Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back in 2002 when the Joint Leadership Council was formed we had an agreement from the board chairs, myself and the deputy, as to the terms of reference and the mandate that was signed off and agreed to by all the parties. That is what is the underpinning document that's driving us. We are working to see if we can better formalize that process and work a little more closely with Stanton hospital and we are doing that. So the JLC is good on the books and will continue to be on the books in terms of providing that kind of oversight from all the authorities, along with myself and the deputy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for Mr. Miltenberger, the Minister for Health and Social Services, concerning the continuing saga of the potential, alleged kind of relocation of the TTC. Mr. Speaker, over the past number of years the GNWT has had a dismal record of residential programs for those suffering from addictions and mental disorders. In part this is because we have not been establishing the services where they are most needed, let alone, Mr. Speaker, because so many of them have failed to keep their doors open. The Minister himself has said in this Assembly that it is our duty to provide our services, whatever those services may be, as close as possible to the people who need them. Mr. Speaker, why is the Minister still insisting that Yellowknife, where half the population of the NWT lives, should actually lose yet another of these badly needed programs? Mr. Speaker, thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let me restate once again for the record that Yellowknife is not losing access to any service. It will be available across the lake in Hay River the same as services in Yellowknife are available to all people who have to fly into Yellowknife from wherever they may live. It's a very simple situation. There is no loss of service to the people of Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, while the Minister is adamant about moving this program, even in the midst of the confusion and uncertainty about how it is going to be done, will he do what the 700 people who signed this petition asked for, and that was to continue this service in Yellowknife? Why does it have to be abandoned?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, nothing is being abandoned and nobody is being abandoned. The service will continue to be provided and in a community that has the skills and ability and the workforce to do that, and that's in Hay River. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

You know, Mr. Speaker, I and I think at least some of my colleagues here would be ready to work with the Minister to establish a transition here that where a service can be established in another community I certainly don't want to stand in the way of it, but I would return to that essential duty that we have to supply a badly needed service as close as possible to the people who need it. That is why these 700 people asked for this service to stay in Yellowknife. Can the Minister find a way to help us achieve this, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to provide full access to all those children that are deemed to be in need of the service at the Territorial Treatment Centre and that has never been an issue. We will put the resources necessary to continue to do that. Thank you.

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

This, again, Mr. Speaker, is a continuance of a sad legacy that our government has had over so many years. What we are abandoning here, Mr. Speaker, are 15 years of investment by this community, not just a government contract, but the schools, the medical people, the NGOs that are part of this. That's what we are abandoning. Will the Minister understand that this is what is at stake here?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I hear the Member's comments and I can appreciate and comprehend what he is telling me. I also have a position here that we're moving on and we're not abandoning anybody, we're not denying anybody a service. I can appreciate how it feels when the concern people have when they see things they think move out of their communities, but this service is not going to be lost. It's still going to be available a very short distance away. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger. I'd like to pick up where my colleague Mr. Braden had left off in questions regarding the relocation of the Territorial Treatment Centre from Yellowknife to Hay River. We had discussed this issue at length here in the House last year and, according to the Minister's own words in this House, a key element to the program relocating to Hay River had to do with there being a facility in Hay River that was going to be renovated and the fact that it was going to be cost neutral. I'd like to ask the Minister, given the new circumstances, the Members of this House having to find out via newspaper that Dene K'onia was going to be demolished and, Mr. Speaker, I'll get to the question, when was the Minister and his department going to let the Members in this House know that the scope of this project had changed yet again, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the intent is still to relocate the program. The initial intent was to renovate work done by some experts in this field that came back with a report that indicated that for the same price they could build new. As Minister, I thought I was obligated under good sense and good management to at least take a look at the options since they indicated it would add 20 to 30 years to the life expectancy of the building. So those are the steps we are taking at this point to see in fact to ask for the estimates for either demolition and construction new, or just construction on a new site to see in fact how accurate their estimates were or are before we...and then with that information we can examine where we are. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, good sense and good judgment would have lead the Minister back to the FAM directive that instructs Cabinet to inform and consult with the Members on this side of the House on substantial changes to projects. This didn't happen and, like I mentioned in my Member's statement, it's the second time in less than a year on the same project that the Minister has not come back and consulted with Members of this House. Not having a facility to renovate in Hay River entirely changes the scope and, in fact, if you go back to the debates that took place last year in discussion regarding the relocation of this program, it fundamentally changes that entire discussion. I think, Mr. Speaker, we have to have that discussion again based on some real details. Mr. Speaker, what happens when you start making political decisions on a whim, you run into problems like this. I'd like to ask the Minister when we will get some concrete detailed information about what it's going to cost to build a new facility in Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.