Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Premier.

Mr. Speaker, the regional superintendents of the Executive will report directly to the deputy minister of the Executive or the secretary to Cabinet. That person reports to me. The executive directors will give us regular reports on the activities in the region and that will include any description of any difficulties they're running into. They will certainly have the authority to call together all of the regional superintendents or any one superintendent if they feel there is an issue and report on that. Mr. Speaker, if there are difficulties or problems or crisis happening, then it will be brought to my attention very quickly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member's statement today, a constituent had a massive heart attack yesterday and was medevaced to Edmonton and the wife was very upset because she couldn't jump on the charter. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services, the Honourable Michael Miltenberger. Just what is the department's policy for family members to jump on the medevac charters? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. The honourable Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a medical call and it sometimes will depend, I'm not familiar with the circumstances that the Member has raised in the House here, but depending on the type of plane and who is on it and if it is of a special plane that has a team of specialists on board versus just a regular charter. So there's a number of factors to consider, but it's initially a medical call. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time I was told that the attending physician made that call that she couldn't jump on the charter when I found out yesterday. Mr. Speaker, given the nature of a patient's condition, I would like to ask the Minister why wasn't the wife allowed to jump on the charter because of the patient's condition? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not familiar with the particulars of the case, but as we raise these questions in the House, my staff up in the office is making notes and will be following up on the particulars so that I can address those issues with the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Pokiak. No. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the past few days I've been speaking on the travel with medical travel and I've paid particular interest to the case of a lady from Inuvik who had experienced some difficulty while being transported in a taxi. My intent, Mr. Speaker, is not to blame anybody. It's to see if we can find the problem and find solutions. That's why I've been questioning Mr. Miltenberger. Providing on-the-ground transportation should be an essential service. It should not be a business and a lot of people give him business then they will tend to cut a few corners so they can make a buck and you can't blame them. So I would like to ask the Minister if the department does regular reviews on the provision of ground transportation services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Speaker, there's three components to the issue of transportation. There's the issue that comes up with highway rescue, there's the issue of ambulance services and then there's the issue of ground transportation within communities for non-emergency or routine access. In some cases, like in Inuvik, there is a contract with the health centre with a private businessman. In Yellowknife, Stanton has a contract for the ground transportation with a local taxi outfit and it's a routine pick-up and delivery for non-emergent care and that's within the purview and mandate of the authorities, or, in this case, Stanton. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for that. When I speak of on-the-ground transportation I'm usually referring to all of them because they all, as far as I'm concerned, are linked. So there's 147 new positions going into the government and there's 98 of them in Yellowknife alone. Would we not be able to allocate two of those 98 positions whose only function will be to pick up medical patients? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What we are doing is we're doing a comprehensive review, as I have indicated in this House, on the whole issue of ambulance services, and that document is going to Cabinet here in the next few weeks then at which point we'll be looking for feedback from the Members. We're interested in trying to look at rationalizing and improving the service and better coordinating it to deal with issues like liabilities, standards, training, so that as northerners we have a common sense and understanding of what can be expected in communities in this particular area. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated when I opened my questioning, that I wasn't looking for anyone to blame, I was just looking for some answers so we can come up with some type of solution. In speaking to the family members of the lady that had the trouble, you know, they're also looking for answers. So I'd like to ask the Minister, has he asked for an inquiry or an internal investigation into the incident to be sure that further incidents like this don't happen again? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've had discussions with the deputy about the need to backtrack on a step-by-step basis on this whole incident so that we can have that assurance, we can review what transpired, when, the times, and ensure that if there's things did not work accordingly, then we make the necessary adjustments. So, yes, I've had discussions with the deputy and asked that that work be done. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources just for public record on what the bison recovery management plan that this government intends to follow through on. Maybe the Minister could just provide this House with information on the results, I guess, of the last meeting that we had this afternoon with some community members on how the Hook Lake bison recovery project is going to be handled over the next few months. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.