Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I'm, indeed, very interested in one of the largest expenditures of our government, which is health and social services. I see that not too many initiatives have changed since last year and probably a lot of it was due to the fiscal restraint that Cabinet put in place, but there are new monies available. So I think that we may have an opportunity here to do things a little bit differently or else give more to the regions, Madam Chair. Some of the things I have been experiencing recently in the Nahendeh riding, particularly Fort Simpson in terms of elders' long-term care facilities, our demographics is that our elders are very old, Madam Chair. Just recently I've noticed that a lot of them had to go into long-term care and the facility in Fort Simpson especially has been maxed. In fact, there may be a waiting list and that wasn't there a year ago. It's just something that is a recent development and it concerns me too, because Simpson is listed as a regional centre, Madam Chair. So as the people in the outlying communities, there are five that are serviced by Simpson, including Fort Liard, one of the larger communities that doesn't have any long-term care facilities. I don't know if we can address that, but for now all the very old people are getting sick and they are making their way to Simpson and the facility is being filled up very quickly. I don't see anywhere in our documentation, the main estimates or the CAP, that's going to address some expansion that is necessary for Fort Simpson. Perhaps at the appropriate time, once I've concluded my statement, the Minister can speak to me about that.
Another thing that's coming to a head is our concept of the alcohol and drugs and how we deal with it as a government. There's a need for awareness and it's similar to the goals of ADAC in Alberta, I guess. I don't see what we, as a government, are doing in that respect, and perhaps the Minister can share some of his views in that regard too. We do have a Liquor Commission, but their goals aren't really to address the addictions side of our population, and I'm just wondering if it would be a health and social services mandate to look at something like that. Perhaps the Minister can engage in some discussion as to how he sees us addressing those needs that are out there in terms of taking care of our needs in addictions and drugs and alcohol and many of the other new scourges that are coming North, Madam Chair. With that, perhaps I'll ask the Minister to respond to the inquiries and comments that I had. Thank you.