Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister of Health and Social Services, the Honourable Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these plans have at least been alluded to, if not directly referenced, in some of our discussions with the Member and with various meetings with the Social Programs committee. They indicated, as well, we're working on a major review of all the health care centres, a way of classifying them, benchmarking requirements to improve the system, the coordination of medical travel, the emergency ward issue, the clinic issue, the need to get the review done so that we can proceed with the master development planning for Stanton, as well as Hay River and Fort Smith. So we've been working now for some nine months on a lot of this work, and it's at the stage where we're just finalizing it to be taken to Cabinet for review and from there we will be coming to committee. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions to the Minister are not in any way related to my role as a member or chair of the Social Programs committee. I'm asking very specific questions about what the Minister has planned for the city of Yellowknife. We have heard of the master plan, for example, for Stanton, but the public has not been given any information on that. It's my understanding that it's still in the process of being put together. So could I just ask the Minister a simple question about exactly what he has planned for the city of Yellowknife and what the time frame of that might be? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have, as I indicated yesterday in the House, a number of things on the books for Yellowknife and I'll start with Stanton. There's about a $16 million mid-life renovation and upgrade to the facility that will help us deal with some of the emergency issues and some of the congestion and layout problems that are there, as well as look at the better use of some of the resources that are there with the surplus of acute care beds. I indicated yesterday, as well, that we are looking at the possibility of the integration of clinic services in the downtown core so that, in fact, we can be more coordinated, administratively effective and to give the clinic the capacity to do some basic things that they now can't do that have to be referred to Stanton; simple things like doing X-rays. We are planning on moving ahead with midwifery, we're planning on moving ahead with nurse practitioners. We've come up with, as I indicated earlier, some benchmarks for what's the appropriate mix of doctors and midwives, by population and community size. So we have a number of fairly significant initiatives underway. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister's answers on all of the detailed information, but I'd like to just get more specific information from the Minister. Could I ask the Minister whether there is a plan within this upcoming fiscal cycle to open a drop-in health clinic in Yellowknife? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing in this business plan but, as I indicated as well in some earlier comments to the Member and other members of committee, the federal money, which we anticipate putting to use in some of these areas or proposing that we put to use in some of these areas, has yet to be finalized. When we have that detail, we intend to take it once again to Cabinet and to committee, but the arrangements and negotiations with the federal government haven't been completed. It's anticipated they'll be completed in the next couple of months. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was so excited yesterday when I heard that the Minister had all these plans and I was hoping that I could confirm this, but it looks like this might be a little further away than I had been led to believe yesterday. Mr. Speaker, may I ask the Minister whether he could take it to his Cabinet colleagues to really look at setting up a drop-in clinic in Yellowknife? It has already been done by a local doctor and it has shown to be successful. I do believe it will save the government money. I don't think we need to wait for the federal government to do this. I think it's something that he can do and Yellowknife could be a good pilot point. Could I get the Minister to commit to look into getting it done within this fiscal year? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm glad the Member was excited, however briefly, on the many positive initiatives we have underway and if she could sustain that excitement, then

we can work together to bring them to fruition in the not-too-distant future.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, we are moving to look at the improvement to the clinic services in Yellowknife and I've stated that now a number of times in this House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the Kyoto Protocol coming into effect today, there has been a lot of discussion in the media about how Canada is going to meet its targets producing greenhouse gas emissions. Our people are noticing changes in the environment that have happened just in our lifetime, Mr. Speaker. The NWT contributes a very small share of Canada's greenhouse gases, but with the diamond mines and the pipeline, things will change. My question to the Minister of RWED is can the Minister tell me what the GNWT's responsibilities are in helping Canada meet its Kyoto targets? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, the Honourable Mr. Bell.

Thank you. We've felt for some time now, as I think all the rest of the provincial and territorial jurisdictions across the country, that Canada has to play a lead role in laying out and then articulating exactly how they plan to meet our Kyoto emission targets as a country. We haven't had recent specific discussions individually as jurisdictions in terms of bilateral with the federal government, but there is an expectation that the federal government will lay out a well thought out plan as to how we might meet those targets. I think it probably will mean working with Ministers of environment, Ministers of energy in tandem. In past, that vehicle of joint meetings was used to work some of this through. Those talks have broken off. Canada signed the accord at any rate, but the understanding was always that they would come back to us and we would sit down and talk about a plan for meeting those targets. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my earlier statement was the youth are going to be our leaders of tomorrow. With this important agreement that Canada has signed and our contribution to this agreement in greenhouse emissions, can the Minister tell me anything that's being done within the GNWT's infrastructure, including public housing, to reduce the greenhouse emissions over which the government has direct control? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Member knows and certainly we've had this discussion with committee about some of the activities that the government has been involved in, principally through the Arctic Energy Alliance and many departments have been involved in helping to increase energy efficiency of public facilities through retrofits. We've also taken a lead role in promoting public awareness and understanding of some of these issues in trying to make sure that our own structure is up to the task and is energy efficient. I think we have more to do. This is something that we need to continue to focus and work on, especially given the high cost of electricity in many of our communities. It makes good sense for us to both focus on supply side issues -- hydro initiatives make a lot of sense -- but also demand side issues, and that's where we talk about the efficiency of our infrastructure. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Canada is the largest supplier of oil and gas, followed by Saudi Arabia. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me what the government is doing or will be doing to encourage industry and other government and private citizens to reduce the gas emissions? Thank you.