Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In this area I just wanted to ask a question on one of the things that obviously I think is missing. Over the last couple of years, since being elected, we've seen the Stanton Master Development Plan in future years as part of the budgets and now it's gone. The Minister has explained at length in the House that it's gone and I understand what she's saying and I understand that it's not really gone, but it's in a planning study as per our new processes.

What I'm curious about is when are we going to see it come forward? Is there any estimate as to timeline as to when we might see the results from that planning study and have an idea of what future costs might be and what work may be required? I think there are a lot of people in Yellowknife and it is a territorial facility, so I know that there are a lot people throughout the Territories that are wondering when and what. So if we can get a bit of an idea, that would be fantastic. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd ask Ms. Meade to respond, please.

Ms. Meade.

Mr. Abernethy.

Okay, so we all, I mean it was in, it's out. That's fine; I understand the new process. But two years seems a bit far for something that is obviously so urgently required. Does that mean we're not going to see anything as MLAs, no results of planning studies for two years or are we going to see something during the life of this Assembly on where we need to go with Stanton? It's been an issue since before we, as Members, came into the 16^th Assembly, it continues to be an issue during the 16^th Assembly. I'd sure like us to have something to look at and maybe make some decisions before the end of the 16^th Assembly. I know the work may not be able to be done or all of it be done during the 16^th Assembly, but it continues to be an issue and I'm happy and I like the response I got. That gives me a bit of the what, which I think is important. I'm more interested, after hearing that, in the how long and the how much we'll wait for. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister of Health, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to add to that, for the Member's information, that while the Master Development Plan is being reworked as we work toward getting into the books under the new process, there will still be a lot of work that will be done in terms of responding to the technical assessment that was done. In fact, since 2003 up to this year, over $8 million had been spent and budgeted to deal with those technical upgrades and we have another $2 million planned to address some of the technical issues there.

It should also be noted that this is a 22-year-old building, but in the context of a lot of other health facilities, it is relatively in good shape. The assessment has shown that, but it is important that we keep up with the upgrades and deal with the technical issues as we plan for the larger Master Development Plan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I've been going through these with you for the last two years and I have seen a lot of the technical upgrades, and I am fully aware that the technical upgrades are continuing, and I've raised my hand to support those technical upgrades as they come forward. So I think I understand that, and I get that, and I will continue to support the technical upgrades. I think they need to be done.

What I'm asking about is the big picture changes, the flow, the things that the deputy minister was talking about, the changes to the facility that are required to make it more effective and better utilizing the space in it. I'm asking: are we going to see something in the 16^th Assembly? These issues existed before the 16^th Assembly, they were election issues, they were issues when we came into this House, they're still issues today. I'm asking: are we going to see anything in the 16^th Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before this life of the 16^th Assembly we'll know the programs and the requirements, the consolidated clinic will be there, that was designed to take some of the flow out of the emergency, out of Stanton, the primary care network that we've spent millions setting up with all the rehab teams and all the work in the communities will be incorporated so that, yes, we'll know before the end of the 16^th Assembly what services are required and the configuration that will be required in Stanton to meet those needs. Thank you.

I'd like to thank the Minister for that response. So it sounds like the answer is yes, we're going to know the configuration, but does that mean we will have some semblance of a plan in place as far as how we're going to move forward? Through this new process of capital, everything's got to go through a bit of a planning study and then there will be secondary steps to figure out what the construction is actually going to be. How far along...I mean, I get from the response we're going to have an idea of what we need, but will we get into the part of actually coming up with some costing, future costing on what we're going to need? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Within the life of this Assembly we'll be in a position to move forward with putting Stanton back into the capital plan.

Thank you.

Next on the list I have Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Earlier on when we resumed this session I spoke about getting the needs assessment done for the long-term care beds in Fort Simpson and the Minister committed to have a look at that. Just in terms of capital budgeting process, can this assessment be done, well, as soon as possible would be my preference, but I know that the request was just recent. Has the department begun working with Deh Cho Health and Social Services to do a needs assessment on the long-term care beds in Fort Simpson?

Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The intent is to do a complete needs assessment for all the long-term care facility requirements in the Northwest Territories. The Member has got issues about extra capacity. The Member for Sahtu has pointed out there is no long-term care facility in the Sahtu. There are some areas in critical need more than others and the intent is to do that as articulated in the strategic plan, Foundation for Change, that the Minister is going to be tabling in this House here in the next short while.

I'm pleased that we're working towards acknowledging that there is a shortage of long-term beds. In fact, we created a long-term care bed committee, I think, to help assess with all the different regions. This only reiterates the fact that there definitely is a shortage and how do we best manage it. For me, my constituents and communities have been looking forward to an increase of the bed space to stop the long waits that are happening.

If anything, what I was looking for was hopefully we could get this assessment done sooner than later and hopefully move something forward in the next capital planning process.

The intent is to start this process early in the new year. We have another budget process to go through with O and M and such, which will take us through into the new year, but the intent is to move on this fairly quickly after that.

Next on the list is Mr. Bromley.