Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to speak about a project that is very important to the residents of Nahendeh, which is a replacement of the Fort Simpson Health Centre.
This item has been bumped from the capital item for another year. I just want to make note of that. I understand that it is tentatively on the books for planning in 2013-2014 with construction beginning in 2014-2015. I want to make sure to keep to that schedule.
There has been a patchwork of renovations and retrofits that have kept it running over the years but these are band-aid solutions, and expensive ones at that. The facility is nearing the end of its useful life and now it needs to be replaced.
There’s an essential piece of infrastructure not only for the village of Fort Simpson but for the entire Nahendeh region. The current health centre has a laboratory, X-ray, sterilization equipment, OBS, pharmacy room, two emergency rooms and five clinic rooms. In planning for the new centre, it is critical that we include all these same components so that the level of service is not downgraded in any way.
A few months from now we will be starting the process of reviewing the 2012-2013 Capital Estimates and I want to assure my constituents that I’ll be fighting to ensure that the planning dollars for this new Fort Simpson Health Centre are included in that budget so that construction can go ahead in the following year.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
