Yes, we do. It’s under assist training program where last year 20 individuals were trained to be trainers so that they could work with the community groups. We are planning on having another training program in the spring of 2009, which will be the next level of skills training program. I will make sure that when that sort of

work is going on -- and we do a lot of work with youth in schools and communities -- that those will get more advertised. That’s something that we need to talk about, because the department is very much aware that we continue to have a very high rate of suicide. Per population we have about anywhere from nine to 11 a year.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the Honourable Jim Flaherty, our Minister of Finance for the Government of Canada, and his position and his launch of a website called actionplan.gc.ca today. What he did was he came up with a process that demonstrates where the public money is going to help demonstrate that they are attempting to stimulate the economy. By promoting it publicly we can draw accountability to the monies actually being spent and where and how and at what rate. My questions for the Minister of Finance will be along that line.

Just recently we passed the budget and I’d like to know if the Minister has any plans to create a strategy and a webpage that demonstrates how this territorial government is infusing cash into our economy at a much needed time such as we’re going through now.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As government practice, of course we’ll be doing the regular variance reports. Every department and every Minister will be looking at the work plans that they brought forward to the House and to the committees as they go into the communities to deliver the programs. We will be doing regular statements and updates in the House when we do our community travels, which are going to be extensive. We will be speaking to the needs, programs, and expenditures that have been approved by this House. We have a whole wide variety of ways that we will disseminate this information.

The Minister is correct about the variance reports, but it’s been my experience you have to be quite a knowledgeable person to be able to follow those. The challenge really is, is it in everyday plain language for the average person to be able to say, hey, I see where this money is

going, the Minister said there would be $17.5 million invested in environment issues. I can follow it. Here’s the investment.

What would stop the Minister of Finance from creating a website under the fundamentals of just plain language explaining where the highway money is going, where the environment money is going, where the infrastructure money is going, in plain language that the everyday person can follow?

The Government of the Northwest Territories has a number of websites. Most departments do as well, I believe. What I’ll commit to do is talk to the officials and the deputy about the possibility to see what could be improved on those websites.

I appreciate that commitment in looking at that. Would the Minister be able to commit to an action plan somewhat similar that the federal government Finance Minister is doing to make sure that all Northerners can follow where their infrastructure money is being spent? Would he be able to commit to some type of review into that process and report back to this House by May to let our people know where their money is going and they can follow it?

The broad document reports that we use as our action plan is the main estimates that are built on all the different departmental business plans. I’ve made the commitment to the Member that we will look at the information that’s on the various websites and is there a way to improve that so that it’s as user friendly and in as plain English as possible.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got some questions today for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Again getting back to my Member’s statement where I was speaking of the BDIC, it was four years ago that the Government of the Northwest Territories took the Business Credit Corporation and the Business Development Corporation and rolled them into one under an act called the BDIC Act. This happened for a couple of reasons. It was in an effort to become more efficient and to save some money and it was also to get to the one-window approach for business-related services provided in our Territory. Here we are four years later and I just don’t see the proof that we’ve acted on recommendations and actually achieved what it is we want to achieve.

I’d like to ask the Minister, the first question I’d have is, how much money has the BDIC and the government saved by bringing the two former organizations -- the BCC and the BDC -- together under one roof?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The consolidation of the BDIC was not a money-saving matter and it was not intended to save money by combining the two.

I was a Member of the last government and to me that was always a part of the equation. It was to get the one window, it was to find efficiencies, and it was to deliver programs and services to people in the Northwest Territories in a more efficient manner. Again, we’re not there. People have to go to multiple windows to receive the same level of service. This was premised on reports that the department itself conducted. I talked about them earlier. Dargo, Allen, there was a number of recommendations in those reviews.

I’d like to ask the Minister how many of those recommendations in the reviews commission by his department has the government actually acted upon?

We act on all reports that we commissioned and in my view we have a one-window approach that is working very well with regard to promoting economic development in the Northwest Territories.

I’d like to ask the Minister why it is that the BDIC loan portfolio over the last three years is shrinking. Why is that trend there and what does the Minister perceive for the future of the BDIC loan portfolio?

The loan portfolio has shrunk for a number of reasons, predominantly because of the Auditor General’s requirements to reduce the loan loss provisions and to tighten up on the accounting. I think with the expansion of the lending authorities to lending officers into the regions and communities, you’ll see the loan activities increase as well.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of the Housing

Corporation in regard to my statement and the consideration of the $50 million we’re going to be spending over the next two years. Seriously consider spending those dollars on housing in communities that are barrier-free or user friendly to people with disabilities. We do have people right now in our communities who are in wheelchairs or whatnot, but the housing that they’re living in is not designed for people with disabilities. They are not barrier-free. The same thing applies to our aging seniors in our communities who are having mobility problems but our housing is not designed for that.

I’d like to ask the Minister, is there going to be any housing built in our communities with the $50 million for barrier-free houses so that we have these houses available in our communities?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, the short answer is yes. It’s already built into our programs that we utilize, whether it’s a renovation program or private homeownership program. It’s designed for a disabled person or family with somebody who’s disabled or a senior we allow for a barrier-free access.

Also in my Member’s statement I made reference to seniors care facilities in our communities in which, especially nowadays with the whole area of having safe and secure housing for seniors, but more importantly having seniors located in one facility in the community where you have a caretaker in the facility who can ensure that the well-being of the seniors are being taken care of. I’d like to ask the Minister, knowing that previously the situation with seniors at housing by way of care facilities were mostly in line with Health and Social Services, but with these dollars can we build seniors facilities in communities for such a thing as seniors care facilities so that seniors can live in one location and have the caretaker in those facilities so that they can be taken care of?

We already build seniors facilities. We build houses that seniors utilize. We build barrier-free facilities for seniors. And we also invest in a lot of communities with a program focused on independent seniors. We have not seen the criteria for the new dollars. We currently don’t invest in seniors facilities that require ongoing O and M. We do not have new dollars to do that. But we certainly can have the discussion with the Department of Health to see what our avenues are once the discussion negotiations with the federal government for the new money are finished.

In regard to the...I wasn’t clear on the Minister’s response on the first question. My understanding is that right now most public housing that are built in the communities are not barrier-free. In regard to having someone with a disability or in a wheelchair, you usually have to build a ramp. Basically that’s all you do to a public housing unit. I’d like to ask again if you are considering building social housing units for social housing clients and people with disabilities, barrier-free housing in our communities.