Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a couple of constituents in the gallery. First off, I’d like to acknowledge and recognize Dawn Lacey who’s up there, I just saw her a few minutes ago. I’d also like to recognize Brian Heppelle who’s here to follow our proceedings today. Of course, special to my heart and to the Premier’s obviously, Melody McLeod, who has been a wonderful lady to me for so many years. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to present a petition dealing with the matter of lifeguard services at Fred Henne Park beach.

The petition contains 412 handwritten signatures and 312 electronic signatures of Northwest Territories, Canadian and American residents. The petitioners request that the Government of the Northwest Territories act responsibly by providing lifeguard services at Fred Henne Park beach in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 1990 the founder of Gold Corp – his name is Rob McEwen – knew he was sitting on a fortune of gold but just didn’t know how to get at it. So he changed the world in an extraordinary way by putting the question about how could he get help from the world to find his gold in the ground. It drew out, I think, 110 quality submissions, but it drew out over 1,000 submissions at large. In essence, Mr. McEwen of Gold Corp was saying, I have a problem; can the world help me to find my solution? It was all based on innovation and how he was inspired by a product called Linux...

Publicly, I’ve spoken about numbers of value of prize. It’s not for me to say per se what is the right prize amount, but I think the federal government needs to be a partner in this solution, because as I pointed out, and it’s even been cited by the federal government that it costs $1.9 million to run that Giant Mine site in perpetuity to protect that arsenic trioxide so it doesn’t spill into the environment.

My question now to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources is: Does he see an opportunity here to engage in this broader discussion about a possible solution on innovation with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The public expects leadership from this government and many times they just don’t see it. They get frustrated when they see the marionettes in the bureaucracy pulling the strings of the political puppets. Many Assemblies have spoken about passion and forcefulness about how they can do things better. Those Assemblies, through them have risen Ministers who try to claim they are the leaders, don’t worry, we are the decision-makers, not fence sitters, Mr. Speaker.

The public demand something and when there’s a clear choice, some of these Ministers would rather sit by and...

Thank you. Well, the Minister can keep repeating I have an opinion and that’s fine. I mean, the public sees it for what it is.

My next question for the Minister is: Who writes his Minister’s statements when they specifically target areas to talk about, which is child and family services matters? In other words, who would have written that? If he doesn’t want to name the name, name the section or the position. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to return to the Minister of Health’s answers here and I wanted to continue to ask questions. So let’s break down some of the departmental response in the Auditor General’s report. For the record, we all know in this building that the policies and procedures manual has been worked on for at least eight years. So, in other words, it makes it clear and relevant that everyone knows what’s going on, but I’ll save the questions of why didn’t they act sooner for the appropriate committee that will be reviewing the report line by line, and I’m speaking broadly, not...

The answers provided by the departments are very, I don’t know how to describe it, are exceptionally similar to the answers provided in the Auditor General’s report. So I would say this: Why are they identical? Only the Minister can answer this and if he wants to continue to dodge and try to play games about, oh well, it’s this or it’s this, and now the Member hasn’t read the report, he can play games, but the public can see this. The fact is there’s zero accountability on this and they’re getting ahead of the Auditor General, which breaks the spirit and the intent of consensus government and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Health Minister will tell you he does not have early access to the Auditor General’s report. Of course, he’ll probably tell you it’s all arm’s length, and of course, he doesn’t know anything about it until it’s tabled by yourself, Mr. Speaker. This is a paradox that now sits before this House.

Can the Minister of Health explain why the wording in the Minister’s statement given on February 25th of this year mimics much of the wording in the report tabled by yourself, Mr. Speaker, yesterday, and the report I’m referring to is the Auditor General’s report. Is this a...

That is fine, Mr. Chairman, I just thought it was important because it was an issue that came up, and as I mentioned, it’s surprising how many seniors watch our proceedings and certainly read our Hansard. I guess they just love watching us and following us, so maybe that’s…(inaudible)… But that said, on a serious note, that was a real question brought forward and I thought it would be nice to hear it from the department and officials. Thank you.