Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we take any issues into consideration of the homeowners and the people who are going to be receiving the units. If they bring the issues to the attention of our district office or to our LHOs or to a tenant relations officer or somebody in the area of housing who has responsibility for some of these projects, we would certainly take it very seriously and respond accordingly. We need more eyes than what we can offer a lot of times. If there are people receiving units, we certainly have to ensure that their concerns are met and we can take the Member's recommendation to respond and put high importance on it. We do that now and would continue to do that.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister with their partnership agreements with the LHOs, that during construction season, since the project officers can't always be on construction sites 24/7 to ensure that everything is being done according to the guidelines of the government, if they should set up some kind of a system where they demand some reporting requirements from the LHOs or from the project officers at each stage of the construction process at each unit to ensure that sometimes the clients these houses are being built for are being brushed off by their local housing authorities or not really paid much concern because it's basically their unit and not a public housing unit. I want to ask the Minister what kind of reporting requirements does the government demand from these individuals? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not aware of any formal reporting requirements at this time. I believe what we use in terms of progress payments would be to have our technical people go into the units and do the inspections and sign the appropriate documents. I don't believe we have any kind of written formal requirement at this point. I would have to go back and check to see if that's something we have. I don't believe we do it right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recently residents of the Northwest Territories received a mail-out from the Department of Health and Social Services describing a new service. It's a 1-800 number that can be accessed toll-free from anywhere in the NWT and it's called Telecare.

Mr. Speaker, I am somewhat familiar with this and I know the Minister did unveil this and held a press conference and so on, but for the benefit of people who may have inadvertently thrown that envelope in the junk mail pile, I just wanted to ask the Minister a few questions about it more or less just to create some awareness around it. Could the Minister please inform the House what the intent or motivation for such a service in the NWT is? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the intention of this particular phone line is to enhance capacities we have in communities to provide service to the people on a 24-hour/seven-day-a-week basis where they can now be in

touch with a registered nurse anytime of the day or night on issues they may have, either information issues or symptoms they want to check out. It's an enhancement. It's not a replacement of service. They will get a very timely and professional service. They will assist with and hook them up with other services. So we believe, like other jurisdictions across the country, that this will be a good service for the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the Northwest Territories, we are unique in the fact that our regions are far-flung and remote in many instances. There's quite a variety of services available to residents in these communities which vary in size greatly and so does the level of service. I want to say that I think it's a good idea. Sometimes a little reassurance or a little help can go a long ways to meeting the needs of people. Given the uniqueness of our surroundings here, I would like to ask the Minister where the services are provided from. Where is the nurse you are speaking to when you dial this 1-800 number? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this particular project has been in the works for two-and-a-half years and we have an arrangement, a contract, with an organization called Clinidata. They have a call answering service staffed by registered nurses out of New Brunswick. They have all the information there on their computers of every community and every program offered in the communities, all the resources that we have available in the Northwest Territories. So as well as access to interpretive services where they have services in over 100 languages, including the majority of our official languages. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like the Minister, if he could, to inform us as to when this service has become available and if he has received any feedback to date on any glitches in the service or the uptake so far from residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the technical launch was on April 19th and the public launch took place on May 18th. Reports to date have been that it's been well received by people who have had a chance to use it. People have phoned just to see how it would operate. We, as well, have gotten a lot of positive comments that people think it's a very good supplement to have to see a doctor or nurse, and gives them an added opportunity to get some professional advice or reassurance that they require. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The time for question period has expired, but I will allow Mrs. Groenewegen a final supplementary. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister made reference to the contract that we have with these folks who are located down east. I was just wondering how we are procuring this service in terms of payment. Is this a contract? If so, how much or is it on a per call basis? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this contract is approximately $600,000 a year and I think it's a three-year contract with the possibility to extend. Every call is tracked. When people call, we ask if they have any objection and we keep track of files for call-backs so we can be more responsive. So we are going to get a complete and regular update in terms of statistics and usage types of issues and those things that will help us adjust the service, as well as look at some of the issues that are affecting the people to give us an idea of some possible trends and patterns. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The time for question period has expired. Before we go on, I would like to call a 15-minute break. Before I do, I would like to inform the Members that the Minister of Education, Mr. Dent, is hosting a ceremony to honour the winners of the Ministerial Literacy Council Awards for 2004 in the Great Hall at the break. I encourage Members to go and also to acknowledge the veterans. We will call a 15-minute break.

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Good afternoon, colleagues. We will reconvene. Orders of the day. Item 7, written questions. The Honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.