Employment; Health and Social Services; Justice; and Municipal and Community Affairs. We’ve put in a supplementary appropriation for this winter to deal with the issue of those folks over the course of the winter that have no place to stay periodically. I recognize that the hard to house is an ongoing problem and it is with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, very clearly we are of the strong opinion that the numbers indicate that we have a problem we have to address very, very quickly and carefully. All the boards up and down the valley have accepted that information. There is some question and some people that would like to have the numbers redone, and we'd like to confirm them, as well, just to make sure that our numbers are accurate. So there is a problem, and I can assure the Member that we are going to move on this. We've been working on it now for many months to come up with the interim measures plus...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's not enough time during this forum for me to outline all the things that we are doing, but I'd like to reassure the Member that we are doing we think all that is required. We're going to be coming forward here by the 15th with a whole slate of interim measures; we're looking at redoing the census numbers this coming year and the following year; we've been working very, very closely with all the renewable resource boards up and down the valley and, as well, our partner jurisdictions to look at making sure we have the accurate information, keeping in...