Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I take it that includes both men and women. I know that each night, there are more than 40 individuals at the Salvation Army. I know that on some nights there are more than 30 at the family centre, which used to be the women's centre. So as I understand it then, we are only covering about half of the bed nights that are actually needed in the city. Is that correct?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will have to take the Member's information as correct and if it is, that is correct what the Member is stating. I will give the amount of beds available: the Salvation Army has 20 beds which is for single men; and for families at the YWCA, we have 12 beds; and for the women's shelter, it's single women, that's 16 beds, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister clarifying that. As I said, I know the Salvation Army has over 40 clients each night and I know the family centre has typically around 30. So for singles we are covering only about half of the field. I know we are short on the family side too, but it's gotten to a crisis situation for singles. Would the Minister be prepared to meet with representatives from those two agencies to discuss how we might move to resolve this situation?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would be most pleased to do so. I think it's certainly very worthwhile for me to do so. Additionally, I think we should also include the other Ministers who are involved in the homeless coalition thrust. We have an interdepartmental committee, Mr. Speaker, of ourselves, the Housing Corporation, Health and Social Services and the Yellowknife Homeless Coalition. I think it would be worthwhile for us all to get together on that to proceed, Mr. Speaker, and work on a plan for Yellowknife, as well as the Northwest Territories.

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

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister of MACA, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the interest of accuracy, I am going to take the question as notice so I can supply accurate information to the Member.

Thank you. The question has been taken as notice. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. It is with regard to the negotiations with the specialists. Mr. Speaker, in and out of this House, I have been raising some of the concerns that my constituents are raising, which has to do with the fact that some of the services that the specialists are offering, if they are not there anymore, it would impact the work of many other doctors as well. In pursuing this question, the Minister has indicated that I am not working with good facts, but I also have information right there that the Minister received a letter on May 14th from 18 family doctors expressing this view. Could the Minister tell this House whether or not he received this letter? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my next question has to do with the concerns I raised about the possibility that, at least for the month of July, there won't be any babies being delivered in Yellowknife because of the shortage in OBS in the hospital, as well as the specialist backup. He indicated that I was not being clear about my facts yesterday. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister whether or not he received a letter which was apparently cc'd to MLAs, but that we haven't gotten, a letter dated June 5th from the OBS department of the hospital? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first let me confirm that we have coverage for the delivery of babies, as I indicated in this House yesterday. We have OBS coverage. We have general surgery coverage. We have pediatrician coverage and anesthesiology coverage. The GPs have confirmed that, with the specialist backup coverage provided, they will continue to deliver babies in Yellowknife. If I had a copy of the letter... The Member is referencing letters left, right and centre. I get about 50,000 pieces of correspondence a year across my desk. If I had an opportunity to look at the letter -- and she asked me whether I recognized the letter -- I would be in a better position than to just respond to the dates and a hurried description of the letter. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Minister is receiving 50,000 letters a year, he's receiving about 1,000 less than me.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, given the knowledge that he has of the issue, why did he insist yesterday that I was not credible in the questions that I was asking?

I am going to rule that out of order. I think that's a bit confrontational. In my ruling this morning, I asked Members to be a little bit more diligent in the way they ask questions. I will allow you to ask another question, Ms. Lee, instead of that one. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister stated on many occasions, he indicated he was up to date on the specialist negotiation issue, that he was getting briefings hour by hour. So why is it that he was not aware of the fact that the OBS department will not be able to deliver babies unless they have a full contingent of specialists? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger, a good question.