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

Mr. Speaker, it’s general knowledge that these program changes were consulted on, discussed, debated in this House and outside this House between 2003 and 2007. The policies were changed in September of 2007. I do not have all of the calculations on what came about to achieving that. I have been responsible for implementing those, but the policy objective was not a cost-cutting measure and it is not necessary to make sure that we stay within whatever is budgeted under the Supplementary Health Program. So it is wrong to say we are making these changes on the backs of the seniors. That is not correct.

We still seek to cover the vast majority of the seniors. We seek to cover those who have chronic conditions, who have children with disabilities. We seek to cover them and provide them with the assistance. What the policy intent is saying is while we appreciate that we need to cover seniors, we need to cover those with chronic conditions, we need to add in an extra factor which is one’s ability, an ability to pay as one of the criteria. It is a policy statement on the part of the government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks for that response. I was kind of curious as to what kind of financial analysis was done and presented to Cabinet to help them make a decision, an informed decision. Clearly there was none. Just as a note, I disagree. I believe this program change is occurring on the backs of the seniors as well as those individuals with family members with chronic conditions. You are taking money out of one pocket to put it in another. So since I am not going to get an answer to that first question, I’ll ask my second question.

When the Minister presented the proposed program to Cabinet in 2008, did the Minister include a breakdown of the possible ramifications of implementation? By that I mean things such as the cost of a mass exodus of seniors leaving the

Northwest Territories, the $22,000 transfer payment, the income taxes they pay, as well as the goods and services they buy and the services they provide by way of volunteering. As well, did she include or identify any costs related specific to the entire system as a result of more people choosing to go into the hospitals for care rather than staying in their homes, because under supplementary health as it exists now, they can stay in their homes and receive treatment in this system in order to make it so they don’t have to pay. They are going to go into the hospital, so it’s going to cost the system more. Did the Minister provide that information to Cabinet? Because I believe that would have helped them make an informed decision, which clearly they did not. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, obviously he didn’t catch my first answer. An analysis was done, policy approved in 2007. Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you that our government’s objective is not to encourage people to move away, not to incur extra costs because people are not taking drugs they need or medical supplies. We are committed to improving this program. We will cover the vast majority of our population who need the support from the government and that’s what the seniors told us during the consultation between 2003 and ’07; that we need to make the program generous for seniors. We have tried to do that and we will make sure we will do that so as we work to improve the program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Before I go on, I am just going ask Members to respect the amount of time that we have for question period and the opportunity for all Members to ask questions. The only way we are going to do that is if we shorten up the preambles and the answers to the questions. So I would ask Members to respect that. Supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Clearly it is not the motive of the Cabinet to chase them away, but their actions are, in fact, going to chase people away. The announcement in 2007, you haven’t mentioned any financial analysis. You keep saying analysis. You are now moving forward and you’ve indicated that you are going to do consultation. You indicated that you have done consultation in the past, which clearly was more of an information session. Can you tell me how this time around you are going to do meaningful consultation with the stakeholders? That doesn’t mean you are just going to tell me you are going to consult. What are you going to do so we are actually engaging these individuals?

Mr. Abernethy, I would remind you to address your questions through the Chair.

Sorry.

Mr. Speaker, Members have been provided with information on the consultation that took place between 2003 and 2007. I agree with the Member, I know how to agree to agree, and agree to disagree. I understand that Members feel those consultations were not the way they should have been. That’s not to say the consultations didn’t take place, because there was lots of discussions with the NGOs and seniors’ groups about how to change the Supplementary Health Benefits Program. Going forward, as I have stated in my Minister’s statement, in answer to Ms. Bisaro’s question and to other Members and to the discussions I had with the NWT Seniors executive society, executive of the society, I am committed to doing a meaningful consultation. We have learned a lot that we need to address since this was announced in the two months, that I was not aware of before and we will go through them and we will have a meaningful two-way exchange on how to work through this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final, short supplementary , Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in your announcement, you indicated, the Minister indicated that she’s going to be releasing the program, the revised program on September 1, 2009. In my Member’s statement I indicated that I don’t believe that’s a reasonable timeline. I was wondering if I could get the Minister to commit to extending the implementation date to April 1, 2010, at the very earliest and that during the research and facilitation…Sorry, and doing the research and facilitating real consultation with affected stakeholders which will result in an acceptable Supplementary Health Benefits Program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I believe the objective of the Members and the seniors in the gallery and everybody I have talked to is to make sure this program is good qualitatively and it’s not, the time is not the most important thing; it’s that we do the right thing. We are committed to do the right thing and I have agreed with the Seniors’ Society and the NGOs that I have been talking to, that we will have roundtables, we will have workshops, because these are very complicated issues and we will make sure that we do not cause undue hardship to those people who need our assistance and that we will have meaningful consultation. The end date is not written in stone. I don’t understand. Members have been asking me for the last six weeks to extend this, change this. I do this and the difference between…I don’t know. I have been open, approachable, I have been accommodating. I don’t understand what the big deal is about the date. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask a question to the government in terms of the recent economic crisis that is happening around the world and also Canada and possibly here in the Northwest Territories. I would like to ask the Premier to see if there is any type of regional economic stimulus from the people of the Northwest Territories as to how they could deal with this crisis that has happened before us in terms of how we can incur economic stimulus in our own regions in terms of dealing with the recession. Thank you.

The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The area of the economic crisis the country has been caught in, we have been affected by a global economic climate and we have been involved for quite some time in trying to do our own stimulus. That is through advancement of the Building Canada Plan with the federal government as well as increasing our own contributions towards the capital side of it. I have had a number of regional meetings with regional aboriginal leadership on a number of factors. There has been ongoing work that we are doing through our budgeting process that would see still a substantial amount of spending. Minister Miltenberger will be delivering a budget that, I believe, will show a further investment in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I certainly look forward to the Minister’s budget address as to what stimulus could be happening in our region in terms of the economics. I would like to ask the Premier in terms of the discussions with the regional entities of the Northwest Territories, has the Premier also looked in turn to what type of opportunities funds could be available to stimulate the Northwest Territories in terms of stabilizing or having some security for people of the Northwest Territories? There is funding out there that isn’t within the privy of private Members to be involved in, but there are some funds out there that the Cabinet could look at to make available to our northern businesses.

Mr. Speaker, the fact that there are quite a number of programs that are already being delivered by the Government of the Northwest Territories through a business development investment corporation that lends money to companies for $2 million and under. The Opportunities Fund that has been in existence for

quite a number of years looked at $2 million and over. In fact, the Minister of ITI is looking and has, in fact, brought a paper forward to revise that policy. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I certainly look forward to the department’s revised policy on this Opportunities Fund, because that is one of the issues that I would like to see. One of the constituents that I got a call from yesterday didn’t know about this fund and was quite shocked and said what is this government doing lending, aiding, investing, whatever interpretation we put on it to discover where in the point of $34 million? Why is the government not supporting the northern aboriginal businesses in terms of this? I look forward to that policy. Can the Premier commit that this policy would see a significant change in terms of helping out the people of the Northwest Territories first in terms of their business? Can the Premier commit to that direction in terms of policy changes?

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of ITI is working around that policy development. We will be bringing it forward for review as they put some parameters around it. The discussion as the Member has raised, the area of the loan that has been discussed out there in the public now, in fact, has quite a number of partners and in fact quite a number of regions, groups and development corporations in the Northwest Territories that do provide corporate taxes to the Government of the Northwest Territories that employs quite a number of people that provide payroll tax and personal income tax to the revenues of this government then that feeds other programs across the Territory. So there is an investment issue that we have looked at. The simple fact, as the Member spoke of the concerns around the economic crisis that we are in, is that at times we have to look at the companies that are existing in the Northwest Territories and do we support them in remaining in business. Thank you.

Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly support the companies that are doing business in the Northwest Territories. I guess I am looking at the long-term standing and it’s different interpretations that regional companies in the Northwest Territories in my region are sustaining, that have paid taxes, are lifelong people in my region that are looking for opportunities. When they see in the headlines in the newspaper of a loan being paid out to Discovery Air from Ontario, they get quite upset. They are asking to see who this government is looking after. I agree with the Premier in terms of employment contributions. We want to look after our people first. I ask the Premier,

can he commit within this Assembly here within a month or two weeks, can he see that these changes that would affect the needs of northern people in their businesses that are accessing this Opportunities Fund? Can he see a commitment very quickly?

Mr. Speaker, one thing we have to realize is that this opportunity fund is not grant money. It is money that has to be paid back to the federal government, so due diligence on any proposal will have to be done. The Minister is working on a package. He will be coming forward with a package. Let’s be clear. In using this one company in talking about it, being it is from southern Canada, Denendeh Helicopters, Deh Cho Regional Helicopters, Sahtu Helicopters, Gwich’in Helicopters, Highland Helicopters, Tli Cho Helicopters, Colville Lake, Fort Good Hope, Wrigley, Deline, Tli Cho Air, Lutselk’e Air Services all part of this form a partnership of this group so, in fact, this company is quite involved with regional bodies, with development corporations that employ people in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.