Mr. Speaker, it is not just myself but all of us in Cabinet who make every effort to ensure that our estimates on any project are as accurate as they possibly can be.

-- Laughter

-- Applause

Having said that, we have in fact had some discussion about the need possibly to have more detailed estimates of proposed capital projects in particular where we felt there may be some question about the accuracy of the initial estimates. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is further to my statement I made this morning. Mr. Speaker, every information that I have is that the operation of many units at the hospital are still at a critical stage. Everybody is still working extra shifts and extra hours to keep the system going and to keep it from falling apart.

Mr. Speaker, as the example I gave indicated, there is a serious lack of understanding on the part of the department and the Minister about what the solution may be to this problem. My question to the Minister is when will he stop looking at the computer database and listen to all of this technical information? When will he stop doing that and listen to the real people who tell him that the real issues are housing and benefits? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have travelled to 32 communities since last November and I, as well as the people who work in the department, make it an ongoing habit to talk to what the Member referred to as real people. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not believe he has addressed any of the aspects of the various serious question that I asked, which is that there are real people doing real work at the hospital, taking care of the people, telling them that there are not enough people to do the job. When will the Minister stop saying that he is paying them enough and that they are being competitive when the real situation shows otherwise? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an issue that I am aware of. I am paying attention. I do acknowledge and recognize where we stand in terms of salary and compensation and benefits. We have a document in the works that is being re-written. It just came through a review from the Social Programs Committee that will speak to some of the issues in regard to recruitment and retention, which will be brought forward to Cabinet here in the next few days, so we are looking at this issue very seriously on a regular, ongoing basis, not only in terms of making sure services levels are maintained, but how do we address some of the issues, both in the short term and in the long term? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while the Minister continues to shuffle his papers and defer action by having a review after review and study, I am here to tell the Minister that there are real people turning down jobs at the hospital because they cannot afford to live here. What is the Minister doing about it other than shuffling papers, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of housing is one that affects many communities. I know in Yellowknife, which is the victim of its own success, the cost of living is prohibitive, especially on the housing side. The Government of the Northwest Territories is not in the housing market anymore. We are trying to look at options to deal with that issue. I also would like to commend Mr. Braden for his initiative and some of his constituents in terms of trying to deal with what I see as incredible rent gouging that goes on in this community that makes it impossible for people to live.

We have to work as a government on this one, but we are coming forward with options through Health and Social Services. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not know if everybody heard it, but he said everything but answering my question. Commending Mr. Braden, that is great -- housing is a problem. My question is what is he going to do about that, because as he stands here and, speaking the way he does and not dealing with the issue, his staff is not answering any questions about recruitment and retention. When people go there and say "I can't take this job because I can't afford to live here" there's no answer. What is he doing about that, Mr. Speaker?

I don't appreciate him answering nothing.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe I have answered the Member's question. The member may not like the answer. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question would be directed to the Minister responsible for Transportation. It is regarding an issue that has been ongoing in my community since spring of last year when the department issued a request for proposals on ice road construction between the communities of Inuvik, Aklavik and Tuktoyaktuk.

Mr. Speaker, the department went out with an RFP that had two options that bidders could put their proposals in as, and from the information we have been able to get back, options A and B were not compared to who had the lowest option. A contract was issued. Since then, I have heard the contract has been assigned to another contractor. There are a whole lot of questions that are developing around this ice road request for proposals. I would like to know from the Minister of Transportation, what is he doing to clear the air around this contract? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct. When the Department of Transportation issued a request for proposals for three distinct pieces of ice road and offered the contractor two options to bid by it, it made for a very complex process. We have been talking about this one for some time and following up on the issues that have been raised, questions about it, I have asked the department to have an independent third party to look at the way we have awarded this contract. The department is comfortable that nothing was wrong, but we are going to have a third party look at it in any case to ensure that all procedures were followed correctly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister inform us as to when this review will be done and concluded? Thank you.