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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, clearly, this is a problem having a club foot in the Northwest Territories. There may not be an epidemic, but it is an issue, Mr. Speaker, and, further, it's an issue that we could solve; it's something within our reach. So, Mr. Speaker, what is the apprehension of adding club foot to our extended health benefits? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's not just a matter of one subject or one disability over another being added to the list. There are many that don't make the list, whether it's in the drug side, particular procedures and, as well, we'd have to look at, as we do with a lot of our programs, income of individuals and whether they qualify for some of our programs or not. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, Mr. Speaker, we're not allowed to ask the opinion of a Minister, although that would seem relevant in this particular case. However, Mr. Speaker, we pay for the surgery of this problem and it seems completely absurd why we would ignore the treatment side. I mean, what's the point? So, Mr. Speaker, what would it take to get club foot on the extended health benefits list? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the fact that in many procedures, not just in the Northwest Territories but all of Canada, we, as providers of health care service, would cover for surgical procedures, hospital bed time. In many cases when patients are released back to their communities or homes, they have to pick up their own tab on drugs and so on as a result of some of the procedures, so this is not a unique case. It would take for adding this one case to the list, we'd have to do a review to see if it's one thing or another; or, if we're going to add to this list, what's the priority. We have a growing cost already that we're having a hard time keeping in check and we add another procedure to it. That's some of the stuff we have to weigh as we look at this. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, again I think the Minister underscores the oddity here; whereas we pay for the surgery but we don't pay for the treatment. I mean it becomes completely irrelevant at that point. Why do the surgery? It's confusing, Mr. Speaker. So my last question to the Minister is, what will it take this Minister to recognize and identify that this is a real issue to go on our extended health benefits? Does he require letters from mothers? Does he require a motion in this House? Does he require camping out at his doorstep? Does he require a petition? What would this Minister like to see to add this issue to our extended health benefits list? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is continuing on his view of this. The situation is, as a government, if we had more money to put into our extended health benefits policy, would this be one of the priorities, and that has to come under the equation. We'd have to look at a whole number of procedures that are not included now that people would have to pay on their own or go to other jurisdictions that we can't provide. As I stated before, there are procedures, surgeries done on patients. Once they've gone home, they have to pay and pick up the tab on a number of other things. So this is not a rare or unique situation. Unfortunately, there are situations where issues aren't dealt with through our existing system. In all of our programs, as we're reviewing, we have to look at the ability of patients to be able to pay some part of their own care. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier, the Minister responsible for the Deh Cho Bridge Act and corporation, and the proposed construction of the Mackenzie River bridge. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my Member's statement earlier, most residents here in the North Slave region in the city of Yellowknife would welcome a bridge. But from where I stand, I don't believe the project has received any level of scrutiny by Members of this House, by the public; and by the sounds of the Premier's sessional statement, we're marching headlong into agreements without any federal assistance. Mr. Speaker, I'm a tad bit confused, I must say, because over the past three years the government has insisted that the project wouldn't go ahead unless there was federal assistance, and now in the sessional statement today the Premier is saying that the project is going to go ahead. So I'd like to ask the Premier, if he could, to let us know if indeed the

project, the Mackenzie River bridge, will be built without any federal assistance. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me, first of all, clarify that responsibility for the bridge project now rests with the Minister of Transportation. But, Mr. Speaker, I'll answer the question since it was directed to me. Yes, we are going to move ahead. We'll move ahead carefully, but we'll move ahead with solidarity. We're not going to slow down on this one. Mr. Speaker, I wrote to the Prime Minister this week, asking him, reminding him of his commitment and that this is part of the national highway system and we fully expect to have that. Mr. Speaker, keep in mind that these negotiations are between the Bridge Corporation and the contractor. It is the Bridge Corporation who is owning this bridge during the concession period, so it's not 100 percent ours. But I will take a look at how we can arrange briefings for the Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is the decision to proceed and whether in fact the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation enters into agreements with contractors, that is going to tie the hands of what's left of this government and the governments for the next 35 years into paying for it, not to mention the tolls that are going to have to be paid on goods that are trucked across that bridge. I think we really have to take a look at this and make a business case for it. Again, we've had one briefing in the past three years that would suggest if you're anywhere close to making a decision, without any federal money, Mr. Speaker, this project, to me, should be put on the back burner. I don't believe we should be taking all the risk. I'd like to ask a question to the Premier. How much equity or risk is the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation putting into this project? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me just remind Members that in 1978 I believe it was, the Legislative Assembly of the day looked at the price of the bridge and decided then that $6.2 million was too much, so they put it on the back burner. Today we're looking at, as the Member had said, something in the neighbourhood of 130, somewhere in that range. If we had done it in 1978 instead of putting it on the back burner, we would have had a bridge a long time ago and we'd have a cost of living that's a lot lower than it is today.

Mr. Speaker, I'm concerned of putting it on the back burner because the costs are going to continue to go up. So we've got to get on with this project and that's been our message to the federal government: Get on with it. Do it. It's going to be less money this year than it's going to be five years from now or whenever we think we may have the money.

Mr. Speaker, in regard to the equity from the Bridge Corporation; yes, they are putting money into it. They are investing in it; they are taking some risk on it, and I don't have the exact numbers on that information, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know some of my colleagues are saying build a bridge. Well, build a bridge; we haven't seen a business case, we haven't seen the numbers, and I'd like to know how we can build a $130 million bridge with our eyes closed, Mr. Speaker, and to me that's what we're doing, we're building it with our eyes closed. We haven't seen a business plan; we haven't seen the numbers; the feds aren't coming up with any money, but yet we're going to move ahead and enter into agreements. Mr. Speaker, something about that just doesn't sit right with me. Sure, I want a bridge, like anybody else wants a bridge, but I want to know how the heck we're going to pay for it over the next 35 years and that has to be clearly spelled out. The stakeholders in the North Slave region have to be consulted. I'd like to ask the Premier if the stakeholders, and I'm talking about the business community here in the North Slave, when are they going to be consulted about the possible increase to the tolls that trucks are going to have to pay crossing that bridge? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What is of concern to the stakeholders north of the Mackenzie River is the amount of the toll and what that is going to cost them. That's the bottom line for them. In terms of the detail of all the financial information and how it's being financed and so on, that's something that I will see if we can share it with the committee, but keep in mind it is the Bridge Corporation's contract not ours. We're paying a toll and we're paying, in addition to the toll, an amount to make this work including the ice crossing and winter road. But, Mr. Speaker, it's the bottom line of how much it costs that is going to be important to people.

Mr. Speaker, just a correction. The Member said earlier in his statement that the commitment was that the toll would not exceed $6. That's not quite accurate. The toll was set at $6, but there's also a factor that was worked in for inflation. So it would go up gradually over the years because some day, 20 years from now, 30 years from now, $6 may have the value of $2. So we need to have that inflationary built into it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.