Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of the college, we have been dealing lately with the need for a college facility in Inuvik, that was a large capital investment that we had to make. We also had to deal with some housing issues in Fort Smith that we need to address. Another priority that certainly is now being identified is the Yellowknife campus, both from a number of areas. One is the facility itself for classroom space, but the second is there are related problems, that is accommodation, parking and child services, Mr. Speaker.

It is coming forward as a priority. It has been asked, what are we doing about it? We have not addressed it as of yet, but that is because we have been dealing with the Inuvik campus situation and their accommodation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given that he has acknowledged that there are many issues and he said that it is a priority, I guess it comes down to what the most important priorities are. I am curious to know what the housing issues are that he is already dealing with in Fort Smith because I am aware that we have a massive waiting list for residents units in Yellowknife. I am not so sure about Fort Smith. I wonder if the Minister could speak to that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have some older units in Fort Smith that, as I mentioned, we need to also address as a concern, not to take away from the need in Yellowknife for accommodations as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess in my opinion older units are better than no units, but I am wondering if the Minister might be prepared to share with this House the waiting lists in all of the communities that Arctic College has campuses so that we can see where the bulk of need for student housing is. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can certainly share the statistical data that we can obtain for the Member. Inuvik, as I mentioned before, was a critical area. The old college building was the only location for accommodation. We made arrangements there for some alternates. Fort Smith as I mentioned has some very old units that need to be addressed and Yellowknife has a restricted number of units. We will share the information that we can obtain on this, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister in advance for that information. I would also like to enquire as to whether or not students who are local to that community are allowed to take up housing units. For instance, if I am already living in Yellowknife and I apply to the college, am I able to get into college housing? The same with the other communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The priority is given to out-of-town need, Mr. Speaker. That is certainly the case in Yellowknife. I will have to check the situation in Inuvik and Fort Smith.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my statement today, I recognized a few hundred people who are trying to quit the evil cigarette habit, but that still leaves several thousand out there who have not yet seen the light. I wanted to ask the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, what is the trend in smoking and tobacco use in the NWT, Mr. Speaker? Is it growing or shrinking? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the indicators for the Northwest Territories are going the wrong way, even though we try to come up with innovative programs like Quit and Win. Our smoking rates are still at least double the national average. Some communities, about 65 percent of the adult population smoke. So it is still a very significant problem in the Northwest Territories and it is one of the major cost-drivers in terms of cost to the health system. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This indeed is a disturbing trend. After so many years and so much advocacy about it, we are going the wrong way. I wanted to ask then, what we are doing as a government to challenger this disturbing trend? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are continuing to practice and engage in some of the strategies that have been there in the past, things like Quit and Win. We are involved as well with the Alberta Lung Association, with what is called BLAST, Building on Leadership for Action Schools Today, which tries to encourage youth to stop smoking. More importantly, I think there is the move to better coordinate with Education, Municipal and Community Affairs, Health and Social Services, and all of these other departments that have a common interest in dealing with people in the communities dealing with issues like smoking, that are such a prevalent occurrence, unfortunately, in the communities, and pooling our resources so that we can in fact move away from possibly just a too-exclusive focus on posters and that type of approach, and look to how we can pool our money with the Youth Secretariat and all of these other departments to come up with hands-on, practical programs for youth in the communities, so that we can encourage them to stop smoking, and pregnant mothers not to smoke and to have no smoking at home. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So on one hand, the trend and the damage done is increasing, but we still have not really seen that and say we are brining more resources into place to attack that. We are seeking better coordination, perhaps. We really have not grabbed on to this.

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask, in light of the fact that 25 percent of all deaths in the NWT are attributable to smoking, just what are the resources, human and financial, that we are bringing to bear on the tremendous damage done by smoking in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.