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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today my questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. As I stated in my Member's statement, Mr. Speaker, a number of my constituents were involved in flooding which caused a lot of damage to properties and personal items. This flooding did not wipe out everyone in West Channel, Mr. Speaker, but it did have a degree of hardship for all residents.

Mr. Speaker, even though not all residents suffered financial loss, this doesn't lessen the level of damage suffered by a few. Could the Minister tell this House how many claims were received by his department with regard to the flood in West Channel? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have the information the Member is asking for, but I'll have the department supply the information and pass it on to the Member.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would also like the Minister to provide the total of those claims that were presented to the department; the number of claims and the total amount in dollars that were put to the Minister. I would like the Minister to inform the House as to whether he approached Cabinet with a benefit package or a compensation package for affected residents of the flood. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. There are two questions there. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we did receive the total for all individuals and I have a total here for West Channel Village $66,946; the Hay River Reserve was $3,020; and the Hay River Reserve new village was $3,400. The overall total for all individual claims was $102,000.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My second part of that question was did the Minister take any kind of a compensation package for approval to Cabinet. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the recommendation the department and myself took to Cabinet was that we would not pay compensation. There was a committee established to review compensation requests. Their recommendation was that we don't pay compensation, and I accepted the recommendation and took it to Cabinet, and that's what the ruling in Cabinet was. We weren't going to pay compensation.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a letter also went out to the Town of Hay River that because of their good financial situation the department would not be reimbursing them any money for the expenditures that they incurred during the flood for residents of Hay River. Could the Minister justify why he would make that kind of a statement? Had the Town of Hay River been broke or badly managing their funds, would the Minister have come forward with some money at that time, but simply because they have good financial management they would not be reimbursed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Town of Hay River put in their expenditure statements at $18,885 and the First Nation put in $10,397 as claims. However, whether the town is in a good financial situation or not has no bearing on the policy. We would have paid if we felt that it was widespread and that proper steps were taken to prevent damages. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, clearly we will always have, as far as I can anticipate, far more problems than we have resources for. As the Member indicated in his statement, the alcohol consumption rates, incarceration rates and crime rates due to alcohol abuse and such have not diminished. We have not eliminated or cut back on any facilities. We've, in fact, tried to enhance the services that we do provide and we've done that with communities with money added into paying alcohol and drug workers adequately to bring on more staff and clinical supervision for mental health and communities wellness. So, Mr. Speaker, it's a difficult battle. We haven't cut back any resources or closed any facilities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe the Minister is right. At least in the term of this government I don't recall any closures of facilities. But we've lost some over the course of a longer history; for instance, T'loondeh in the Mackenzie Delta; Somba K'e here in Yellowknife and also what was called the Detox Centre on Franklin Avenue. So we haven't been replacing these facilities, and we've been losing them, Mr. Speaker. Is this an indication that residential alcohol and drug treatment facilities in the NWT are no longer a priority for our continuum of care? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what we've attempted to do over the last few years is focus attention at the community level with the increase in social workers and the money, as I indicated just in my previous answer, in terms of increasing the pay range of alcohol and drug workers so that they are fairly compensated for mental health workers, for clinical supervisors. We're working more closely with the existing facilities, we've tried to improve the services and the medical coverage, transportation coverage for the Salvation Army. Mr. Speaker, the fundamental issue is the personal choice people make to drink. Mr. Speaker, we will spend all the money we have and the millions and millions of dollars to deal with the issue of addictions and the results of the ravages of alcohol, but really and truly the fundamental choice, as the Member touched on, is how do we get people to make that personal choice so that we can in fact deal with prevention at the community level. As of yet we have not succeeded. Thank you.