Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to emphasize the seriousness of that suggestion because when you travel through Alberta or any other places, but Alberta is our close example, everybody knows what AADAC is, I think. I mean, I went to school there in college. AADAC, people with any kind of questions about drug programs, drug problems, anything, would call there. I don't think we have that here and I think the helpline is very successful, and I think we should somehow link that with a web site. For all the community people, for all that we do, the government and the federal government and all the NGOs, we don't have something that is looking at linking it together and making resources known. So I'd like to ask the Minister not to just look at the phone lines, but also look at launching a campaign similar to anti-smoking campaigns that he's been doing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to emphasize the seriousness of my answer and the commitment that I made that we will look into the Member's suggestions, and we will do that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Only two? I thought there were three supplements. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. May I just put some timeline on this and have the Minister report back to us about the feasibility that he'll do it and how this can be done and how he proposes to do it. I'm not looking for mega studies. I'm not looking for mega money expenditure things, but I think it's about organizing and presenting what's already there. So could I get the Minister to get back to us by June session? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a number of briefings scheduled that we're waiting for Social Programs to be able to schedule us into their busy calendars and I would hope that we could have some initial discussions when that time comes, and we'll add it to our list. We could have some initial discussions so we don't necessarily have to wait until June to get a sense of what we think may be possible and maybe to get a bit more feedback from the Member and other members of Social Programs in the forum where we can have that kind of give and take discussion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a difference of opinion on this particular subject and I think it's not a consultant versus the will of the people of the Northwest Territories. There are many people in the Northwest Territories that the consultants talked to, that I talked to, that I've worked with, that say that the track we're on, that we charted out three years ago, is the correct one; that we should in fact stay the course and invest in communities. That's where the solution lies to the problems: close to the families where the problems lie. There's a body of school of thought that says let's just build them some facilities and let's just focus on that particular piece and that will make the world a better place. There is a difference of opinion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last time I checked, the citizens of the Northwest Territories are my boss and they've been telling me that this is an important matter and they'd like to see this issue dealt with. But as I see it, some of the outpatient treatments that we seem to keep looking at, as opposed to the residential treatments, may have been popular, but the Chalmers Report warns against applying generalizations to rule versus isolated areas, such as the NWT. I quote, "cost-effectiveness yet to be proven." Yet, successful numbers are there, Mr. Speaker. So for the sake of those people who could benefit from a residential treatment, would the Minister reconsider opening those dedicated treatment centres in Yellowknife and Inuvik? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, northerners that require residential treatment that can't be provided in Nats'ejee K'eh, we make arrangements, as a routine matter of course, to access facilities down south that have that capacity. The numbers, in my opinion, do not warrant the construction of a number of new facilities and I think Dr. Chalmers' caution should be looked at carefully. That report should be reviewed carefully; then we should have an informed discussion. But it was based on lots of work that she has done in the past and consultation with dozens of people, and I think it should not be dismissed out of hand. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mean, we keep running in circles with this issue. I mean, it seems to be all that matters is this third-party accountability opinion. Mr. Speaker, the opinion of the public, that I'm aware of, is that residential treatment is what they want. Now, residential care may not be the only answer out there, that's a fact, but clearly it's one approach that has worked in a number of cases. So the people of the Northwest Territories, I can tell you, are asking for this. During the election campaign two-and-a-half years ago that's what I heard. This House passed the motion in October 2004 on this side of the House that all said we want a residential care treatment centre opened in Yellowknife and Inuvik. Five months ago, during our pre-budget consultation throughout the Northwest Territories, the people again came with this message and said we want these centres open. So when making this decision, when making decisions to spend public money on alcohol and treatment centres, why does the Minister not take this into account? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wasn't involved in the Member's campaign where he got all this grassroots feedback, but I can tell him very clearly in this House that we made a major commitment to communities, and we've worked with communities and we've responded to what the communities indicated to us was a pressing need. The State of Emergency outlined some very fundamental problems with the addictions and mental health services in the Northwest Territories. We took major steps to address those and to build on community strengths the same way we're putting in nurses and nurse practitioners. We want to put in public health units and rehab teams out into the communities and into the regions because that's where the issues are, that's where the problems are, and that's where the solutions are. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm frustrated because it appears yet again we're not dealing with the issue at hand and the lack of ability to connect the dots. We have a need, a want, and we have results. It's not a big lie, Mr. Speaker. The citizens have asked for our

government to respond by taking this message to the government. We're taking this message. Mr. Speaker, what does this Minister need? Does he need a petition signed by 100 people, 1,000 people, 5,000 people to come forward here to say we want a treatment centre in Yellowknife and Inuvik? What does this Minister need for a signal that this is a need that our people want? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In an ideal world where money was not an object, we could build all the schools, all the health centres, all the housing we needed. We don't have that capacity. We have a spectrum of services for addictions and mental health that includes lots of resources on the ground at the community level, plus we have access to our northern residential treatment centres, plus we have access down south like we do with other health issues for other specialized treatment services. We do have treatment services available. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.