Thank you, Minister Bell. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to say, for the record, that I respect the contribution that both sides do make to our city and our territory. I appreciate we want to make them work and we want them both to prosper. Mr. Speaker, however, in talking to both parties -- and I've had an occasion to talk to them -- I'm not sure if at least one party, anyway, understands that this is an issue that the government has any place in. So I'd like to know what specifically he's going to do to make sure that we are a party to that. We have a great deal of interest in the success of both industries. Could he be more specific about when his next meeting might be and what kind of communication has he had so far with both sides, he's only speaking about one side. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that my departmental officials have been in discussions with both parties. We are going to work to set up a meeting so that we can sit down and go through the myriad of issues. As I've said, it's very nuance. I can't get into what this government will do if and when we start going through some hypothetical scenarios. We think and we are optimistic that we can arrive at an agreeable solution. We think both parties recognize the interest that the GNWT has in seeing this resolved, and we do think there is a commitment on the part of both parties to make this work going forward. So once we are done here in the House, I will sit down with my officials, we will try to set a meeting with the two parties. Obviously, some of them are overseas, so one of the things we have to do is work out schedules and make a determination around where it's easiest to meet. If they were all in Yellowknife, it would be very easy to do, but it's not, Mr. Speaker. So I'll work on that and hopefully we should be able to get a meeting within the month, the month of March. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister Bell. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not questioning the medical care that patients receive once they get to the hospital. You know, we have one of the best medical systems in the world. But my colleagues and I, and it's an argument that we've had for a long time, it's the actual getting to the hospital part is where we have concerns with. My understanding is that the authorization now for medical travel is made out of Yellowknife, referred to by Inuvik. So I'd like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, where did this direction come from to authorize medical travel out of Yellowknife and take it out of the regions? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It came from me. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. McLeod.

So the authorization came from the Minister, he states. So I'd like to know, who gave the Minister his direction. Did he consult with the regions? I think that to say the decision came from him, I'd like to

ask, then, who did the Minister get his direction from? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the rationale for that decision was based on efficiencies; it was based on the need for coordination; it was based on the fact that we found out at one point, a year or so ago, that we had paid for over 1,800 bed days in Capital Health out in Edmonton for services that could have been provided out of Stanton, because without the coordination that we currently have in place, Stanton was routinely overflown as a result of referrals made by the different authorities and the different communities. This was part of our review of how we do business. We were working with the senior managers, the board chairs from all the authorities, and one of the directions that came out of that and that I approved and agreed to was the need to coordinate travel in the North and South to make sure that we used our facilities to the best possible way and we didn't pay twice for services that we already have. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for a little clearer answer. I agree with the Minister that coordination is a big part of it. I wasn't questioning sending the patients south to the city, my questions were based on sending people to Yellowknife and that seems to be where there's a real lack of communication, Mr. Speaker. Too many people are being left out in the cold when they get to Yellowknife. They're sitting at the airport for three hours. We can talk for hours on the stories we hear. So I'd like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services to demand his department improve the lines of communication so we don't have elders sitting at the airport waiting out in the cold. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate and note the Member's concern, and I want to assure the Member that we work every day to try to make sure we provide the highest level of service possible. When there are circumstances that happen where the systems may not have worked appropriately, we backtrack on those and we try to take the steps necessary to make sure that, in fact, services are provided. I would like to point out that, yes, there are times when things don't work and those are unfortunate, but the vast majority of time, medical travel works in a good, efficient way. But in the cases like the one the Member's mentioned, we are looking at it to make sure that while we can't change the past, that we learn from it and try to improve service for the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Honourable David Krutko, Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have a Loan Guarantee Program in which we were able to assist the Hay River Reserve by getting a loan through a loan guarantee where we guaranteed the loan in which they were able to borrow $1 million from the bank and build 10 units on the reserve. Again, the program is open to every organization out there. We have several of these in place with a lot of businesses, and also people in the private sector. So this program is in place; it is there to assist people in the private sector to develop housing infrastructure in the North. So it is a program we provide which is called the Loan Guarantee Program.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to thank the Minister for that response. It's been something that the communities have been crying...Well, not crying, but they've been looking for an alternative to relieve the housing pressures immediately. I know that we've got ABCD Company that's going to provide all these thousands of homes, but it's today that people want answers for...

...Mr. Speaker, and that's a good alternative. Once again, if the Minister can tell me how can the communities, for example, Fort Liard, get the process initiated for such a program of building 10 homes? Thank you.