Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a number of issues that I would like to raise, but first I would like to raise the issue of accountability, and the department and the Minister appearing before us with her first full budget, asking for $175 million plus. It is an issue that I have raised with all the other Ministers, and the Premier's comment about there is no clear measurable way by which to make this government's Ministers and deputy ministers accountable for not meeting targets. I would like the Minister to speak to the issue as the Minister of this department, asking for $175 million of public money. Is she accountable? How is she accountable?

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Chairman, the Member is asking about accountability with respect to hiring practices. A good portion of the money that is received and distributed by our department does go to health boards for hiring nurses, social workers, health care workers. Our statistics, in terms of affirmative action hiring, are not where they could be and probably where they should be, but, as a department, we are endeavouring to address that. The bulk of the money that our department does spend on human resources is for fairly technical and fairly highly qualified people. As you are aware, there is an initiative within the department to train a northern workforce through our collaboration with Arctic College, providing programs for Northerners to access.

We have had quite a considerable amount of success in this. We will continue to work towards that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Miltenberger.

I have to restate the question so it is a little clearer. When I pose the question of accountability for the department and who is in charge, as you sit there asking for $175 million, or Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development when they asked for $70 million, the best answer to date was Mr. Handley's, who said very clearly he was the Minister responsible. It was his department and his budget and that is why he is here before us, speaking to the issue of accountability and the goals and objectives of the department. That was the thrust of my question, not so much the human resource side, but as the Minister sits here asking for $175 million. I would just like her comment on the issue of accountability in her perspective as Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Chairman, I misunderstood. I thought the Member was referring to the human resources side of things. As for accountability in general, the Department of Health and Social Services certainly covers a broad scope of activities. Much of it is governed by statutory obligation and responsibilities that we have, such as health insurance, hospitals, child protection. We have 27 pieces of legislation, including the Canada Health Act, which we have to comply with. I guess a lot of the accountability of our department is governed by statute and legislation.

As far as my own personal opinion of what accountability means, it is to manage the resources of this department so that it delivers the most effective programs and services to the people of the Northwest Territories, through working with other Members, certainly the Standing Committee on Social Programs, being open and responsive to the suggestions of the other elected Members who all bring their own unique perspective to this job that we do. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Can I take that to mean that the Minister then sees herself as responsible for this budget and business plan that she brought before the House, in terms of accountability brought to this Legislature?

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mrs. Groenewegen.

I am the Minister responsible, and that is what that means. Responsible. Absolutely. The answer is yes.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Chairman, I would just like to quickly touch on some of the issues that I will bring up under the appropriate activity. As with education, there is a significant concern about demonstrable inter-departmental cooperation that I do not think is there yet. I have a question about the package of information and the revised goals that were in the package. What I have here is a goal statement. I just need some clarification from the Minister or the deputy. It speaks mainly to children's issues, but I am not sure whether these are the revised performance measures that were promised. It talks about goal statements, goal outcomes and outcome measures. For example, children of the Northwest Territories will be well cared for. That is the type of performance measures I will have questions on under the appropriate activity.

I am somewhat confused as well by the package of information and the children and youth strategy, as well as the agenda for children and youth and working together. I am not quite sure of the linkage. As well, of course, the Minister promised to table the response to the forum, as well as the Child Welfare League information. Given that today is Tuesday and that there are only three days left in the week and they all link together, I have a concern that they will be tabled probably Friday or some such time, when there is absolutely no chance to respond and we will swan off in our different directions. The tabled documents will sit there until fall.

As well, of course, I have a significant number of questions I want to ask, regarding recruitment and retention, the lapsed money. Aboriginal nurses are begging for education leave, even though you are lapsing $100,000, the compartmentalization of that program. It is tied to education leave, these self-imposed fire walls if you will, between these different pots of money, even though there is voted in one pot by the Legislature. Why? Why are nurses not able to go to school? The comment about $20,000 and it is oversubscribed, when you look at the broad picture and the critical nature of the retention issue, it is something I have questions about.

So those are some of the major concerns I have questions about, but I will keep my questions for the appropriate activity. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My question to the Minister is in regard to the Aklavik Health Centre and the replacement of that centre. There have been some requests from the community where they were going to speed up the process, use the present ball diamond for the possible location of the new health centre. I asked this question to the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, in which they have not been able to clearly identify those dollars within their budget to look at the replacement costs of that ball field for the health centre to be built.

So I am just wondering, has the department looked at that issue and seen what it is going to cost to replace that ball diamond if you put the health centre there? Because the amount of money that is in the budget is $3,569,000, but it is spread out over two years. I am wondering if the actual cost to do site development is in there, for the cost of replacing that ball diamond. I do not believe that was considered when this budget was estimated.

I was wondering if the department has had a chance to look at that, in light of the concern of that construction?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the consultation for the replacement of the Aklavik health centre is underway and the Member is right. The existing ball diamond has been selected as the site. As far as capital or funding available for the replacement of the ball diamond, it does not appear that is something a decision has been made on, or has even been thoroughly contemplated at this point in time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When will that decision be made, so that they can move ahead with this project and can get it off the ground, hopefully, by early next spring, so we can start the construction? They cannot do anything until that question is clarified. So I am wondering, will the Minister make an attempt to at least get an answer back as soon as possible on this matter?

I did raise it with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and they were unaware of this problem. It is a problem for the community because they do not have any alternative location. The cost to establish a new field is going to take several years and probably cost a couple of hundred thousand dollars.

So I am just wondering, will the Minister make an attempt to get back to me with an answer on that with her colleagues from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, I will undertake to speak with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and discuss the issue of the use of the ball diamond site and what measures might be taken to address the need for finding an alternate location for the ball diamond. I will talk to the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs about that and get back to the Member.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My other concern is in regards to an issue I raised earlier today, about the whole question of alcohol and drug treatment. It seemed like there has not been a real attempt to try to find ways of working through the dilemma that we are in. Seeing what happened with the Dettah treatment facility being taken over by Corrections Canada and the inability, especially in other regions, to establish a facility.

There used to be two operators within the Inuvik region. Right now, neither of them are dealing with an alcohol and drug program, which is regionalized where you have the program. This is more to do with corrections again, but what do we have in place for the people dealing with alcohol problems in our communities, where a lot of people want to receive treatment within their communities and within the regions?

So can the Minister tell me, or give me an idea of when will we hear an answer on the alcohol and drug programs? The Tl'oondih healing program, which started off a number of years ago, all of a sudden had to close its doors because it just could not receive the adequate funding to run such a program, and then the closure of Delta House on top of that. Those problems are still there in our communities.

I know that we have money in the budget for alcohol and drug programs in different communities, but that is more of an administration program. It is not really the way to deal with that crisis situation. You have a lot of cases where you have mental health workers who may be called in, or people like psychologists or whoever it is to deal with these people. We need people trained. We need people that work within an environment where they can deliver these programs.

So I would like to ask the Minister again, I know I asked the question earlier this afternoon, but I feel that it is important that we talk about healthy communities taking advantage of the economics that are in the area. Unless we have programs in place to assist people to get their lives in order, make them aware that you can change and do things in a positive light and realize that these problems will not go away strictly by telling people, "Well, if you just quit drinking, quit smoking, that is the end of it". I, personally, do not believe that is where the problem is. That is just a symptom of the problem. The problem is deeply rooted in regard to social and economic situations that people find themselves in.

They hear that millions of dollars are being spent on lawsuits. With the hospital situations in the Northwest Territories and also the social positions people find themselves in, especially being unemployed and having that social dependency, in order to break that we have to have healthy people. I think, in order to take advantage of any economic situation, we have to make some investments now to ensure we do make an attempt to deal with these problems and not just leave them for the next generation to deal with.

So I would like to ask the Minister, what are they doing in that area and will they consider making changes to the budget, the way money is being allocated, to consider regional institutions? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mrs. Groenewegen.