It gives me great pleasure to recognize a couple of Pages in the House who are here from Chief Paul Niditchie School in Tsiigehtchic. I’d like to recognize Ashley Kaye to my right and Chavaughn Blake at the back of the room. I hope that their time here was fun and enjoyable and also that it was educational. It gives them a better understanding of our style of government in regard to our consensus style of government. I wish them a safe trip home. Mahsi cho for your service here.

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

Although this gentleman’s been recognized a few times I think it’s very important to recognize Dene Nation Chief Bill Erasmus once again. The reason I do this is this chief has offered me good advice, which I have appreciated over the years. I respect him very much. I want to recognize him here.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. I don’t think we’ve missed anyone in the gallery today. If we have, welcome to the gallery. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings. It’s always nice to have an audience in here.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the problems that the Community of Deline is having with the construction of a new water treatment plant. The whole site is now contaminated with hydrocarbons and my people are afraid there may be long-term, negative health consequences to the proposed site that’s going to be looked at for the

water treatment plant. What is the Minister doing to deal with the concerns of the people of Deline over the proposed site of the water treatment plant?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can advise the Member that MACA staff from the regional office have been in close contact with the council in Deline and have offered a range of solutions that would either remediate the site or have the treatment plant moved off the contaminated site.

Certainly the people in Deline will be happy to hear the Minister’s response to the first question here. The second question is, can the Minister outline some of the specific proposed solutions for this issue here?

I have a meeting lined up with the chief of Deline within the next week to discuss some of the proposed solutions. If it’s relocated, the proposed plant would have the community constructing a 300-metre road to a new site east of the contaminated site. But these are issues that could be worked out.

I’m very curious as to the comment as to what the Minister means in terms of working things out with the Community of Deline. Can the Minister elaborate a little bit more on what he means by working things out?

Some of the major issues involves the selection of the final site and then the agreement by the Deline Land Corporation to access the land. The costs related to the construction of the road and the implications related to the long-range operational costs of a new location as chosen.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In terms of the Community of Deline looking at the new location and alternative solutions to the new water treatment plant, can the Minister advise me and the people of Deline of the type of available funding that the community and his department can work in to seek a satisfactory solution to this issue here?

The community’s preferred location would involve building a 2.5-kilometre road and this is not money that’s part of the bundled water treatment plant. This is something we would have to discuss with the community as to other pots of money that could possibly be accessed. This is also going to have

implications on the long-term operation and maintenance of the road. If those costs are not covered, then the community may have to consider passing those costs on to the residents of the community. There are still some issues that need to be discussed and we will have that opportunity next week when we sit down with the chief of Deline and have that conversation.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The policy is that if the medical professional states that the patient requires an escort, that that person is eligible. The Member brought this to my attention just before session started. We are in the process of looking into that and I hope to get answers back to him by the end of the day.

I was only made aware of this this morning too, but I’d like to thank the Minister for moving on this. I think again it’s one of those things where the patients have enough stress, physical, emotional, and mental stress, that they’re going to have to go through surgery and not really know what the outcomes are. I’d like to ask the Minister, in regard to the directive that we have and especially with the hospitals we deal with, especially in Alberta, in regard to Edmonton where they clearly stipulate as part of your...to be signed in and signed out, that you have to have an escort

there when you’re signed out of that hospital. I’d like to ask the Minister if that is also taken into account on top of the doctor’s suggestions and the hospital that you’re being referred to stipulates, in regard to how they sign you in and how they sign you out, that you have to have an escort. Has that also been considered in regard to the policy of having escorts?

Medical travel is an essential element of our health care delivery system. We understand that we are responsible for providing access to medical services to our residents. Not all services are available everywhere, even for Yellowknife. The only way to deliver these services is by medical travel. Now, I do not know exactly what happened in this situation. My understanding is that if a medical professional says someone needs a medical escort, then that should put them on top of the list to get that eligibility. I have to look at what happened in this situation and I will get back to the Member. But the general policy is that we do provide medical escorts or even non-medical escorts where necessary.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think when a patient is going to be going in for major surgery, such as back surgery, which is major, and also when you’re going for cancer treatment where it will require surgery, those type of incidents should be on a priority list where they do get an escort, because there’s no way that these people on their own can travel back to their home community in the condition that they’re in. I’d like to ask the Minister if she could tell me exactly which types of surgery or medical attention is needed to be classified as essential for medical escorts.

Our residents are eligible for medical escort for medical travel where it’s deemed necessary for medical reasons. Our program also provides non-medical escorts where a patient needs assistance for physical support or even mental support for those who are in particular situations. Anyone over 65 is eligible for even non-medical escorts, and for interpretation. So we do have a generous Medical Escort Policy. We understand that sometimes we run into hiccups and I’d be happy to look into what happened in this particular situation. I am doing that right now.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Minister for that. I would put some urgency on this because I believe the appointment is next week and it is for major back surgery. I think this person has suffered long enough that they don’t have to worry about how they’re going to be taken care of once they end up in the hospital. I’d like to ask the Minister again, can she try to get

back to me as soon as possible today and try to have this resolved by the end of the day today?