Mr. Speaker, we have dedicated a significant amount of resources over the last few years. In fact, we’ve gone to a seven-

day work week from a five-day work week so that we could have more maintenance cycles performed on our highways. We have also been really doing a lot of work in terms of upgrading our roads. Our roads are still, a lot of them are at the age where they have to be reconstructed; they’re at the midlife portion of where they need to be redone. There are also roads in our system that are not quite up to the standard that’s accepted across Canada, so we’re still working towards widening our roads and working on the shoulders and guardrails and things of that nature. Our roads are adequate. We feel they’re safe. The costs to operate our roads in the maintenance cycles are significantly higher than the south. On the Dempster, for example, it would cost us around $17,000 per kilometre to maintain a road whereas in Alberta it’s probably anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500.

There’s been a lot of discussion about federal money available for upgrades of transportation infrastructure. I’d like to know from the Minister what is contemplated in the short term and also the long term with respect to the stretch of highway I’m referring to.

I believe in the last decade we spent around $46 million on Highway No. 1. Over the next four years we’re going to be looking at spending just under $10 million. I think it’s around $8.8 million for that section of highway.

To the Minister’s knowledge, is there anything different in terms of product that they use on the roads in Alberta that we don’t use on our roads in the Northwest Territories that would perhaps explain the marked difference? Quite often on the Alberta side the highway is dry. Then you get onto the NWT side and it’s icy. I know sometimes there is a weather change at the border too. Sometimes when you’re travelling north you do notice that at the 60th parallel

for some reason there’s a weather change. Is there a product that we don’t use that they use?

In general we follow the same operating practices as Alberta. I believe the weather is the significant factor in having a different condition of road. We certainly have invested more dollars and I think our maintenance schedules are probably more than what Alberta does, but I certainly can commit to the Member that we’ll check with Alberta to see what they do. I believe our staff have already had several meetings with them. But if they do anything different than what we do, we can certainly bring that forward for consideration.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen. Thank you. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about trapping in the Sahtu region. Not every student from the Sahtu wants to be a heavy equipment operator or an office manager or a doctor. A lot of the students here have indicated that trapping is a way of life for them and that will continue to be a way of life for them. I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI, in terms of the successful Take a Kid Trapping program, is this something that will be a long-standing commitment from this government to increase the funding or have the funding be more stabilized in terms of supporting these 51 students this year who have enrolled in this program?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Take a Kid Trapping program is one of our more successful programs. The primary idea was to give the youth in the Territories a choice so they could continue to practice a way of life and make some money while they’re doing it. We foresee that with the success that we’ve had that it will continue for some time.

The Take a Kid Trapping program is also included in the education curriculum in the Northwest Territories in terms of credits earned for different, I guess, credits in terms of their continuing education with the amount of programs that are done throughout the year. This program, is it a part of the curriculum of the Northwest Territories?

This Take a Kid Trapping program and taking students out on the land has been incorporated into the curriculum of schools in the Northwest Territories. It is a credited program. We work very closely with the teachers. It has been very successful and very well received by the students.

I spoke to a person in Tulita and this person took two young people out to a trapping program. This older person mentioned that these two young students did not want to come back into the community. They loved it out on the land. The training program, however, because of the funding, was cut short and they had to come back into the community. In terms of the Take a Kid Trapping program, is the Minister going to see if part of the funding could be increased in terms of having a longer success in the programs in the Northwest Territories?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the list of institutes that are helping with the Take a Kid Trapping program will the Minister with this department consider looking at establishing a Northwest Territories trapping institute for this type of program? I think this type of program is readily needed in our communities and this program, I think, will be one that will be a shining hallmark for all trapping institutes across Canada and the world. So this is something that’s very important.

We do look at it from time to time, but most recently we approached it on a national level. We work very closely with the Fur Institute of Canada that deals with all the provinces and territories. That seems to work quite well. We always look at ways to improve on how we deal with trapping, so that’s certainly something we’ll continue to look at.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During my Member’s statement I talked about the issue of cleanliness and security at Stanton Hospital. It’s been about two months since I raised this issue with the Minister and certainly since my constituent has e-mailed both me and the Minister on this concern. I’d like to know what the Minister has done to date to fix these two problems so we cannot just use it as a temporary solution but on a going forward basis that these problems have been addressed.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for bringing this issue up. I do want to correct one aspect of what the Member said. I’m in possession of the e-mail that the

constituent sent him and me and there’s no indication there that an inmate who was staying at the hospital entered this room. The information he and I both have is that the patient was made aware that there was a gentleman across the hall who is an inmate and there were two guards outside of that door. The patient was advised if that inmate somehow entered the room -- and he never did -- that they should be notified as soon as possible.

With respect to what actions have been taken, I have responded to the constituent, and copied to the Member that all of the concerns that this constituent has brought up have been brought up to the management. In the interim there have been very close and intense discussions between the Stanton authority and Sodexho that their work at the hospital is not acceptable, that they had to improve. There is a close monitoring process in place. The management from Alberta has to come every two weeks, not every two months. Their work is closely monitored.

I’ll deal with the two issues separately. Of course the cleanliness issue, I’m glad to hear that Sodexho is now sending someone on a regular basis. Have they been finally put on final notice that if they don’t follow the program that they’ll be gone specifically due to the cleanliness of this establishment?

Sodexho provides services for the laundry and cleanliness for housekeeping as well as the kitchen services. They were, yes, advised that their services had to improve markedly or that the authority would consider all options including considering other contractors. My information is that since they have had that discussion in October the services have improved somewhat.

As far as the security details, I’ll speak to the Minister privately as to the integrate details of it, but ultimately what provisions are in place when we have safety concerns with potential inmates? We have a designated area where inmates are able to receive the treatment they require at the hospital. Therefore, they’re separated from regular patients at the same time. Do we have those types of provisions or designations in that hospital that can accommodate that?

There is no separate unit for inmates. That would not be feasible because we don’t have the capacity at the hospital. The rules are that inmates who are in the hospital have to be guarded by two guards. In that specific situation there were two guards outside the door.