The Minister responsible for Resource, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Kakfwi.

Oral questions. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Premier. Mr. Speaker, last session I had put in a written question asking about staff training participation levels. Today I received a reply from the honourable Minister Todd. Unfortunately, the information is a little bit lacking. I had included the graph outline of the information I wanted and the information I received, while it does tell how many people took government staff training, it does not indicate the amount of people who took it who were management and who were not management. Similarly, it does not indicate how many people took more than one course. I had specifically written in my request that I wanted the information of how many people took two, three, four, or more than four courses. What I am asking the Premier is if he could commit to sharing that information with me, since that is what I have requested? Thank you.

Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will make a commitment to the Member that I will review his letter with the Minister of Finance to see if we can give him the information that he requested. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This last reply took almost three months. Would the Premier undertake to do this a little bit quicker than this last reply took, please?

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Members know we have reduced our civil servants and senior management of this government. We have reduced the civil servants throughout the government, and are still trying to handle the day to day requests of Members of the Legislative Assembly. I have told Members of the Legislative Assembly before that approximately 50 percent of our senior management time is now spent replying or responding to issues or concerns raised in this House by Members. We will try to get the response to the Member in a timely fashion. I hope it does not take three months. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Evaloarjuk.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question will be directed to the Safety and Public Services or Renewable Resources. In my constituency of Pond Inlet, there are young people who are going to school. They have two adults and one non-aboriginal individual. The ice broke off into the sea when they were doing training. I just wondered whether the Minister responsible for Safety is going to be

assisting those people that are out in an ice flow. Thank you. (Translation ends)

The Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Ms. Thompson.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member's constituents that are out on the ice are being looked after by my department and I have been getting day to day information from my staff. They have used a helicopter to make sure that they are safe and people are not worried about them at this time, although they are out floating on the ice. The MACA staff is also informed about what is happening and they are being looked after. Thank you. (Translation ends)

Oral questions. Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that the Keewatin Health Board tendered a multi-million dollar contract for medevac services in the Keewatin. It is my understanding that this contract to date has not been awarded, some nine months later. My question to the Minister is when will this contract be awarded? Is the Minister not concerned with such a lengthy delay in the awarding of the contract and the possibility of significant savings once the tenders are reviewed and awarded?

The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am aware of the question because the honourable Member did raise it a couple of days ago with the Premier. I am not certain as to the reasoning for the Keewatin Regional Health Board's actions on this particular contract. In fact, I am not even certain if it was a tender or proposal call. I will check into the matter. I would like to say, Mr. Speaker, that the Keewatin and all regional health authorities have the latitude to make decisions where they think tenders can be called to achieve some cost efficiencies if they think there is enough competition to warrant some economies in putting it out for public proposal call, Mr. Speaker. I do not know the reasons of why they did, first of all, not follow up if it was a tender or in the case of if it was a proposal call. The reasonings might have come to light in some of the evaluation of the proposals that may have been submitted by proponents in the Keewatin region. I will check into that matter and get back to the honourable Member. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the second part of my question was, I asked the Minister was he not concerned with such a lengthy delay, given the size of the contract and the possibility of savings that could be passed on to the public in this time of fiscal restraint?

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, no I am not particularly concerned about the delay. If there were significant cost savings as a result of the proposals or the tender, I am sure the Keewatin Regional Health and Social Services Board would have taken advantage of that opportunity to reduce some of their operating costs in respect to medical travel in order that they could have passed on any potential savings into some of their other programs. So like I said earlier, Mr. Speaker, I do not know specifically the rationale for why any decisions would have been made to not fulfil or go forward in finalizing any proposal calls that might have been received by the Keewatin Regional Health and Social Services Board. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Just to remind the Members with regard to recognition of visitors in the gallery, the rule is pretty straightforward regarding it, with the exception of the 30 second time requirement for that. A cautionary measure; if you cannot recognize each individual within that time frame, then I would suggest that you just recognize them as a delegation because it would be unfair not to name all of them if you do not have that time to do it. Written questions. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to seek unanimous consent to go back to oral questions.