Mr. Lafferty, I am going to rule your question out of order. It borders on a speculative question. I will, however, allow you to re-phrase it, if you wish, without putting the Premier in the position of having to speculate on what is going to happen here down the road. Mr. Lafferty, you can rephrase that question if you wish.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the aboriginal leadership is not looking to secure my vote as the Premier or Member of this Legislature. The aboriginal leadership are looking to me for my leadership and for my ability to be fair, and also to be forceful and able to stand in front of very difficult issues and to help resolve them. That is what they want. They want the comfort of knowing that I am going to serve the rest of my term prepared to help them, prepared to move along issues and they have the comfort of knowing that I will be there to help them. That is what they want. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Your final supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Mr. Speaker, the Member if fully aware of the answer to that question. I am merely the Premier and I have one vote on issues wherever I am allowed to vote, and very rarely in Cabinet. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, submissions have been made to both the Department of Health and the Standing Committee on Social Programs regarding the necessity of recognizing the alcohol and drug counselling profession and the credentials obtained by alcohol and drug counsellors. In addition, addictions, mental health and family violence programming must be recognized as a core service of this government.

Is the Minister willing to formally recognize the profession of alcohol and drug counsellors and their certifications obtained through their certification board? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we currently spend about $5 million a year on alcohol and drug services and we have alcohol and drug counsellors, both in some facilities and at the community level. We recognize that there is a need to better formalize the training qualifications that they have and the training that they need, and we intend to do that. We have a draft in with the Standing Committee on Social Programs that starts to address some of the issues raised by my colleague, Mr. Delorey, and that have also been identified in the Chalmers report. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister mentions that there are recommendations before the committee and a plan in place. Could the Minister give us some times lines as to when he sees some of these recommendations and actions being taken, and when will we see some action in this area? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have a fairly ambitious plan that stretches out over a number of years, but we would like to start pending final feedback from the committee and then going to Cabinet for approval. We would like to be able to start addressing some of those issues this year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister inform this House if he'll take measures to identify addiction services and programs as core services for this government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the action items in the action plan is to, in fact, come up with a core services list. Very clearly we will look at all the services we currently we provide. It has been acknowledged across the land that alcohol is one of the significant problems we have, both with health and social implications and impact. I would fully expect that that will remain as one of the services we are going to be committed to. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Your final supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister tell us if he is willing to instruct his officials to formulate a policy, rather than legislation, in order that sufficient time can be given to allow those working in the field to obtain their education and develop their skills in order to meet the established standards and practices for addictions counselling? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.