Thank you. I will raise my voice in the House. I don't have to? Thank you.

Just hold a moment, Mr. Yakeleya. We seem to have a technical difficulty here. It's not a matter of not being able to hear, it's just your mike is not working.

Hello? Hello?

I guess your mike is working. Go ahead, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Believe me, the lights are on on this issue.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister again, and I will make this very clear. Please do not consult. We have studies, mountains and mountains of studies of this program, this issue. Do not consult. Get the action, get the money. Prime example, the Minister of Justice has a pilot project of a wilderness camp in Fort Good Hope. It's dynamite. It's working good. Let's get started. Let's hammer out the issues later on as they come about. Can the people in Sahtu or...Let's get a pilot project on. Bring the families together through a drug and alcohol treatment program, northern-based, aboriginal sensitive and open to everybody. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. I didn't hear a question there. I will remind Members again, it's not time to make statements. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The current schedule would see the request for proposals going out by the end of this month, with our expectation that the award would take place shortly thereafter and construction hopefully starting by the end of August this summer.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The original tender, I believe, closed in February. Now we hear that the new RFP is going out at the end of the month. I would like to ask the Minister, what was the delay from February until now? We are looking at three or four months before they redid it and put it out. So I would like to ask the Minister what was the delay. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once the tenders came in or the responses to the proposals came in to the first request for proposals, we found that the prices submitted were well above the budget. So in discussions with Public Works, we looked at other projects that had been undertaken in the Territories for student residences, specifically the one most recently in Fort Smith and were told that if we were to modify the proposal, the design, to reflect the designs that had been used in Fort Smith, that it is likely that we would be able to see the project completed in Inuvik for the amount of money that was in the budget. That work was undertaken and then the college was provided with those plans. At that point, the college requested that we make further changes to the plans. We had to go back to the architect and that added some time. So at this point, we are fairly confident that we are at the end of this process. It should be out to the contractors for their proposals. We are still confident that we will see construction starting later this summer.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I addressed the issue that has been raised in this House numerous times before. The GNWT, on behalf of their employees, subscribes to a pharmaceutical insurance program with Sun Life and there are some problems and gaps for the service providers under that particular insurance program. I trust by now Minister Roland is familiar with what the issue is, although some of the correspondence would indicate otherwise. We need an online adjudicated, quick, efficient process for the pharmacies in the Northwest Territories. Has the Minister considered changing the company or the program we subscribe to on behalf of GNWT employees and employees of boards and agencies? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the area of providing help through the Sun Life program for pharmacies or drugs for our employees is something that I have just recently been made aware of. I am aware of the correspondence that was sent to the Minister of Health and Social Services from a number of pharmacies. I understand a meeting was held just recently, maybe this past weekend. The issue comes down to Sun Life's automatic billing system that they need to put in. We are informed that that should be in place by 2008, although the pharmacies within the Territories would like that sooner. They are moving down that path and that should alleviate the problems that are coming forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So there are quite a number of insurance companies who already do have provisions for pharmacies. Other employers in the Northwest Territories have their employees covered by services which are available online and at much less cumbersome process than what Sun Life has. I just want to confirm something. Is the Minister saying that Sun Life does not have a different program that we could subscribe to that would provide for that online access? If it's not going to be up and running, if it's a Sun Life deficiency and is not going to be up and running until 2008, I suggest that we switch service providers. Would the Minister consider that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things we would have to do is review the contract that was awarded to Sun Life before we would go down that path, but I will commit to have a further review of this to see what some of the problems are and see if they can be resolved sooner. The understanding is that a meeting was held with the Pharmacy Association on Sunday and the Sun Life automatic billing system was one of the major topics. Again, the information we have is they will have a newer system in place by 2008, although the association would like that sooner and we understand why.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the information that my questions and comments were premised on today was a letter that I had received from the NWT Pharmacy Association dated April 27th. I was not aware that a subsequent meeting had taken place on the subject. I would ask the Minister, in response to their concerns and the concerns that I have reiterated here again today, would the Minister provide me with some form of a briefing as to the progress on this matter before the end of the session? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Roland.