Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to thank the Minister of the Housing Corporation for answering that question. Like I said earlier, I think it's an embarrassment that the government has a facility like Sombe Ke sitting empty, sitting idle and not taking advantage of it. The next question I'd like to ask is in the proposed $54 million -- and this is a great sum of money that's being spent in the next four or five years on renovating hospitals here in the Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, Hay River Fort Smith -- can the Minister advise us whether or not space will be incorporated into the renovations at these facilities to address addictions treatment? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. I don't know if that is within the mandate of the Housing Corporation, but, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that information would be better given by the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, another indication of the government being flexible to accommodate some good questions from the Members.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, we're looking very carefully at the renovations and the much needed renovations to Stanton, Hay River and Fort Smith, the same way that we've looked at the renovations to the various health centres and the construction of the Inuvik hospital. These are valuable resources, but, no, they're not being considered as having wings built on or space allocated for treatment centres in those facilities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that's something that should happen. I think that should be incorporated and when you're spending $54 million and addictions are as big a problem here as they are, I think that's short-sighted. The next question I'd have, and I thank the Cabinet for their flexibility on this, and this question is for whoever wants to answer it, has the Department of Health and Social Services had any discussions with the Department of Justice to possibly co-habitat or take over the Arctic Tern facility in Inuvik to better address the addiction needs that are prevalent in Inuvik?

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, firstly, we'd be very happy, as a department, to give full briefings to all the Members opposite, or Member Ramsay, on what's happening with the three hospitals that are being currently renovated, and we can demonstrate very clearly that all the space in there is going to be put to absolutely critical and good use. Not to take away from the issue of treatment centres, but the fact is, we are planning very carefully for all those facilities. In regards to the question of have there been discussions between Health and Justice of alternate use of Arctic Tern, no, there hasn't.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when you're spending over $2 million to house, you know, it's been as low as one to six is the latest number I've heard, in a facility in Inuvik, it would only stand to reason that you'd start to question that expenditure of public funds and try to address needs that are more pressing. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister if the discussions haven't taken place as of yet, when will they take place so that we can better spend what little money we have and start earmarking some money to addictions where it's needed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we spend millions of dollars on addictions and it ties into a whole host of other program areas that we already deliver, as well. We're going to continue to work on that. Justice has their clear plan that they laid out in their business plan speaking to those issues for the facilities that they are in charge of, and should there be a need for us to have those discussions, we will definitely have those. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was going to say...(inaudible)...Mr. Speaker, I think that means thank you in honour of the visitors in the gallery.

Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Health and Social Services and I'd like to just follow up on my Member's statement. Mr. Speaker, I have in front of me a CBC report on Wednesday, February 8th, where there was a meeting in Inuvik of the people concerned about their community drug issues and they had invited Sally Ann and Crack Busters Program leaders to be there to speak. We're well aware of the problems we have in Yellowknife. My colleague from the Sahtu just told me recently that, in fact, they thought they had a drug dealer in their community and they just put him on the plane and sent him out of town. So this problem is prevalent everywhere and I think what I see is that there are a lot of NGOs and community groups that are doing real good work, whether it be Sally Ann, Tree of Peace, there's AA and Al-Anon that are running full tilt, Crack Busters Program, we have a transition home and the government has spent millions of extra dollars on mental health and wellness workers. But what I see lacking is something that we could do more by the government to tie this together and let it be known to the community about what's available and where to go for resources. Could I ask the Minister what his department is doing to make sure that this is happening? Thank you

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd ask the Member to provide me with her suggestions in terms of how she thinks we could better communicate and let people know what work is being done across the system. But we have communication plans; we have authorities at work; we have boards at work; we have committees; we have NGOs; we have social workers on the ground; we have management staff on the ground working on a day-to-day basis in all the communities. There are coalitions in Yellowknife, for example. So if the Member has some suggestions how we can improve on that, I'm very interested in hearing those. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't know if there's something written on my forehead, but a lot of Ministers are asking me to do their job.

---Laughter

I have to tell you I'm not interested in the Health and Social Services portfolio, with all due respect. Mr. Speaker, let me tell you I do have a suggestion, and, in fact, I just thought of this. I think we need a 1-800 NWT drug phone line and I think in that phone line, and a web site just on drugs because we have such serious, severe drug problems and we do have services. We have detox centres, we have lots of services. The sense I'm getting from the community is that they know this is coming, crystal meth, crack cocaine, and alcohol, not to mention...They just don't know what to do and there's a lot being done. So would the Minister look into possibly setting up 1-800 NWT drug line where resources could be available and where people could tap into? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll thank the Member for that suggestion and it's a relief to know that she doesn't want my job. The Member raises a good suggestion and we will consider that. We'll also look at are there other ways that we could possibly expand the capacity of some of the 1-800 numbers that we currently have, be it the health line or other helplines that are there. But the Member has raised a good suggestion and we will consider it. Thank you.