Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at the present time, we do have quite a few people residing in Hay River who do work at the mines and we would like to see that number increase. What we need is a point of contact or, again, like I said, some kind of a vehicle to ensure that we can attempt to sell our communities. We're not asking the government to do this. We need to take that responsibility ourselves, to try and promote things like the cost of living and the amenities that are available in our communities. Yellowknife can do the same thing, but I'm speaking of Hay River specifically now. But when a person gets hired on by a diamond mine and they live in southern Canada, I don't have any sense right now of whether there is a package they're given, if there's information, exactly what they are provided with that would give them pause to think about residing in the Northwest Territories. I know we don't have a diamond secretariat, but we need some point of contact. We need to organize this. Does the Minister have any suggestions in that area? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will talk to my staff about that and find out what currently is provided to employees in the South. I know the mines are very much interested and would prefer to have these employees live north. It's cheaper for them; they don't have to endeavour to do the same kinds of things to get them to and from site. As well, we know there's more continuity and people tend to stay longer if they reside in the North. So this is something that we can talk about.

I would applaud the community of Hay River, though. I think they're going about this in the right manner, inviting De Beers to come down to the community, tour the community, understand what the community has to offer. I think that's the kind of approach that's necessary. But I'll

find out what information goes out to employees that would help to entice them north. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you. We in Hay River would like to know how we could plug into that kind of a campaign. The program that the Minister referred to earlier is kind of a "come to the Northwest Territories," it's more general. But I think communities should also have an opportunity to do a very community-focussed, specific pitch to promote their community, and right now I don't believe there are any funds available for such a campaign. I think it would be money well spent, and I would ask the Minister if he would consider working with us to try and perhaps locate a program that would facilitate that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Bell.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I think that makes a lot of sense and I would like to come to committee and talk about what might be done as we go forward in the business plans. I'm thinking now currently about our efforts. I will make sure that our website, these pan-northern websites and the links to the Northwest Territories also contain links to our communities. I think that's vital. We can't have a disconnect between this broader marketing strategy and then the actual information that people need to make decisions about where their families will live, and where they'll go to school, and what kinds of jobs and employment would be waiting for them. So that's a very good suggestion. I think we could pursue this further with committee and talk about what we do going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland, and again it goes back to my Member's statement of earlier today and it is the dementia facility and its construction in Yellowknife. I want to start off with saying this facility was a key plank of many Yellowknife MLAs and potential candidates in the election in 2003, to have this facility built in Yellowknife. We're almost four years later, and it was talked about even before 2003. Here it is 2007; we're still trying to plan it and coordinate how this facility will be built, and we can't go back and point fingers on why it hasn't been built. All we can do is deal with today and the future; and the future of this community, Mr. Speaker, I believe deserves a dementia care facility, a dedicated dementia care facility. I'd like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services where exactly the department is in relation to the construction of this much needed care facility here in Yellowknife. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of the dementia facility is one that the department has been involved with. Initially, as Members are aware, the YACCS group had approached the department and Members for support at looking at a dementia facility. The department came up with some funding for planning and that planning has progressed with the group. Just recently, as I took over as Minister of Health and Social Service, I sat down with the YACCS organization and department representatives to go over where the plan was and a need to coordinate between the department and YACCS, and we have done so. The working relationship has been very cooperative in that area. An RFP was just recently put out to look at the costing of that facility. Once we have that costing, we will then be able to sit down and see how, as a department, we can put it into our infrastructure plan. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would hope that it is included in the infrastructure plan in the very near future. Another thing I mentioned in my Member's statement was the obvious difference between care and level of services that one with Alzheimer's could receive here in the Northwest Territories as opposed to if you're in Edmonton or if you're in another province. I'd like to ask the Minister, in terms of level of service, does the Department of Health and Social Services have a policy on care of Alzheimer's patients here in the Northwest Territories? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the area of Alzheimer's in the Northwest Territories, through the department, as the Member had highlighted in his Member's statement, we do address that through our existing facilities in hospitals that we do have in the Northwest Territories. We continue to work with, for example, with YACCS about the new dementia facility and what can be incorporated in that. But at this point forward, we are delivering that service through our existing facilities in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that. I think if a study was done or if somebody took a real look at the level of care and

services, there's a big difference between being hospitalized and in a dedicated facility where your relatives and people can come and visit you, not to mention those caregivers who want to look after their loved ones at home have an opportunity through day programs to bring their loved ones to a day program. So I'd like to again ask the Minister if his department would take a look at the level of service. What is available in a care facility in, say, Edmonton or in Ontario, and what is currently available for a sufferer of Alzheimer's here in the Northwest Territories? Is there a difference? I think there is. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think there would be a difference in a couple of areas. One, the level of service or dedicated program to people who suffer from Alzheimer's as well as other dementia issues. That's one for sure we've been working on. In fact, we continue to work with the YACCS organization and integrating a respite program for families that help deal with other family members, we're working and moving that ahead as soon as we can. In fact, this fiscal year we started doing some of that work with them. The other side of it -- and I think it's one of the things we look at here in the North -- is that when it comes to not only the level of care but the cost of providing that care in the Northwest Territories, in the Northwest Territories we, as a government, pick up the large part of that tab whereas in the South individuals and families are paying for that service themselves. So we have to come up with an appropriate balance, both on the level of programming as well as the cost of that programming in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I talked about the power rates in Nunakput. One of the problems that they're having back home is the cost of it. I have a question for the Minister of the NWT Power Corporation in regard to that. I think first of all I'd like to ask the Minister, Tuk being the size of over 1,000 people they don't have a full-time power engineer operator in the plant. At the same time, they have a contractor that just goes out there and does his meter readings on a monthly basis. I'd like to ask the Minister, my first question for the Minister, Mr. Speaker, is what sort of training do these people get, the contractors get in regard to the operation of the power plants itself and also in regard to the meter readings when they do go out to read the meters, meter readings? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regards to our individual employees, we do provide training to our employees when they're hired on and ensure that they have the abilities to carry out those responsibilities. But in regards to meter readings, like the Member mentioned, they are done on a monthly basis in which the individual goes around checking the meters in the communities. Mr. Speaker, in regards to the meters that we do have, there's an issue about changing out meters, but I think we are a regulated business. The meters that we use are also regulated. I think it's important for everyone to realize that in order for us to get an adequate reading, we do have to do it physically. We are looking at upgrading our meter system so that we can be able to have these electric meters read through a computerized program so that we know that the data is there. But again, we are able to work with our employees to make sure that they do have the training and also have the ability to carry out the responsibilities as employees of the Power Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Pokiak.