Mr. Speaker, I am not sure how I should answer this. I have every faith in Dr. Kinloch's ability to receive complaints or calls and explain concerns and be able to bring this to my attention and to the staff's attention. I have every faith in Dr. Kinloch's ability to be able to talk to people about medical matters. If the Member has some suggestions. I would certainly be open to hearing what those are.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank my honourable colleague for raising this point. What I was directing my comments to was dealing with the anesthetics and pain relief medication that may be administered; that through the consultation process the doctor and patient discuss procedure; that if there is any apprehension, certain medications are given to relieve tension and stress -- if there is any hesitation on the patient's part. What I was referring to was to deal with the fact that no one is subjected to an operation against their will without an anesthetic. If a patient said, "I want an anesthetic; I cannot go through this," they are not forced physically.

Because judging by the story that I heard, that people were holding someone down -- people on the street mentioned the words, 'torture chamber.' This was said to assuage the fear that procedures were taking place in the hospital against people's will without any medication or anesthetic. We do not do those things these days, Mr. Speaker, and that was what I was alluding to, and for some reason that just did not come through clearly. I was not referring to a person's choice of 'take it or leave it," so to speak; not at all. It was merely to say that if it was deemed that a great amount of pain was going to be experienced, anesthetic could be administered.

As I said, part of the procedure was to administer certain relaxants, certain pain killers, prior to the procedure, if requested and required, and in post-operative recovery.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is quite correct; that is what came out on the radio. I regret that that is the way it was said; but in the context it was said, I had said much more before that, as I explained the full procedure, and unfortunately the clip was 20 seconds of a two to three minute interview. I regret there are any misunderstandings of my intentions and my position on abortion. I have no intention whatsoever to pass judgment on anyone. I am merely pointing out that any medical procedure that requires the administration of an anesthetic, that in the doctor's opinion should be applied or should not be applied, depending on what it is, that if a patient requests it and it is medically suitable, it will be done. I was saying that no one is actually forced to undergo such a traumatic experience without some medication. That is what I was alluding to, and I apologize for any misunderstanding that may have been created by my actual words. The sentence was not long enough to include the word on anesthetic.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am perhaps one individual that will never experience that procedure. I do know from my days in social work that it is a traumatic experience under any conditions; whether it is something that a person chooses or something that is forced upon them through circumstances. I am very concerned that people may believe that we perform surgical procedures without anesthetic, and I want to assure the public that this is not the case. I also want to assure the Member that the information that I have, and my personal experience as a social worker, is that counselling does take place. Patients are informed of a procedure, how it is going to be done, and what precedes it.

I have only been through a couple of operations in my life, and I have been told before hand what to expect; and I would assume from what I know, and from what I have heard and what I have been advised, that this does occur or is supposed to occur. If the advice that I am told is supposed to be given to patients prior to an abortion is not being given, 1, as well as Members of this House, want to know that there have been some shortcomings. This is why I have asked the Stanton Yellowknife Hospital Board to look into this matter, to see that the procedures are in keeping with what is outlined and ensure that the public is left confident that the procedures that we do here are the best that we can provide and that they are in keeping with the standards that have been set by the medical profession for all areas. And if this is not happening, then I want to know about it so I can inform the public that we have looked into it and taken those things into consideration and rectified a shortcoming, if it has happened.