Sandy Lee

Mr. Speaker, I have not had a chance to actually go and see the facility and meet the Sahtu authority staff and leaders. I want to do that. I have not had a chance to do that as the Minister. Also, right now I don’t have the information on what their needs are. In order for us to work toward capital planning and capital projects for Sahtu, we need to initiate that process. I’m making a commitment to the Member that I will look into that and work with the Member on that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to just speak briefly to this motion, as lead Minister of the Reducing the Cost of Living Strategic Initiative. I appreciate the intention behind the motion and agree with the Members that we need to make sure that our children get every opportunity to grow up healthy and strong. As a government we believe that all of our residents should be able to meet their basic needs and already have many programs that help ensure this.

At the same time, Mr. Speaker, we know that economic pressures on our residents are increasing, and we welcome the opportunity to work...

Mr. Speaker, I know that the Sahtu regional health authority is new, young and vibrant. It’s working hard to bring up the programs and services in the region. I’m willing to work with the authority as well as the Member to look at what we have in the Sahtu and what we need to work on, not only in the programming but also with respect to capital planning. I do make a commitment to the Member that I will ask the department to work with the Sahtu to see what their capital needs are. There are processes, step by step, that we need to follow, and I’m willing to begin that process.

Mr. Speaker, I first of all would like to assure the Member that Health and Social Services and the government are pointing millions of dollars into the Sahtu region. I do appreciate that there are no substantial capital projects on the books for the Sahtu region. I’d be happy to see a needs study or an assessment of the region to see what their capital needs are and work through the new capital planning process with the Member.

Mr. Speaker, today we begin Foster Family Appreciation Week. This is the week each year that we take time to celebrate the important contribution that foster families make in the lives of children.

Foster families open their homes to children and youth, providing them with stability, guidance and nurturing. They are people who find the time and energy to give a child a home, to give a child a chance and to give a child a place where they can be a child. They are there to help, to offer words of encouragement, to provide the care and attention needed by all children.

These families are important...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member’s question, as well as commitment, on this issue. As I have indicated already, we have been able to provide additional programming at the Great Elders Facility in terms of facilitating seniors to use that facility more in day programs. I know that the Member and the community are looking for an opportunity for the seniors to be able to stay there and be taken care of.

I want to give the Member a commitment that I am interested in working with the Member on that and working on a wider proposal to go to the Standing Committee on Social Programs to...

Mr. Speaker, once again, YACCS has one hundred per cent control over what services they provide. This government provides funding for that. It’s not within the purview of this Legislature as to what they do in terms of providing food services to the seniors. I can assure you that those seniors are going to have a beautiful facility, and it’s going to be beautiful programming.

Mr. Speaker, as I’ve already indicated, I could give him a table of all the dollars we spend for all of these facilities, which we are glad to do. I know that these organizations were saying that they could always use more money. Now, I state again that I’m willing to work with the NGOs and the city government to resolve this issue. I remain, unless I’m convinced otherwise, that this is a municipal issue. They have the capacity and wherewithal to address that.

Mr. Speaker, I believe the Member is trying to say Signal Pointe facility based in Calgary. I want to tell you, and I’m sure he knows from talking to YACCS, that this new facility has three kitchens. It will be a beautiful facility. It’s a facility that’s very much required in the Territories. It will allow us to take our elders who are suffering from dementia into extended care, some of them for ten to 12 years. It will take care of elders who are being sent away from Yellowknife. It will be a wonderful facility, very needed, and the seniors will be very well taken care of. The Member should...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to say this must be a story of embarrassment of riches. I have to say that per square foot, or by any measure, this government — the Department of Health and Social Services, ECE, Housing, you name it — pours more money into downtown Yellowknife than anywhere else in the territory.

Mr. Speaker, we fund the Salvation Army. We poured millions of dollars into the Salvation Army, Bailey House, SideDoor youth centre, Centre for Northern Families. We fund the Yellowknife Association for Community Living. We fund the YWCA. I say a large portion of our capital funding...