Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the biggest challenges is the Japanese tourism visitation is down right across the country. We were able to buck that trend for some time in the Northwest Territories. I think we had a very unique product. But as the Member has indicated, we are faced with some serious competition and pressure from Alaska, from northern Alberta, Yukon, Scandinavia is another big player. So we have to talk about destination market spending. We can always spend more money. I am sure NWTT can make good use of more money, but we have infrastructure investments that critically need to be made here so that we can deal with intercontinental jets being able to land here. There are a number of other issues and I would certainly be prepared to talk to committee about some of what we are proposing to do as we move forward. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister made mention of the fact of the airport in Yellowknife, the runway extension which has been talked about for years as a key part of getting charter aircraft into the Northwest Territories. I'd like to ask the Minister, what has the communication between ITI and the Department of Transportation been on trying to get this key extension to our runway actually on the books and completed? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, I asked my deputy minister a couple of months ago now to sit down with DOT. They have a runway that looked at what runway expansion would cost. It's a little outdated now; I think it needs some more work. I also wanted to know what the minimum level of investment would be required to accommodate these larger jets. So we're talking about that between the two departments. It is something I'd like to come back to the Members with.

One other point I would note, my last chance to visit with Commissioner Notti in Alaska, we agreed that there was merit in cooperation in trying to co-market or co-brand northern North America and target aurora visitation. We can collectively, I think, view Scandinavia as competitors and work together in North America to bring more guests to North America. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I hope that the Minister of Health and Social Services, the Honourable Floyd Roland, will agree with me that it is unacceptable to have a GNWT-owned medical clinic in the year 2007 that does not have barrier-free access. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister if the $156,000 earmarked for the medical clinic in the capital budget under '08-09 is intended to address that shortfall. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the area of barrier-free access has been discussed with the health authority through the CEO and the department. We've worked with them and recognize there needs to be some work done on there. We will continue to have our discussions. In fact, we think we can

move some of the money we have in the planning of the master development plan. Once we have agreement with the health and social services authority, we think we can move some of those funds that are unused and go ahead with some of the renovations in both the clinic as well as the hospital, but those discussions are ongoing. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That was my next two questions: Can he move that money forward, and is there a request before the department at this time to address the barrier-free access at the clinic and can we move some of the capital money forward? Mr. Speaker, I'm afraid if we bunch it all up with a whole lot of other things, it's going to take a little longer. I want to talk about the barrier-free access money required to fix that problem at the medical clinic. There's a request before the department now. Is that something that in an isolated way can be moved ahead and acted on right away? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We believe we can use some of our existing funds, reprofile it towards a project, but we have to sit down with the authorities and see which ones are the highest priority. There's a number of them in the existing facility, and barrier-free access is one that we've had discussions around. So there are possibilities we can move some money around within our existing framework. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is why they call it question period, not answer period. Mr. Speaker, when can we expect to see the work begin on the access to the medical clinic? When? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as soon as we can get an agreement with the health and social services authority on some of the work we've had discussions on, then we'll know how much money we can reallocate and that's where we're at right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to ask a question to the Minister of NCPC. Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister of NCPC: I want to ask if his department is looking at energy efficient ways that can be helpful to our people in the small communities such as the Sahtu region in terms of conserving power.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Honourable Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we, along with the departments of Environment and also ITI, have been developing an energy plan to look at the possibility ourselves as government, and government departments can look at conserving energy. I think through that plan, we're hoping to come up with some ideas. We have done some things in difficult communities: residential heat in regards to using heat off the generation from the power generation that's being produced in the communities, and also we're looking at trying to use electric heat to heat that public infrastructure. So we have other ideas out there, but through the energy plan we're hoping to lay those ideas out and allow the general public to see how we're moving on some of these actions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister has indicated a plan of some sort. I'd like to ask the Minister when, within a time frame, this plan is going to come out, that we as MLAs would have some input to it, some discussions and further discussions to it, members in our communities would have some discussion, and you would then implement it on a territorial-wide basis. So I'd ask the Minister on some time frames. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.