Mr. Speaker, although I’m not aware of a written education plan by the DEA in Fort Resolution, would the Minister commit to communicating with the Fort Resolution District Education Authority to discuss a full spectrum of their educational needs including daycares? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, when I said there was a review, maybe some regions haven’t conducted their reviews yet on school operations and the overall school review. So if Tu Nedhe want their review, whether it be one community or two communities, that can be requested by the divisional education council, and working with the MLA and with my department we can initiate that discussion. We do have somebody that is specialized in that area that does go into the community to review those. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, part of the infrastructure of daycares includes adequate landscaping and outdoor play equipment. Will the Minister commit to ensure that daycares in Lutselk'e and Fort Resolution go into the capital plan complete with proper playground equipment and proper landscaping? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to infrastructure, we do not provide the funds for infrastructure in the communities when it comes to a daycare establishment or a facility. However, we do provide funding to offset the cost of rent or mortgage expenses and also the start-up of a facility or operation costs. Mr. Speaker, just for the Member’s awareness, that we are looking at moving early childhood into schools since enrolment is down in the Northwest Territories. So that is an option that we are throwing around so we can deal with the enrolment issues in the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to looking at other options to increase funding and directing his staff to begin dialogue with the communities of Lutselk'e and Fort Resolution on the examination of the education plans through his department?

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, we will take that into consideration. In 2007, we did have an increase of 30 percent into our programming dollars. So we do continue to improve and enhance our programming. We also have improved early childhood programming, family literacy, outdoor play space, nutrition and staff training. Those are just some of the programs that are available to the communities. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Transportation. Mr. Speaker, there already is rumour and speculation out in the public about the status of the Deh Cho Bridge Project. Tuesday night MLAs received an update on the project. This is Thursday. The update that we received was substantial news, shall we say. This is Thursday and I believe the public needs to be aware of what is happening with this project, because, as I said in my Member’s statement, it could have very far-reaching effects for the operations of this government.

Mr. Speaker, this is a public government and I would like to ask questions about next steps and what the plan of the government is. I would like to ask the Minister, when will he issue a press release. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is right, we did a confidential briefing to the Members of this House as to an update and developments in recent days of the Deh Cho Bridge and we plan to have a public release tomorrow sometime. Thank you.

I’d like to try to honour the commitments that we make as committee members when we receive briefings from Ministers not to divulge the contents or detail of those briefings when it is provided on a confidential basis, which this was. However, tomorrow is the last day of sitting in this week and I have made it clear that I would like to… I don’t see any reason not to make this public unless the Minister can explain some reason to us why he can’t do that. But I would like to speak to this tomorrow in the House. It’s Friday and it’s an early sitting day, and I would like the Minister’s press release to precede the discussion here in the House. Will the Minister agree to that? Thank you.

I recognize the Member is biting at the bit to talk about the bridge. It’s always been at the forefront of our discussions here in this House. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of reasons we are still requiring some time before we have a discussion in this House. First of all, we are still talking with the contractors and negotiating, in fact, for a new contract, the new contractors that have come on stream. Of course,

we are also looking at making changes and having discussions with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation. We are also engaging with the lenders and all of these are very sensitive discussions and could have a bearing on some of the results at the end of the day. We haven’t concluded those discussions so that’s the reason we’re not issuing a press release at this time.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe that those discussions will be concluded before the time tomorrow, at some time tomorrow when the Minister has already committed to issue a press release. Even if the Minister can’t provide the specific details, I think there are some substantive pieces of information that could be made known to the public. I would like to ask the Minister again, would he release that, in as much detail as he is able to release it, before the House sits tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’ll release the information that’s available and that I can provide publicly. I have to reaffirm that we’re in negotiations and discussions are very sensitive with the Bridge Corporation, with the lenders, with the contractor. In fact, with the information we provided in the supp, it all, at this point, should be kept confidential, but the Member is wanting a statement in public and I committed to do that and I’ll do that tomorrow. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, because this information will necessarily result in having to strike a plan for where we go from here and next steps, and there will be other subsequent decisions that will have to be made, I would like to ask the Minister if he can assure us here today that no substantive agreements will be entered into on behalf of the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation or this government that would not be reversible prior to this being able to be discussed in public. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’m not too sure what the Member is referring to, but we don’t plan to have any signed deals overnight. We would like to have a better plan that we can present to the Members tomorrow or sometime next week, but that is something we’re still working on and we don’t plan to have any signed documents overnight. Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I spoke about the MRSA press release that happened in the

Tlicho region yesterday, the superbug or the anti-bacteria. Anyways, Mr. Speaker, I noted that I do have a communication and management plan for the Tlicho region and they’re quite active in pursuing it there. I’d just like to know what is the strategy in the other regions and are there cases in other regions, most specifically, of course, the Nahendeh riding. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the public health officer made it clear in her press conference yesterday, along with the CEO of the Tlicho Community Services Agency, we are aware of a cluster of MRSA cases in some regions in the Territories. It’s important for people to know we are on top of that, that they should not be panicked about it. Mr. Speaker, the system, as a whole, has been working and putting enormous efforts over the last number of months to make sure that our process for infection control in our facilities are strong and clear. The public health officer has been communicating regularly with all of the health agencies and front-line to make sure everybody knows what they need to do to control that.

Secondly, we know that there is a prevalence of cases in the Tlicho and there is a very aggressive plan for the staff there to go on door-to-door visits to make sure that people are aware on the ground to prevent this from spreading.

Thirdly, the public health officer also announced an NWT-wide publicity campaign to make sure everybody is aware of this and taking proper precautions. Thank you.

I would like to know what other efforts in terms of monitoring any more increased cases in other regions and communities are being done. Is there a strategy for that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.