This is a big issue for us, and it’s one I’m working to resolve. Children who need dental surgery under NIHB will have most of the services covered. For those who can’t afford it, we have an assistance program available under health insurance. They have to be indigent.

This is a huge challenge for us in that the biggest cost of the dental surgery service is the services of anaesthetists, who cost about $1,000 per 90 minutes. We feel that dental surgeons who are

offering this service and are getting paid for most of the funding should contribute to some of the cost of doing it. Government is willing to do that, and I’m also wanting the federal government to step up to the plate and get into a partnership with us so we can provide the services in the North for our residents. I’m working on that.

Thank you, Ms.

Lee. Final

supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Aside from the fact that this is money that’s going south and that the service is not available and expensive and so on, there are also long waiting periods for people to go and get dental surgery. Can the Minister tell me if there is recent work to bring dental surgery services back to the NWT?

There are dental surgeons, I’m sure, who are willing to provide the surgery in our health care clinics and hospitals, but the expectation is that the Government of the Northwest Territories will cover the entire cost of the OR nurses, OR staff and the anaesthesiologist, who is one of the most expensive specialists. We feel there is room for us to negotiate, because the dentists are getting most of the coverage for providing that service or are compensated for that. We also feel that the federal government should step into covering the dental surgery costs, because it is a question of long-term oral health of our residents.

I am investigating this, and I’m looking at the possibility of making this service available in either Hay River Hospital, where there is room for that, but probably not in Stanton, because they are fully occupied. But I am looking into that. We need the surgeons and the federal government and everybody to work together on this.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Mr. Speaker, going back to my Member’s statement today on the Beaufort lease sale, what is the GNWT going to get out of the lease sale in the Beaufort?

Thank you, Mr.

Jacobson. The

Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Until actual development occurs as a result of those leases, and if they are successful in finding some products they can take out and transport or develop in the North, on the bid side the benefit we’ll get is when people are hired and increase the wealth in

the communities and impact us from that side of it. Businesses take part in the activity and have a higher corporate tax. That’s the piece we get. We don’t have a direct benefit at this stage of the leases going up.

What is the government doing to maximize our benefits right now?

The area we focus on — and I guess to an earlier question about devolution and resource revenue sharing.... The oil and gas part is still with the federal government. We would hope to see that come north as well so we can see some of those benefits accruing for the Territories.

The issue of what we’re doing today to maximize benefits would depend, for example, on which region we are in. With the Beaufort Sea area being within the Inuvialuit region, part of their claim permits them a portion of the work and some control over how businesses would work in that jurisdiction. They would get benefit from that side. As the Government of the Northwest Territories, again, if there’s production and other levels of development that happen, we can then look directly at areas such as socio-economic agreements that we put in place, again making sure Northerners get the majority of the contracts and jobs.

When is the government going to take this issue about benefits back to Ottawa to open up this discussion again?

In the area of devolution and resource revenue sharing, I’m trying to move that file ahead. I’ve already had two meetings with regional aboriginal leadership to discuss this issue. Of course, different regions are at different stages of their own land claims and self-government discussions. Some aren’t prepared to have that discussion. I think that, as the North, we do have to have a discussion about how we get this and when those benefits would begin to accrue to the Northwest Territories.

As Members are seeing throughout this budget process, we have to make difficult choices with the fiscal environment that we have to live in. Resource revenues flowing to the Government of the Northwest Territories and aboriginal governments in the Northwest Territories would definitely help us in enhancing the level of service we can provide.

Thank you, Mr.

Roland. Final

supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.

I have none at this time.

The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I could ask my questions to the Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation or perhaps the Minister with the money from ITI. I guess for argument’s sake today I’ll ask the Minister of ITI some questions about hydro development in the Northwest Territories.

I spoke in my Member’s statement of the Taltson expansion and the need and requirement for a comprehensive hydro strategy in the Northwest Territories to address our potential in that area. I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI: who is doing this strategy, and will it include consultation with aboriginal governments in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr.

Ramsay. The

Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Hon. Bob McLeod.

We will be seeking

expressions of interest and consulting with all stakeholders and aboriginal governments this year.

I’m wondering if the aboriginal governments in the Northwest Territories are going to be full partners in this comprehensive hydro strategy the government’s developing.

As we outlined in our 2007 NWT Energy Plan, hydro development is clearly the most promising renewable energy opportunity available in the Northwest Territories. In order to involve aboriginal governments and aboriginal partners as we’ve done in the North Slave and South Slave, we’ll need to have a comprehensive hydro strategy that would quantify the resources available, identify the opportunities and the challenges of development, and also create a long-term vision for sustainable hydroelectric development in the Northwest Territories.

Given the great potential that hydro holds here in the Northwest Territories, I’m wondering if the Minister can comment on how many persons we’ve hired over the past five years who have any level of experience or expertise in the area of hydro development.

We do have an energy-planning division, and we rely on expertise from the NWT Power Corporation. We have worked with some eminent experts, such as Peter Lougheed. We have gone forward with an expression of interest from engineers and hydro specialists so that we can determine what kind of expertise is available out there, because we realize we will need assistance to go further with this.

Thank you, Mr.

McLeod. Final

supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker. Again

getting back to my Member’s Statement from earlier, I spoke of the government hiring in excess of 70 positions having to deal solely with the Mackenzie Gas Project. Given the potential that hydro has here in the Northwest Territories, I find there is a great discrepancy between the weight the government has put in the area of hydro and the weight it’s put on the Mackenzie Gas Project. I’m wondering — and maybe the Minister could respond to this question: what is the strategy for trying to get some expertise and experience in-house?