That is really good news. I am happy to have that on the record. That is all I can think of for right now. I do want to say that I recognize the challenges of the size of this department, the magnitude of the challenges and certainly the scope of the various issues this department deals with. I just want to commend the Minister for his attention to all of those. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. We are moving on to Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Pokiak, general comments.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a quick question for the Minister in regard to page 4 of 5 of his opening remarks. I am just going to refer to the toll-free health line. In 2005, they indicated there were 5,000 calls. Can the Minister just quickly explain what the actual cost was for the toll-free line and give an example of what kind of nature of call it was? Was it just for a cold or something more serious? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We spent $850,000 for the line last year. The nature of the calls -- and we made a point of trying to publicize this as far and wide as we can -- are not for what would be seen as a medical emergency. It is for advice. It could range from a young mother calling because their baby has sniffles, to somebody that may have a question to do with a medication or a potential side effect that they think they may be suffering. There is a wide range, but the intent is to be able to give access to northerners to ask the questions that would not make it necessary for them to have to travel all the way down to their emergency ward or to the nursing station to get the answer when they can pick up the phone and be reassured, potentially, and be given the information they need to make the right decision. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Next on the list I have Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are a lot of issues here. I do want to save most of them for detailed discussions, but I do want to raise one issue about homecare. I speak in favour of the program. I do appreciate that we are working on a whole spectrum of services to take care of those in need of varying degrees of intervention and care. I know that, in the city of Yellowknife, homecare is one that is very appreciated. It is oversubscribed. I think there is a bit of an issue with homecare when we know that homecare is supposed to be used to promote independent living. It is to care for those who could stay at home and have a reasonably independent living, if they get some help from homecare, rather than them spending their time at the hospital. People could need homecare for all sorts of different reasons, but that is different than assisted living which requires more intervention. The sense I get is that there is not enough distinction being made there so that these programs are delivered differently and people who need

them are provided with that distinctive level of service. I think we still need more resources on homecare needs and respite care needs, which is the temporary and little break kind of idea, and then there is the assisted living facilities which I don't think we have enough of, especially in terms of seniors.

The homecare issue I wanted to talk about that takes us outside of the city is, during our pre-budget consultation, we were visiting small communities. I learned from those visits that in communities the homecare workers are sometimes half-time positions and small towns, being what they are and especially if they do visits to seniors, I am sure that seniors want to talk to homecare about all sorts of issues, not just particularly about the issues that homecare workers are supposed to be responsible for. I felt a lot of sympathy to these half-time workers that are kind of the only game in town and all of the seniors come to her. I am just wondering if there is any way to make sure that we don't have half-time workers. I could just see that, in order to attract good people, we need reasonable job security. Is it not possible when this department, or the government as a whole, provides so many different programs, is it not possible to work with other departments or other sections to combine two half-time positions and make them into one full-time position?

My point of raising this issue is to speak in favour of this program and it is one that I want to see strengthened. I want to see it refined so that it is provided to those who really need it. In communities, I think there is a lot more room to move in this one, especially where there is not more sophisticated care that can be given. I think homecare workers right there could help people like seniors and people with disabilities who need them. Could I ask the Minister where he sees this program going under his mandate? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We, at this point, between our own funding and available federal funding, invest in the neighbourhood of about $7 million for homecare. We see this as an area of continued investment that is identified across Canada as a service that has tremendous benefits that can keep people in their own homes and out of facilities that are very expensive to run. We are working to expand the support we can provide in the communities to work with the individuals, to help them stay in their own homes as long as possible to provide respite care services to adults. There is a whole range, but the homecare pieces need to be very critical. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Another issue I want to bring up is about some of the changes being done to clinics in Yellowknife. I know the Minister has mentioned it and this has been in the books for awhile. There is a consolidation and amalgamation of clinics going on in Yellowknife. I only go to one myself, obviously, so I don't know what it is like in other places. I am assuming that the work is being done in a coordinated way. I see the changes being made at the Great Slave Clinic there. I think it is being used as a pilot model of sort. This is being done with some of the federal funding. There is a walk-in clinic at the YK Women's Centre which, I think, is working really well. They are serving a lot more people for a lot less money. It is really filling the niche of needs there. I would like to see that expanded. Also, the Great Slave Clinic is testing a new electronic system. That is another initiative that the Minister started. I would like to just get a quick update on where we are with all that and how that fits in to the master plan for the Stanton. These are all linked with emergency responsiveness and such. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I attempted to lay out the packages that were in the component pieces yesterday where, before we can move on to Stanton, we wanted to do the facilities review that would help us look at rationalizing our over-capacity on acute care beds to make some clear decisions on the types of programs that are going to be available. Before we could do any further work on Stanton as well, we wanted...an emergency where there was $6 million in the budget, it became clear that studies tell us that over 50 percent of the people coming into emergency for care are non-emergent care patients, that they could get a service in another setting less expensive and less time consuming which gets us to the issue of clinics with better hours, capacity for services, testing ability, waiting rooms, reception, which got us to the case of before we do any of those, we should look at trying to consolidate the old, inefficiently-laid-out, expensive-to-run, fragmented service provided by the current clinics downtown.

We pulled together and we are still working on rationalizing a plan that would allow us to do that and bring that proposal forward. It is not currently on the capital plan, but it is a piece that came up as we did our assessment of how do we improve the services, and it all was initiating when we started looking at Stanton. So we are going to be moving on the clinic piece. We are going to look at doing some improvements to the emergency, but we are still committed to, now that we finished the facilities review, working and finalizing the master development plan for Stanton to allow us to do the improvements that are necessary there.

As well, we want to be able to do some adjusting to budgets to assist us to make the case for the consolidating clinic piece, things like if we can do land exchanges in Yellowknife that won't necessitate us to spend $3 million on land, that will be a tremendous benefit to making a project viable. We are looking at all those different pieces. They are underway. The work in the Great Slave Clinic was under the primary health care transition fund going back almost three or four years now. That is giving us an idea of how we can actually demonstrate and work together on this integrated service delivery model with teams of people, of health professionals that work together, doctors, nurse practitioners, midwives and those types of folks with patients. We are going to take that experience, what we learn from there, and, as well, the work that has been done on electronic health records to allow us to expand, eventually, to electronic health record capacity throughout the North. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I asked for that when I listed all of those items, but we only have one more budget left in this Assembly. I think this is the Minister's fifth year mandate. There are a lot of things in the books. Are we to expect some results on what his concrete proposals are on all of these areas in the next business plan cycle? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On the consolidated clinic piece, we are working towards bringing forward that plan in time for the 2007-08 budget. The intent, of course, is as well everything falls to the new Legislature. They will make the decisions. As a system, we are going to have a plan in place, a strategic action plan, that is going to take us at least to 2010. These key pieces will be built in. My assumption is that they will make such good sense to the 16th Legislature that they will be carried on with and the work will continue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. I have Mr. Braden next. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the most difficult times that I have experienced in this Legislature occurred in the matter under this department and this Minister's jurisdiction, and that was the surprise decision to move the Territorial Treatment Centre from Yellowknife to another community. Mr. Chair, this one hurt because it was something of great significance in my riding and to this city. It was an action that the government, after considerable review and investigation, went ahead with, by its own admission, for political purposes, against the clinical program, psychological and professional advice of a number of different agencies in this community. The impact of that, I think, continues to be felt, even though the facility is still physically here. According to a schedule that I have seen, if I recall it, Mr. Chair, the transfer is due to be enacted sometime next year in 2007. There are consequences, Mr. Chair, especially to the existing contractor and the ability that they are having, as I understand, to retain staff, knowing that they have to let them go in a short period of time. So that is impacting the level of teamwork and the level of care that is given to the children who are in this facility.

Mr. Chair, even in light of this decision I will forever oppose and argue against, what is the status of the existing service and the ability of the contractor to maintain its level of care as contractor?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I will say that planning is proceeding in pace, as has been laid out for the committee. I will ask, with your indulgence, Mr. Chair, that Mr. Murray speak to the detail of how things are proceeding. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Murray.

Thank you, Mr. Murray. Mr. Braden.