Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, not enough. I do not have the specific figure here. Mr. Speaker, my feeling on the smoking cessation program is that we must target young people.

We know that it is extremely difficult to kick the habit once people are addicted to tobacco. I think one of our areas of key investment must be in discouraging young people from taking up the habit in the first place. Members will notice, in many of our public service announcements and the ad campaign that has already aired on television, that we have engaged the services of young people to actually put that message out there. I think they have been very effective. I do not have the exact figure for how much we are spending at this time, but I could provide the Member with that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Final supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to get those numbers and thank the Minister for committing to provide them. I would like to commend the department for using the young people in the ad programming. I would like to know if the Minister will provide us with a draft or final document that we can see as to the plans that are going to be put in place if the dollars are there? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would be happy to share that, certainly with the social programs committee and any other Members who have an interest in the subject. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Paul Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services. As I stated in my Members statement, I have some concerns about the status of palliative care in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, we have an aging population. More and more non-aboriginals are no longer retiring to the south. More and more people are making a commitment to live and die in the North. We as a society have a responsibility to make our elders' and other residents' final days as comfortable as possible. This means that we need a heath care system with hospitals and staff that are equipped to meet the challenge.

Can the Minister tell me what hospitals in the Territories have a palliative care program?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am aware that Hay River has a palliative care unit. I am aware that Stanton does. I do not know about Inuvik.

The Member is correct in saying that we have an aging population. By the year 2018, it is expected the number of seniors in the Northwest Territories will have grown by 135 percent. People are staying in the North.

There is a vast difference between having palliative care units as opposed to palliative care health services. Palliative care health services are ones that administer care to persons that are in the last stages of their life. This is a field of medicine that is constantly changing. Perhaps through the local physicians and specialists pool out of Alberta, in-service teaching and training could be provided to resident Northern doctors. I think that about every six months there are new medications and new strategies for caring for people who are in the last stages of their life.

I think that this is an area where there is a gap in medical services in the Northwest Territories. I have had it raised to me several times by Northerners who have gone through the process of having a loved one who has passed on in the care of hospitals here in the North. Their main concern was making sure they were not in extreme pain. I think that is where the specialty is required. Thank you.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not believe that palliative care is something that is specified in terms of funding provided to boards. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the case of Education, Culture and Employment, there is a program that provides fiscal resources to education boards depending on the number of special needs students that it has. Could the Minister tell the House whether there are similar programs offered by the Department of Health and Social Services to boards who have palliative care patients?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe that the funding that is provided to health boards for acute hospital care would be general. It would not have any specific areas identified for palliative care. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Final supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wonder if the Minister could inform the House if she is aware of how many doctors and nurses we have in the Northwest Territories that have formal training in palliative care?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not aware of any resident specialists who are training specifically in the area of palliative care that are in the Northwest Territories at this time. I could make inquires of the boards to find out if there are any physicians in the North who have any special accreditation in that area, and provide that information to the Member.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to thank the Members for all of these questions today. I think I now exceed Mr. Ootes in terms of popularity. Thank you.

-- Laughter

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. It is not over yet. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

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