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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue, of course, when it comes to health care being provided in the Northwest Territories is one we take seriously and this one particular area, we do not have work going on in this area. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Department of Health and Social Services agree that we need to recognize accredited therapists in order to provide the public with the assurance that they are not at risk when they are seeking massage therapy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we talk about issues of health care and the delivery of health care in the Northwest Territories, we do take it seriously. The issue is looking at the timeline we have in this Assembly, there are a lot of legislative priorities that we focussed on as a government. We need to meet the ones we have on the table. At this point, we are not prepared to put additional items on the legislative proposals. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will thank the Minister for answering my third question while I ask the second one. Mr. Speaker, my second question is, yet again, does the Department of Health recognize that accredited therapists need to be provided out there and there needs to be some assurance that there is support and industry protection? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this issue has been looked at. We've looked at other jurisdictions in this area and at some point, we will have to move on this area. As I stated earlier, with the workload that's faced now on the legislative calendar in trying to meet the commitment we have on there, in this government it would be very difficult to meet, but it is something we recognize needs to be reviewed. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now that the Minister recognizes this is an issue and it needs to be reviewed and nobody wants to put their constituents at any type of risk or worse, Mr. Speaker, so this is a safety issue, it's a priority issue in the sense of putting our constituents first, would the Minister at least commit today that he would take a look at what other jurisdictions are providing and come back with maybe a piece of paper on a direction this government may intend to go in or where they can refer the next government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated, looking at the workload on our legislative calendar and this issue in particular, we will gather some information on the work done and just provide that to Members as to where things sit. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When a utility company applies for a rate increase or sometimes there is a decrease to the Public Utilities Board, there's a two phase application. One is the phase one general rate application and the other is the phase two. In phase one, the application actually asks the Public Utilities Board to...They actually make a case, Mr. Speaker, to the Public Utilities Board, saying that there's a need for an increase, and the NWT Power Corp has a community base rate system where each community's rates are set individually, and that's the structure we have right now, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board, I want to understand the process a little bit better. I think the Public Utilities Board is responsible for, again, making sure that communities are receiving the best possible rates and today they're not, and if they're not, I think the Public Utilities Board has to take some responsibility in that as well. So I'd like to ask the Minister again, what type of investigation can take place to see what other communities are paying 20 to 25 percent more in power rates than they have to? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In terms of our utility board as compared to other jurisdictions in Nunavut, they've got their structure set up whereas their Legislature actually sets the rates and they do it a little bit differently. It's kind of like a social rate structure where the government does take up the cost for most of their communities. In the Yukon, Mr. Speaker, they've got the Yukon Utilities Board. It's structured a little bit different. The Legislature does have some say. The Legislature actually approves the final rate structure that's there; whereas our system, Mr. Speaker, our Public Utilities Board is structured at arm's length legislation. So the utilities board actually looks at the rates and agrees with them, and then there's a phase two which they actually help set the rates.

I believe last week in this House, too, a Member asked if there has ever been a refusal of a rate increase. There hasn't been, but the Public Utilities Board did look at the case and did make some changes to the original application, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister, as the Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board, does the Minister have any direct input into the process, or is he just a figurehead? Mahsi.