Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have three returns to oral questions.

Mr. Speaker, I have a return to an oral question asked by Ms. Lee on June 21st, 2000, regarding the number of establishments where room charges would be subject to the proposed hotel room tax.

I would like to clarify that the proposed tax will be levied as a percentage of the nightly room charge. The tax will be added to the bill of the individual staying in the room. The business will collect the tax and remit it to the government, similar to businesses that collect and remit the tobacco, fuel and payroll taxes.

Based on current tourism establishment licenses, there are 43 hotels, motels and inns in the Northwest Territories. We estimate that there are about 1,000 rooms in these establishments, all of which would be subject to the proposed hotel tax

There are 28 licensed bed and breakfasts in the Northwest Territories. Under our proposal, establishments with less than four separate rooms would be exempt from the hotel tax. There are 16 of these smaller bed and breakfasts in the territory, leaving 12 establishments with an estimated 75 rooms that would be subject to the tax.

The total number of hotels, motels, inns and larger bed and breakfasts where we anticipate rooms would be subject to the tax would be 55. The estimate of hotel room tax revenues was based on a 60 percent occupancy rate in rooms in these establishments.

There are also 47 lodges currently registered under the tourism establishment licenses. We do not have a room count associated with these establishments, but their capacity is estimated at about 800 persons per night. However, many of these lodges would offer accommodation for part of the year only, and accommodation in some smaller lodges would be exempt from the proposed tax.

There are also numerous other types of licensed establishments, such as tent camps and cabin rentals. We estimate there are approximately 50 such establishments, but the vast majority of these would likely be small or temporary accommodations that would be exempt from tax.

As well, Mr. Speaker, I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Miltenberger on June 21st, 2000, regarding the portion of the proposed hotel tax revenues that would come from government employees travelling on government business.

We have estimated that annual room revenues for hotels, motels, inns and bed and breakfasts in the Northwest Territories at about $25 million per year, The proposed five percent hotel tax is therefore expected to raise about $1.25 million per year in gross revenues.

Based on 1999-2000 financial information, which is not yet finalized, it is estimated that Government of the Northwest Territories staff on duty travel spent $1.5 to $2.0 million on hotel accommodations in the NWT. This means that six to eight percent of total room revenues in the Northwest Territories were accounted for by Government of the Northwest Territories employees. Therefore, $75,000 to $100,000 of the gross hotel room tax revenues would come from the Government of the Northwest Territories itself.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Floyd Roland on June 26th, 2000, regarding financing construction of the Inuvik Regional Hospital.

With respect to the issue regarding the amount of funding received from the Government of Canada for the completion of the Inuvik Regional Hospital project, I offer the following information.

Mr. Speaker, prior to division, the total amount of funding received from the federal government for the replacement of the Inuvik Hospital and renovation of the Inuvik Hospital was $18,880,000. Of this amount, $10,508,608 was retained by the Northwest Territories through the division of assets and liabilities process.

The residual amount owing to the Government of the Northwest Territories from the Government of Canada for the Inuvik Hospital project is $16,790,000. Of this amount, $3.17 million was received in 1999-00 and scheduled future payments are as follows:

2000-01 $5 million 2001-02 $4.5 million 2002-03$4.12 million

Thus, total funding received from the Government of Canada for this project will be $27.3 million.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize two gentlemen who worked at Giant Mine for many years and who were affected by the reduction of the pensions, Mr. Kurt Lehniger and Mr. Jim Wyley.

-- Applause

Welcome, gentlemen. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize two gentlemen in the gallery, who are among the people suffering from no action by the federal government, Mr. Romeo Berube and Mr. Lou Delaney. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize another gentleman adversely affected by the inaction of the federal government, Mr. Don McNenly.

-- Applause

Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to recognize a constituent of my riding and also people from the Inuvik region. I would like to recognize Mary Ross, Olive Itsi, and Ann Bokfurth. From Inuvik, Violet Doolittle, and from the Sahtu, Harold Cook. Welcome.

-- Applause

Welcome to the Legislative Assembly. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a number of people, citizens of Yellowknife, have given tremendous support to the Giant Mine workers' cause. Two members of the citizen support group are in the gallery today, Mr. Bob Haywood and Mr. Steve Petersen.

-- Applause

Thank you. Welcome, gentlemen. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Antoine. Welcome to the gallery. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I too would like to recognize Lou Delaney and the other pensioners from Giant Mine. Lou is a long-time friend, musician and a resident of Weledeh. I welcome him and the other members here. Thank you.

-- Applause

Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement today, I made reference to the concerns we have with the closure of the treatment facilities in the Northwest Territories. Just recently, Corrections Canada has taken over delivering programs at the Dettah treatment facility. I would like to ask the Minister, in light of what is happening with all of these different treatment facilities, especially the closure of the two in my riding, Tl'oondih and Delta House, what is the department doing to ensure the programs and services for alcohol and drugs will be available to people in the Northwest Territories? What are they doing about treatment programs in the Northwest Territories?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as mentioned in this House last week, there is a strategy under development at this time for mental health and addiction. There was also a reform initiative that was undertaken in 1996-97. At that time, it was determined that there are very many different alternatives and options for dealing with addictions. When we look at the statistics for the number of residential beds available for addictions treatment in the Northwest Territories, it is fairly substantial on a per capita basis. As everyone knows, we do have a fairly substantial problem on a per capita basis. I want to assure the Member the department is undertaking initiatives, albeit they may not be residential treatment options. Options are underway for community-based services. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, has the Minister considered the possibility of reinstating specific programs like the ones I mentioned, the child and family treatment program, or gender-specific programs for men and women. That was the initiative they tried with the Tl'oondih Healing Centre before it was shut down. Have they considered that?