Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I don't know if the Minister has had a chance, but he probably knows this information anyway and maybe Mr. Murray as well, but the abortion rates are the highest in Canada in the Northwest Territories and this causes me some concern because Yellowknife is the only place in the Northwest Territories where women can get an abortion. I would hate to think that some women may be using abortion as a form of birth control and when you get up to the five, six and seven abortions, then you have to start to wonder if that's the case. It's costing the people that live here in the Northwest Territories and the Government of the Northwest Territories a tremendous amount of money to bring people into Yellowknife to have this abortion take place. I wanted to ask the Minister what our plans are in trying to address why the abortion rates in the Northwest Territories are the highest in the country. We're 25 percent higher than even the next closest jurisdiction in terms of abortion rates. It causes me some concern because maybe we're not doing enough in terms of educating our young people about birth control and safe sex and the like, and the cost of maybe not doing this type of education is having on our health care system. It's obvious that it is having an impact on our health care system because the costs are there and it can be substantiated. So I'd like to hear from the Minister what his plans are to address these abortion rates and what steps we're going to take to try to address this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. We are on Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. The question that I'd have in terms of when a woman becomes pregnant if she's from one of the regions, what kind of help does she get in determining her options? Is it the social worker, is it the doctor, is it her pastor? Who helps this young woman out in terms of what she's going to do with her pregnancy? If they get pregnant and they're not getting the support or advice that maybe perhaps they should look at keeping the pregnancy and seeing it through, or is it just the fact that the doctor or whoever they are consulting with is telling them to have an abortion and it's okay, just go and have an abortion? What's happening out there? Can the Minister give me a sense of what's happening out there that our abortion rates are as high as they are? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Miltenberger.

Yes, Madam Chair, not wanting to be flippant, but clearly what's happening out there that results in this of course is the fact that there is a lot of unprotected sex and individuals not practicing using birth control or appropriate methods to prevent pregnancy or disease and there is a distinct correlation to that activity in STIs and pregnancies. So you have to look on the individual basis. If a lady gets pregnant or a female gets pregnant, there's no standard response. If there's a situation that requires support and it's a single mother or a very young lady then, yes, there are services there. But you asked what does the doctor tell the patient. Well, very clearly, that is privileged information between the patient and the doctor and they make the medical decision.

So there are services out there. It goes back to the issue of personal choice and education, in my opinion. Why there are so many abortions I think is tied into the education because people are careless, there's alcohol involved, they don't take advantage of the technologies that are available to prevent disease or pregnancy and they are readily available and so they pay a terrible price. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The stats don't lie and they're something that the Minister and the department can track on an ongoing basis and I think education is the key thing here. I know the Minister spoke of what really is happening out there and maybe we aren't doing enough to promote the healthy lifestyle, the safe sex and the like. What are the plans from hereon, from today? We know our rates are at least 25 percent higher than the next closest jurisdiction. What type of performance measurement are we going to use to see if we're making any headway here, because obviously we've got a long

way to go with our abortion rates being the worst in the country? I'd like to hear from the Minister what his plans are on educating the people that live here, especially the young people about abortion and about healthy lifestyles so that we don't have the highest rates in the country. Thank you, Madam Chairperson.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, of course the direction that the health numbers are traveling will be our biggest outcome and are measurable. With regard to over and above what we are attempting to do right now, one of the proposed uses of the federal money is to put an additional $1 million towards prevention and promotion activities to deal specifically with issues related to youth, active living, healthy living, right choices, education on all those critical personal choice items that we've talked about extensively in this House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I know one of the better educational tools that I've seen is the Don't Be a Butthead campaign and that the department and the anti-smoking advocacy groups have come up with in the past few years in trying to educate young people about the dangers of smoking. Perhaps that's something the department could look at. I don't know if you go out and find a super hero for safe sex like "Condom Man" or something like that, but you could look at doing something like that, Mr. Minister, in trying to educate young people on safe sex and try to get a handle on where our abortion rate is and where we are going with that. I would suggest something like that, a campaign of that nature. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Member's comments and suggestions and we'll definitely consider them as we move forward in this area. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Ramsay. We're on page 6-17, the Department of Health and Social Services, directorate, operations expenditure summary, $6.182 million.

Agreed, thank you. Page 6-18, directorate, grants and contributions, contributions, $30,000.

Page 6-20, directorate, active positions.

Page 6-21, directorate, active positions.