Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will look into it. I would like to clarify that particular road has been opened and is under contract to Robinson Trucking for the whole season, from March 1, 2000 to March 15, 2000. We will look into it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Item 6, oral questions. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct. Medical travel does represent a fairly large budget item to this government. It represents 4.3 percent of the health and social services budget, or $7,016,000 of our $167 million budget. Mr. Speaker, there are two types of medical travel: the charter, where there is an emergency medivac; and the scheduled airline service which are used by patients who are travelling to larger centres for medical attention.

As for the procurement policy, I would have to get details on that and provide that to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is the Minister aware of any policies or guidelines in place as to how travelling patients should be treated? Is there a policy the airlines are supposed to follow?

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Speaker, I am sure that there are standards, in the case of chartered medivacs, I am sure that there are standards of equipment and services required for patients when they are travelling on a medivac charter.

As for protocol for patients travelling on scheduled airline flights Mr. Speaker, I do not know today what those protocols might be but I could find out for him. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was brought to my attention when a member from my riding had to travel for medical reasons, that the pain she went through getting on and off the plane for a trip to Yellowknife for day surgery was worse than what she was suffering from. The airline was not very accommodating to her as far as making it easy for her to get on and off the plane.

I was wondering if the Minister could tell me if she knows of any other cases like that or the procedure that a patient can go through to raise concerns in that area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would be very interested in hearing the details of such a case. I am not aware of cases where patients have had difficulty with, it sounds like access to the airplane itself, we are not aware of that. Either through the Member or through the constituent directly Mr. Speaker, we would be more than willing to hear those kinds of challenges. Certainly we want to make it as convenient and comfortable as possible for patients required to travel for medical reasons. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 6, oral questions. The Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just have a follow up question to the Minister responsible for Transportation with respect to the accident on Highway No. 3. I asked a question last week about the accident and I have not heard from the Minister.

We do not have too many days left in this Session, and I wonder if the Minister could advise us as to the status of the cause of that accident. If he does not know that, if he could indicate to the House as to when we could expect to hear from him on that, hopefully before tomorrow.

I would just like to remind Members to ask one question at a time. Thank you, Ms. Lee. The Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe that I indicated at the time that the question was taken as notice because the Member was asking for some information that was not really appropriate for me to give out, because the accident is being investigated.

I hope all Members take into consideration when they ask me what caused the accident or what was the result of an accident, it is not appropriate for me to respond because in most cases these things are being investigated by the RCMP and there is the possibility of insurance claims and everything else.

Again, the accident is being investigated by the RCMP and other authorities so I cannot respond. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that the Minister cannot give us any kind of clinical, forensic or scientific evidence as to the exact cause of the accident. I do not believe that is what I was asking, Mr. Speaker. I do believe that the Minister, as the Minister responsible for Transportation, has the duty to know what is happening on that road and circumstances surrounding an accident that resulted in a person being transported to the hospital for injuries.

Mr. Speaker if I could just reiterate my question, I would just like to know, as soon as possible, hopefully before the end of tomorrow, the last day of Session, if he could report to this House as much as he knows about the circumstances surrounding this accident. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have asked my department to respond to those questions that I have taken as notice as quickly as possible. In some cases, some information is not forthcoming right away so it takes longer to get the response.

However, if Members want to know what the condition of the highway was reported in at that time, those type of things I can respond to because we require our highway crew to inform us as to what the conditions of the highway were at the time of the accident. So we can respond to those kinds of things. But to go deeper than that or to become more detailed, I cannot respond to those types of questions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Item 6, oral questions. The time for question period has expired. Mr. Krutko.