Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for that information. One of the barriers, I understand, that we may be having is that our salary and benefit package to these health care professionals, Mr. Speaker, may not be competitive, may not be up to snuff with what other jurisdictions in Canada are paying. Can the Minister advise the Assembly if we are, indeed, competitive on a pay and benefits scale for this type of professional service? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've gone through a long process of classification and re-classification, responding to grievances for nurses, as well as other allied health professions, and it's our opinion, at this point, that we are competitive in our pay and benefits. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

You know, Mr. Speaker, in considering some of the background information on this, while we, on the surface, may be on a par with some jurisdictions and falling behind others, one of the things that sets our working environment apart is the amount of travel, the isolation, and the very heavy workload that people in that profession here in the NWT have to deal with. Is that factored into our levels of compensation and benefit, the real working conditions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we recognize that this area of service is one that requires an infusion of resources. The pay and benefits are one issue, but the fact is, as the Member noted, they often tend to work in isolation with tremendous case loads, and extensive travel and time away from home, which is why we have proposed setting up rehabilitation teams where there would be one in the South Slave, another one in Yellowknife to travel into the Sahtu and Deh Cho, and another one located in Inuvik for the Mackenzie Delta area to cover those areas and recognizing the very points that Mr. Braden raised. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, if you're a senior needing a hearing aid, for instance, you almost have to pass through the office of an audiologist. The wait times for these kinds of services are already long enough. Can the Minister give the Assembly, and the people of the North, some idea of when we might expect, even on a locum basis, to have audiologist services based here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have planned for, and obtained, locum coverage that will take us over the next few months, and the moment that we're successful at hiring a full-time audiologist or two, then we will be more than happy to share that information with everybody. It's a good-news story when those types of events happen. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we did set a deadline of 8:00 this morning for the contractor to resume ferry operations at the Liard River. That did not happen. We have since terminated the contract with the contractor. We have officially given him notice, or hand delivered termination papers. We have made the offer to the employees, and they have all agreed to sign on. We are now working through the logistics of doing safety inspections, and plan to have the ferry in operation either sometime tonight or early tomorrow morning. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. That's the kind of action that the people just asked for, is

that we resume the services. We still believe it could have been done earlier, Mr. Speaker, but the people will be very happy because every day that was wasted was a day that we didn't have the ferry. But can the government guarantee, to the people and to the transportation companies, some uninterrupted services so that we can get the much-needed supplies in? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We commit to making every effort to have the ferry run until the end of the normal operating season. However, we were also notified today that the water has dropped significantly. So it is a concern. However, we will try to ensure that the resupply gets done, and that the ferry operates as long as it can this season. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I guess the question I was asking is, is the government in any position to create a bulletin for transportation companies to say yes, you can bring your fuels to Fort Simpson because the ferry will be guaranteed to run for at least 10 days? I think they were looking for some guarantee that they can get their trucks across and back again, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are providing a press release, as we speak. We will notify the trucking industry. We will notify the communities. We will notify the general public. We will operate the ferry as long as we can this year, providing that the water levels are at the level that we need to cross with the ferry, and providing we don't have a mechanical breakdown. We commit to operating the service for the duration of the season. Thank you.