Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member knows, we had an election in October and this resulted in a change. As well, in the North Slave region we had a wholesale changeover of regional managers.

I don’t know if the territorial election had much to do with the operational requirements inside a department — that should be a day-to-day operational thing. And they should be covered off by somebody whether there are changes to personnel or not. What I’d like to ask the Minister is: what is the game plan going forward in terms of consulting the campers in the North Slave region? Has he got a plan for this summer?

I did write to the Member, as the chair of the Economic Development Committee, advising him of what we were looking at. So I was pleased with his response and suggestions.

As I’ve committed publicly and I’ve committed to the committee, we will be undergoing full consultation with the campers, the aboriginal governments, and all of the public before we make any changes.

I think it’s important in this that the department gets out into the campgrounds in the North Slave region and talks to both the seasonal campers and the recreational campers that are out there, and develop some type of survey or questionnaire or something to that effect before waiting until the fall when everybody goes and packs it in for the winter.

I’d like to ask the Minister: are there plans in the works to get out there and talk to people while they’re actually camping?

Certainly that is our intention, and we’ve been getting a lot of feedback from the campers. I’m also pleased that the Member supports the fact and the recognition that we need as many new sites as possible.

Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In relation to the issues in the North Slave campgrounds, I wanted to ask a final question on the reservation system and how it is that the public has to pay to reserve a campsite. I can understand that they pay and they get that offset against their actual camping fees, but from what I see and from what I hear from my constituents, somebody is taking that money, and it’s not going in to offset the camping fees. So I think that’s a cost the department should be incurring.

I’d like to ask the Minister: is there any appetite to phase that type of reservation system out so that the general public doesn’t have to pay to reserve a campsite?

That concern has been raised by many people, so we’re reviewing the whole reservation system. We’ve already made a commitment that we weren’t changing anything this summer, so we’ll look at changing it as part of our overall consultations, unless we can find a better approach quickly.

The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to direct my questions today to the Minister of ITI, and it goes back to my Member’s statement on the delays in the Joint Review Panel public hearings and their final report. I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI if this government had any input into the terms of reference for the Joint Review Panel.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our previous Minister — I think it’s two governments ago — was at the forefront in advocating that we take a joint review panel approach. It was felt that going through regulatory review involving 13 boards and agencies would take too long, and as such, we advocated a joint review panel approach.

I appreciate the Minister’s comments about taking too long. I can’t imagine how much longer it would have taken had we gone through 13. It seems even with the one, we’re still taking a long time.

I did ask the Minister and he did give me a response to my question, but I don’t think it was an answer. I asked him if this government had any input into the terms of reference for the Joint Review Panel.

We did review the terms of reference and we did have input. For those areas that are under the Government of the Northwest Territories’ responsibilities, we specifically dealt with those as well.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister for that. I found that was an answer to the question that I had posed.

I would also like to ask the Minister: do we contribute any funding to the Joint Review Panel?

The Government of the Northwest Territories doesn’t specifically contribute to the operations of the Joint Review Panel. Where we spend money is in making sure that we have the

people and the resources to develop the positions that are taken by the Government of the Northwest Territories in any interventions, also in reviewing the interventions of other groups and agencies that appear in front of the Joint Review Panel.

Final supplementary, Mr. Robert McLeod.

I thank the Minister for that. I’d like to ask the Minister if the Minister’s office is made aware of any delays or extensions to the hearing process, and has he communicated to the Joint Review Panel our displeasure at the extensions and delays? Thank you.

We have been in discussions on a number of occasions with Mr. Neil McCrank, who is reviewing the regulatory process on behalf of the federal government. We’ve also had discussions with Minister Prentice and his point man on oil and gas for the Northwest Territories, Mr. David Hudson.

We recognized early on that the writing of the report of the panel could be facing delays, because there was only a four-month window for the report to be written. We expected that the April report would likely be pushed back, and that has come to pass.

But the main issue was how do you try to speed up a panel that has held hearings and has had input. How do you speed it up without being seen to interfere with the proceedings of the panel? So that was the dilemma. Certainly, our Premier has made comments that he would like to see the process speed up, and certainly we would like to see that happen as well. Thank you.

The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Today I spoke about counselling services in Lutselk’e and the serious concern for the community. Unfortunately, the community has had to endure the untimely passing of three community youth because of suicides within the last 24 months. Can the Minister tell me what the current situation is with respect to providing counselling services in Lutselk’e?

The honourable Minister of Health, Ms. Lee.

Currently in Lutselk’e there has been a vacancy of the mental health addictions

worker there for about a year. In that period of time the services have been provided by Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority, which is in charge of those services. So there have been three workers travel to Lutselk’e on a periodic basis to provide services, one of them specializing in youth counselling.

I’d like to advise the Member the latest is we have been able to hire somebody, and we have had verbal commitment from a mental health specialist, and we hope we’ll be able to fill that position on a permanent basis for the community.