Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister might be correct if I lived in Toronto, because the City of Toronto is mandated with health issues; maybe in Calgary, maybe in Edmonton if we lived in that little imaginary answer, but not in the city of Yellowknife. The City of Yellowknife is not mandated to take care of health and social services issues.

If the minister is willing to look into this and if she is willing to talk to the mayor — I can’t make a commitment on behalf of the mayor — is she willing to also look for appropriate funding if she finds that the city wants to take this issue on? Because this is a serious downtown issue for both residents and business owners.

Mr. Speaker, I would think that any reasonable mind would agree with that. It is debatable whether this is a Health and Social Services issue and a territorial issue. I understand the concern. I understand this has been an issue for the downtown merchants in the city of Yellowknife as well as something that the municipal government has been working on with community groups. So I will once again commit to the Member — and I do not need him to make a commitment on behalf of the mayor — that I will call the mayor, and I will talk to him about what plans there are and see what we can do.

Thankyou, Ms. Lee. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Mr. Speaker, just following up on my Member’s statement with regard to the bison issue in Fort Liard, I’d like to ask the Minister of Natural Resources: what steps have been taken in Fort Liard since May of this year when I raised the bison management issue?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Speaker, since January 2008 there have been ten animals destroyed, and two in the last week. That is the most immediate, concrete and final type of solution to those particular animals. There is other work underway. I know the Member and I have discussed over the many months the issue of the strategy that has been worked on. My latest information from ENR is that they anticipate having a draft that they can finally share with the Member and with the people by November, which I will commit to do. They’re also looking at fencing and hazing, those type of things as well, to try to deal with this ongoing issue.

Mr. Speaker, the herd in Fort Liard is classified as free roaming. That only means that there isn’t a bison management plan, which is what I expect the Minister is referencing. Once again, how much consultation has he been doing with the community and with the community leadership with regard to coming up with an agreeable bison management plan?

Mr. Speaker, there has been ongoing discussion with the community as well. We are working on a change of legislation to look at increasing the quota of tags from the current one to six to allow the community to make their own decisions. So there has been ongoing consultation and we will have further consultation as we come forward with the draft plan in November.

Mr. Speaker, I would just like to know the government’s position on property damage. There’s a lady that had her vehicle damaged, and one fellow lost all his propane, because the propane line was broken as a result of the bison. I’d just like to know the government’s stand on reimbursement for damages by the bison.

I’m not aware of a specific policy that we have that speaks to damage caused by wildlife in the community. I’ll check with

the department, and I’ll commit to get back to the Member on that.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Once again I would like to invite the Minister to continue the tour of the Nahendeh riding to address this issue and many others with regard to his department. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. No question there. However, I will allow the Minister to respond to that if he wants. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll be happy to work with the Member to complete the tour that was interrupted earlier last spring.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister responsible for Seniors. In my Member’s statement I spoke of some of the elders I had the opportunity to host this past weekend in Yellowknife. I spoke with elders from Colville Lake, Délînê, Fort Good Hope, and I also spoke to some of the seniors and elders in Norman Wells.

I would like to ask the Minister responsible for Seniors: in terms of seniors’ care in the Sahtu as well as the other communities is there a discussion paper being examined or looked at in terms of coordinating all the seniors’ programs under one secretariat or department?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Seniors, Ms. Lee.

Mr. Speaker, there is not a plan to set up a secretariat for seniors separately. However, we have a Minister responsible for Seniors who worked with the NWT Seniors’ Society and other seniors in the territory to address the seniors’ issues they advocate for on behalf of the seniors in the Territories.

The NWT Seniors’ Society certainly does a lot of good work in the Northwest Territories. They involve the regional seniors in their meetings.

I’d like to ask the Minister if there are any discussions in the upcoming business plan, any type of discussion on the new initiatives that are initiated by this government in terms of looking at the possibility of putting together a discussion paper

on the seniors’ secretariat, because that will benefit the people in the region in terms of how to work with the seniors at a more respectful level.

Mr. Speaker, whether there is a seniors’ secretariat or not, I think what the seniors are interested in knowing is that the government is responsive to some of the concerns that the seniors are bringing forward. The government has worked on and responded to the Seniors Action Plan along with the NWT Seniors’ Society.

Just last year we increased the seniors’ benefits, and it was indexed by communities, recognizing the differentials in the cost of living, especially in some of our smaller and remote communities. Income Security has increased the ceiling for the senior home fuel subsidy, where an increase of $10,000 as the limit that seniors can apply for has helped seniors. In terms of the new initiatives, the Strategic Initiative Committee on Reducing the Cost of Living is looking at reviewing the commercial power subsidy as well as enhancing and improving road access to remote communities.

All of these are geared towards dealing with reducing the cost of living in small communities, which at the end of the day is what the seniors are looking for, I believe.

Mr. Speaker, thank you to the Minister for the overall report. I’m asking again if the Minister would look at a secretariat that would have a little more weight than what we have right now. I know you have to work with other departments, other Ministers, and the different programs in other departments. For the seniors back in our small and most isolated communities, they have to go to different departments, different agencies and organizations to explain what their issue is. I’m looking for a secretariat where they could come to one place. We owe that to them and not let them run around the communities. They could come to one place where they can get all their issues dealt with under one roof by this government. So I’m again asking: would you bring this to your colleagues and to the House to have a discussion on a secretariat that would be more meaningful for seniors?

Mr. Speaker, there is no plan to establish a seniors’ secretariat, because within the fiscal environment that we are working on, we are not able to look at expanding government bureaucracy. Even if there were a secretariat, whoever is working there would have to work with departments across the government, because seniors are looked after by Health and Social Services, by Income Security, by Housing, and in many, many different areas.

I think the point, the more important thing, is that we work together, and the Minister responsible for

Seniors does do that. We work closely with the NWT Seniors’ Society on the enhancement of programs. I think that is more important than setting up a separate junior department for seniors.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.