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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can appreciate that the Minister doesn't want to get into the discussion of the numbers because he doesn't have them before him, but I will tell him how I arrived at them. I took $1.89 million and I worked out what 107 days cost out of 365 days. The point I am getting at is, even if the centre is empty that is, no one is receiving treatment, but it is available to accept people for treatment. That is a reasonable way we should be paying it, because we pay them to be prepared to accept folks into their service contract. But do you know what, Mr. Speaker? They can't provide services. So we are paying for a service that doesn't exist. That is where my concern is. Mr. Speaker, that is how I got over $550,000 if we want to work it down to nuts and bolts. Mr. Speaker, my question still stands. Would the Minister look into this concern to see if we can recuperate this half a million dollars or more? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated, we have had discussions with the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Authority around the contract itself. At this point, we are not prepared to enter into further discussions, especially in this arena and this juncture in the discussions that are happening, to further inflame things. At this point, I am not prepared to do that. As we get back into the work and people are going back through there, we will re-evaluate the situation. In fact, that contract comes up due again at the end of this fiscal year. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I find it a difficult challenge here, because I don't find this responsible spending. We are paying for a service that we can't access. Why would the infrastructure there, the society, et cetera, want to settle this dispute? Because they are being paid as business as normal. That really puts the union in a difficult position, that we continue to pay management and the organization but they can't provide the service. That seems like a horrible situation that we have forced them in. So, Mr. Speaker, yes, we need to pay the heat and power bills, sure. We don't want it to crumble, but the fact is I would like to hear the Minister clearly say today that he will investigate this problem about reaching back into their contract to see if we can recuperate some of this half a million dollars because it is not going to where it was intended. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated, we have had discussions with the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Authority who holds the contract with the society. Regarding the contract itself, I am not going to state and get into the particulars at this point. The fact is we have had our discussions around the contract itself and about the provision of services. I will have to leave it at that at this point. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not aware of any particular cases of needing space heaters in rooms in different facilities across the North. If there are particular situations that the Member would like to discuss, I would be happy to sit down with him to go over those issues and raise them with the department. We work with the health authorities across the Territories for delivery of the service and continue to work with them to make sure that we can

supply a satisfactory level of service for the clients that do use our facilities. Unfortunately, there are times when even though we do intervene in a sense of the medical side of the equation to try to help folks, a lot of times the disease has caught on and it is a matter of management at that point. In particular, with that case there, I am not familiar with it. I would be happy to sit down with the Member to get more details. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These are just a couple of examples that have been brought to my attention just from my constituency, Mr. Speaker, but I am sure there are many out there. In the Stanton Hospital, I know of a few elders who have passed along because of just catching pneumonia in the hospital, Mr. Speaker. Is there any consideration at the hospital? An elder goes through an operation and they are as frail as a newborn baby, which they have a whole ward for, Mr. Speaker. You can walk into that ward and it is very nice and heated. You walk into any elder's home in any community; it is very hot in there. But if you go in the hospital room in the ward where the elders are with the general other patients, it is pretty cool. Some of these elders are pretty frail. I just want to know if there is any consideration that this hospital could have a separate seniors' ward to alleviate any complications such as pneumonia for...

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. I will allow the Minister to respond.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, we would have to look at it case by case. We know our facilities are run by central heating plants and other systems. We look at the temperatures, of course. One of the things we challenge our authorities is to run as efficiently and effectively as possible but it is not to the detriment of patients, so we would have to look at the details of these cases that the Member is raising here. Again, as I said, I would be glad to sit down with him to go over the details and specifics of this and try to deal with them that way. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Short supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand that the hospitals do have a budget, just like everybody else, but you can't really connect the two. I understand that, Mr. Speaker. I am sure the Minister knows that too, that they are not directly related, but I think there is some correlation there, Mr. Speaker. Even in the summertime when you walk into the hospitals -- I know the doctors and nurses are always very busy -- the air conditioning is cranked right up. It is very cool in there. I know I go through the Hay River hospital also a lot of times. In the wards, it is really cool. You can't take off your winter coat in there without catching a shiver. Can the Department of Health and Social Services look at some better options to accommodate, to make sure that if these elders want extra heat, they are going to get the extra heat, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I have stated, we will work with the different authorities of these particular issues that have been raised in our facilities. I would be glad to sit down with the Member and discuss these facilities. I am sure that, throughout the facilities, if things are raised with the staff in those facilities, we are able to try and accommodate patients. We also have to look at the safety of the patient themselves and some of the material that is in those facilities. When you are in a hospital room, there is also a lot of equipment there that you are not wanting to put other heating elements beside because that can cause other problems probably more serious. So I am happy to sit down with the Member to try to get some specifics on this to see what we can try and address. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I realize the sensitivity of equipment and everything like that, but people are pretty sensitive too, especially if you are lying there in your little paper gown there and with a couple of cotton sheets covering you and it is 45 below outside and you have a big bay window there that is wide open. I just want the Minister to really take a very serious note of this issue, that people are coming forward and saying my grandfather shouldn't have passed away. He made it through his operation...

Do you have a final supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve?

...but died of pneumonia. Can the Minister assure the public out there that the Department of Health and Social Services will talk with these local health boards to ensure that there is even a couple of rooms put aside for this specific purpose? Thank you.