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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member did come and speak to me about this situation, so I did look into it and I can assure the Member that there were no units closed at Stanton. There were beds being moved around to accommodate some of the renovations that had to take place.

In a facility like this that’s 20 years old, there are times when the spaces have to be looked into and rectified when there are situations that occur. I can also assure the Member and the public that the air quality and such were looked at at Stanton and there are no safety issues or risks there.

Mr. Speaker, I do want to also say that the 2004 technical report that the Member is referring to is a master development plan that was initiated by Stanton in 2002. It took two years to complete and the report that they came out with had a cost implication upwards of $250 million-plus, something that is not justifiable for a 20-year-old building that is relatively new in comparison to other areas. So I have been working hard to get the focus back into what is a priority in the department and at the hospital and we will continue to work on that in the capital process. Thank you.

That report from 2004 also identified areas of non-compliance with current codes and health care delivery standards. The report also stated that several building components must -- and I repeat, must -- be upgraded in order to ensure the asset life of that facility. I’d like to ask the Minister what exactly has been done from that report in 2004 to ensure the asset life of that facility is prolonged as much as it can be. Thank you.

I do agree with the Member and it is well known that the hospital is not designed at optimum to deliver the kind of services that it is delivering. So it does need renovating. It’s just that the 2004 report showed an expansion of the hospital in a way that was not in line with what I was looking for, and the Member is very well aware of the seven priority areas and space utilization that we talked about. We need to look at emergency ICU, diagnostic imaging, rehab, medical daycare and all those areas. That’s what I wanted the management to focus on, and we have been working on that since 2006-07 and ‘08 and, as the Member knows, the new capital process is such that the planning study and the capital plan has to include a lot more detail in terms of what’s planned to make it into the capital budget process and we are working on that. Thank you.

I’d like to ask the Minister who informed her that there was no areas of that hospital shut down due to mould, the prevalence of mould and mould removal. I’m not talking about entire wards; I’m talking about a number of beds that were shut down in extended care, psychiatry and on OBS. Who informed the Minister that there was no mould problem at Stanton? Thank you.

I just need to inform the Member that I did look into it when the Member came to see me and that there was some work that had to be done in units in the hospital, but we do not shut down units because the work needs to be done. The beds get moved around and the service

continues to be provided. Also, I took the Member’s concern seriously about the air quality at the hospital and I’ve inquired about that and there is no safety concern with respect to that. I think those are two important points that the Member brought up that I followed up on. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Minister can stand up here today and say that there is no mould problem at that hospital and no beds have been shut down because of mould at Stanton Territorial Hospital. Is that what she’s saying today? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t think the Member should put words in my mouth. What I said is I have followed up on the Member’s question that there were problem areas that were found at the hospital, which is not an unusual situation for a building of that age, and the use of showers and baths and other work that gets done in the hospital sometimes leads to maintenance issues. They were taken into account and we followed up on that and we did not close any of the units in order to do that. There have been lots of technical upgrades and renovations that have been done at the hospital and a building like that would accommodate providing the service while those renovations go on. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We see the area when it comes to our Biomass Strategy of providing the product as a value-added secondary industry that is very important. We’ve been looking at making sure that

our inventories are going to be up to date around the communities, especially as we look at trying to come up with manageable forests around communities that will have a combined function. We’ve had some discussions with companies that are interested in one major plant. The communities that we’ve talked to, that I’ve met with, all are interested in having some type of portable capability when it comes to biomass.

So the Biomass Strategy will be sent to committee here in the next number of days for some feedback. That is one of the areas where we’re looking to have some very serious discussion as we build this big move to transform our energy requirements. Thank you.

What areas of the Northwest Territories where there is vegetation would be considered suitable, sustainable supplies for a stationary or mobile pellet manufacturing plant? Thank you.

We have the benefit of containing about 18 percent of the boreal forest in the country. The boreal forest runs, of course, on the 60th parallel all the way up to Inuvik.

The treeline is moving north.

There are two things you need: you need access to the supply and you need the energy to be able to do the business. So the South Slave, the Deh Cho, up the valley, depending on what size of infrastructure we’d be putting in, is it going to be pellets, is it going to be wood chips, there’s a number of variables, but there’s varying types of potential throughout the boreal forest area. Thank you.

What research and data has the Department of ENR already established that would identify inventories and the sustainability of suitable and enough inventory to warrant this? Like, is the inventory and that kind of scientific work, has that already been conducted and concluded? Thank you.

Our forest inventory is a work in progress. As we’ve looked at our Biomass Strategy and developed an approach, it’s going to look at managed forests around communities. It’s focussed down on some of the needs as we’re going to work with regions and communities to see what kind of area of sustainability we need in communities if they were going to do bio or pellets and in a sustainable way around our communities, how big a forest area would they need.

We’re also looking at the broader forest inventory as it comes to other management issues tied to forest products. So that work is underway and is going to have to be intensified as we move forward with biomass. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since this is a land-based activity -- and of course we know that much of the land in the Northwest Territories is either in some form of agreement for First Nations -- what kind of work or groundwork has been laid to ensure that when the time comes, either through joint ventures or agreements or land set aside through land use plans, that they will actually have access to those areas where this product will be available? Thank you.

The Member raises a critical point. A lot of the key and major areas of opportunity for boreal forests lie in the unsettled claims area. As we move forward with these initiatives as we look at it on a regional basis or by community, we’ll have to negotiate and have discussions and work in partnership with the aboriginal governments. Where the land claims are settled. It will be a little more straightforward in terms of how we resolve the issue of access of supply. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my Member’s statement today, I talked about the issue of diamonds being now cut in Ontario. Mr. Speaker, every resident of the Northwest Territories knows that millions of dollars have been invested and at times rushed into the diamond producing industry and seeing it as the backstop of our economy going forward. Mr. Speaker, when it comes to the diamond cutting industry, the ground has certainly shifted and it’s starting to look more like a sinkhole than an investment.

Mr. Speaker, the issue, really, simply is this: I would like to know what this government is doing to protect our diamond cutting industry making sure that we still have a viable position in Canada knowing that we are not the only ones cutting diamonds in Canada. Thank you.

The diamond cutting polishing industry in the Northwest Territories has definitely gone through its challenges. Without the support of the Government of the Northwest Territories, I would say in fact there would be no industry in the Northwest Territories. It has been through our determination and the programming and funding we have put in place to help this maintain and exist. I think we can say we still have an industry in the Northwest Territories. In fact, I think it has been the basis of what we have put in place. That has been used by Ontario to use their

Victor Mine to supply their cutting and polishing industry that is just starting out. One of the things that was done prior to this work is the Minister of ITI committed to reviewing our policy and coming back to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure on this policy. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, has the Government of the Northwest Territories ever contemplated its position as to where it would be in the sense of investment-wise if another area of Canada started producing diamonds? Have they looked into this issue and evaluated as to how we are going to position ourselves for the future to be relevant? Thank you.