As much as the Minister of Youth, I would like to have a youth budget. I think it would be very difficult to try and access or pull all the pockets of money together because what education may use is earmarked for their particular department and as far as the other departments go. But I can assure the Member that I will meet with my Cabinet colleagues and try to identify all the pockets of money first of all and then see what steps we can take from there.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Mr. Speaker, I raised an issue during my Member’s statement, which is the process of the Opportunities Fund. A constituent contacted me the other day and basically emphasized their concern and fear that either other companies are eyeing this or potentially some companies could be coming back for this fund without Members being fully involved in a process going forward, one that’s both transparent as well as involves Members.

My first question to the Minister of ITI is what process will he be developing to ensure that Members are involved in being part of the Opportunities Fund, whether it’s knowledge or in the sense of discussion if this type of loan is warranted? And will he be considering these sections I highlighted earlier, which was under the FAA, section 67(1.1), and certainly section 5 on the guarantees and indemnities regulation.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have approached standing committees to work with us to make the Opportunities Fund more active and to design the funds so that it’s more transparent and can maximize the benefits to businesses in the Northwest Territories. I should point out that the Opportunities Fund has grown and is funded by funds from the federal government

collected from immigrant investors. That money has to be paid back every five years; as such, seeing that as the Government of the Northwest Territories’ funds, although it is accounted for in the public accounts.

The problem is it’s the membership of the Assembly and the membership of the Northwest Territories that are on the hook if something goes wrong.

I want to make sure that we start with a fair, open and transparent process that involves Members up front. Mr. Speaker, I have highlighted the FAA and I have highlighted even sections under regulations that could involve Members that talk about maximum liability, potential risk and certainly risk assessment. It involves contacting the Members 14 days prior to a final recommendation being made. Mr. Speaker, the important thing here is, is the Minister going to make those considerations and will we stop running any money until full policies come forward? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that the Standing Committee of EDI will work with us to develop a program that will be acceptable to everybody. Certainly, we have committed that any queries we won’t act on them unless the Members on the opposite side are aware of them and we don’t see us going forward on a one-off basis until such time as we have policies and procedures that we all agree upon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, for the record, is that the official policy of this department that no loans will be granted until we come up with policies and procedures developed through the committee system that are agreeable by the government? Thank you.

I can’t commit to that because we have a number of loan programs that, as I understand it, have been established through legislation of this Assembly, so we will continue to make big loans on that basis. But loans from the Opportunities Fund, we will make sure that we work with the standing committee to have a process that everybody is happy with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mr. Speaker, respectfully, the Minister is evading a simple question which is, if the Opportunities Fund is completely on hold until policies and procedures are developed, working with the committee that oversees that department, is that lending process on hold until those policies and procedures are developed? Thank you.

Just to be very clear, we are continuing to collect money from the federal government, but we will not lend or make any loans until such time as we have agreed upon policies and procedures that we develop with the standing committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. From my Member’s statement today, I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Is there a policy for determining who is eligible for medical travel? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, there are. In practical terms, anybody who needs immediate attention and has to be transported, those decisions are made between the front-line health care provider and the doctors or any other health care providers, say, in Stanton or in Inuvik that they are in touch with. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, in the decision making about whether they should send someone on the schedule or the medevac, who makes that final decision? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Member did speak to me about this before session. My officials are looking at it. I will be able to provide more information on this specific situation as much as we can. But with respect to the decision about who decides, it would be the health care provider on the ground. It might be the nurse or the nurse in charge or whoever is in that facility and then they would be consulting with the receiving facility, whether it be Inuvik, Stanton or Aven, or outside of the Territory’s location. Thank you.

I guess in a nutshell that is pretty poor judgment in regards to my Member’s statement today. Who makes decisions about cancelling patients’ travel due to overbooking or not enough passengers? Would the Minister look into this problem in the Beaufort-Delta and do something about this problem with the airline? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Member raised a number of things I think that need to be looked into. I will undertake to do that and get back to the Member on what happened in these

individual cases as well as a broad policy. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. She answered the question. Thank you.

Thank you. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I asked a few questions in regards to P3 and P3 policy. I would like to address my questions to the lead Minister for infrastructure. Given that the NWT is going to be receiving literally millions of dollars from the federal government for infrastructure projects over the next couple of years and considering that in the world of builders, P3s are sometimes considered bad public policy, I would like to ask the Minister whether or not GNWT has a P3 policy in place for the government and, by extension, for our communities to use and to protect themselves for P3 projects. Thank you.