Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe there are a number of areas that are of benefit to the Northwest Territories. The stones out of the Northwest Territories are seen as quality stones. Through the industry, Canadian diamonds are one of the things to talk about. They're of just quality and the marketing of them has been a benefit to us. As well, through the work that's been done, a certification process has been established for those taking part. It also represents where their stone has come from and cut from. There are some benefits to the Northwest Territories but, at the same time, as we've heard around the table, there's a concern about how this is operating and do we have to go back to the days when the first diamond mine was being talked about in Canada and the Minister of the day talked about enough tax to choke a mule. Is it time to revisit that? It may be. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd love to. Is the Member offering me some money to put into that strategy? I would agree with the Member that literacy is an extremely important issue in the Northwest Territories and it is certainly an area in which we're happy to work with our partners, to make sure that we can improve on literacy as much as possible. If we can find a way to increase our investment, I would certainly welcome that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Zoe.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, the honourable Minister indicated that he'll be working with partners. I'd like to ask the Minister, the partners that he's making reference to, have they come forward in terms of investment so that the NWT Literacy Strategy can be enhanced? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have in the past year met with the president of the NWT Literacy Council as one of our partners and talked to them about our investments in literacy. The college is a partner of the literacy strategy, as are private employers. We have a number of partners and the dialogue is ongoing with all of those partners as we look for ways in which to improve on literacy in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said earlier, the funding barely is keeping up the strategy as it is right now in the Territories. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister, if he's not going to enhance or increase the investment in our strategy, would he commit to maintaining the current level of funding that we have? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have certainly told all of our partners that it would be my goal to come as close to maintaining that level of commitment as possible, but they are also aware that the Minister of Finance has worked with his colleagues at FMBS and all Members of this House to say we have to find some economies. So there may be some impact, but we are doing our best to make sure that any impact is minimized. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask the Minister if he would convey to his colleague, the Minister of Finance, that it's very critical to maintain this strategy, as I said in my Member's statement. Would he make an effort to convince his colleague to maintain the level of funding for this particular strategy? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's an issue that I discuss with my Cabinet and FMB colleagues on a regular basis. This government has, over the past year, increased its investments in some areas that deal with literacy. For example, language nests which deal with aboriginal language literacy. So we have in fact managed to increase the funding that we put into some areas and we do continue to spend a good deal of money on literacy, but, yes, we will continue to look for ways to improve on how we can deliver that important programming. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the honourable Minister of Health and Social Services. Last week I spoke about long-term care for our elders and seniors and how I believe that some of them are only taking in almost $800 a month to live, and to stay in long-term care they're paying as much as $750 a month. I'm just wondering, perhaps the Minister can explain to me and this Assembly a little bit more about why that expense is there and why we are charging our elders to stay in long-term care, especially those with minimal income and that's their sole source of income. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, long-term care facilities are those facilities that require 24-hour-a-day supervision. There's access to nurses and trained staff and the people residing in those facilities are at the point in their lives where they need that 24-hour a day coverage. It's not a coverage that's covered under health care or non-insured health benefits and the cost of $720-some a month has been there for a number of years. I'd like to point out as well that in most other jurisdictions the cost for that type of service would be in the many thousands of dollars depending on the facility that was being accessed and it is a very high quality of care, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Mr. Speaker, this topic kind of frustrates me because here we have an environment where we're giving multinational corporations and companies like the diamond industry all kinds of huge breaks where those could have been revenues for our coffers, yet we're taking revenues from our elders who are in long-term care and that's their absolutely last stop on Earth, Mr. Speaker. They have nowhere else to go. They have to have and need this care. So I'd like to ask the Minister if he's looking at that. Is there a way we can subsidize these elders and seniors who are in our long-term care facilities? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Miltenberger.