Thanks to the Minister for that. I don’t believe for a second that the Minister has done everything that we asked. Our motion was very, very clear. We said we wanted the financial analysis done and what would happen if the changes that they’re proposing, or maybe aren’t proposing. Who knows what they’re doing at this point. It’s hard to tell because it’s not particularly clear. But what are the ramifications of putting in a program that may result in people leaving? We were very clear. The Minister didn’t do that.

The process is going forward. She’s outlined the timeline for the process. We’ve got, you know, over the summer and they want to implement something in September. It took them two years to get to the point where they are; two years to gather the information that they’ve gathered. So as we go through this process, they’re going to hear more things and they’re going to be asked to go out and do more research. Do they really think they’re going to be able to implement this in September? I think it’s important that the Minister recognize that.

I’d like the Minister to acknowledge that the timeline is too tight and commit to extending the timeline so that we can actually do the research that’s required in order to design a program that’s appropriate for the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

I realize that for some out there this could be studied for 10 years. I’ve been here for 10 years. This Supplementary Health Benefits Policy was studied for seven years, that I was here in 2007, before changes were brought about. Mr. Speaker, the Member is right; the last motion was in April, but I believe we set after the motion was passed. We worked on it through the summer and the fall. Perhaps, for some, we could spend 10 years studying this before any changes are made.

Mr. Speaker, I believe it’s a judgment call. I believe it was more important that we go out with the profile of the program: what is it, who’s accessing it and who’s not accessing it. We are going out to the public so that they could have a discussion, because we get daily questions from people wanting to know where this is at.

I think we need to give people a chance to speak. The Members can continue to give us their input. The Member is asking why do you not have the answer to what would happen if X happened. My point is we’re not saying X will happen without going to the public. Let the public decide whether the X should happen or not and, if that’s the case, how. Just to make sure that we let the people know that this is not a cost-cutting exercise, it’s about educating the public about what the supplementary health benefits are. It is the most generous of any. We want to keep it still generous, but we want to

look at who is accessing that. Right now it’s only those who are over 60 and those who have a specific condition. There are a whole lot of people who are not able to access it. It’s only fair that those who don’t have access to it have a chance to say I think we should relook at who accesses this program.

The motion is clear. I was wondering if the Minister could tell us why the Minister ignored what the motion said.

The motion was a recommendation to the government. We have adhered to the motion. They told us to take it back, look at the facts, do that analysis and do the consultation. We are doing that right now.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Premier of the House. I want to ask the Premier about a motion that was passed several weeks ago about the caribou issue. We had a motion that gave direction to the government on dealing with the caribou issue. I want to ask the Premier where that motion is at.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The motion was passed about the caribou situation. There are a number of things that are happening. As the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources responded in the previous session, there is work going on with the co-management boards and with the Wek’eezhii board, as well as setting up a process that includes the Yellowknives and NWT Metis in that process coming up as an overall management plan similar to what we’ve done in areas where there are land claims and co-management bodies in place. We’re moving down that process.

In the interim, I know the Minister and his department have tried to sit down and have had a number of meetings with Yellowknives Dene to try to come up with a workable solution on the very specific issue that they’ve had to deal with.

Can the Premier give us an update on where things are with the Yellowknives Dene on how they’re trying to work out a deal on the harvesting?

For that detail, I’ll defer that question to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have put an offer to the Yellowknives. We have also, as I’ve indicated to the Member previously in the last session, had discussions with the Dene Nation about a possible process. Both those cases we are waiting for feedback on to see if we can move ahead as we move into the ninth week of the protection of the Bathurst herd.

I’ll ask the question of putting the offer to the Yellowknives, is there a time frame for this offer being discussed and negotiated to come up with a deal?

We are looking to -- and I’m sure both parties would like to resolve this particular issue -- the deputy minister was going to in fact get back in touch with the Yellowknives, now that the Olympics are over and everybody is back in business, to see what possible next steps might be there in the minds of the Yellowknives.

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

I want to ask the Minister or Premier on building relationships with the aboriginal governments on this very important issue. This issue is very critical for us to go forward. I want to ask the Premier about this deal, having it satisfactory to the Yellowknives, to the Tlicho, to the people of the Northwest Territories to go forward on bigger issues with the government. Is the Premier committed to ensuring this deal can get done soon? This week?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In that area of building relationships with aboriginal leaders and groups and governments across the Territory, we continue to do that. We continue to build on that. We’ve had the discussion about caribou at that table and we will continue to have discussion about a process forward in a number of key areas as well. This is one of those areas and we recognize that we need to continue to build and strengthen on that relationship.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The entire health and social services system is geared towards making sure that we use our health and social services dollars to the people in need. On any given day I have every Member of this House come and talk to me about the things we need to do for our people: medical travel, different services, different care, different institutions they should go to, different treatment. The fact is that health and social services is a high-demand field. We put a great deal of priority on spending our dollars in the health and social services field, but we’re also aware that we’re under constant pressure with the dollars we have. Everybody, every manager, every department head, every CEO, every chair, every board is preoccupied to making sure that we use our resources that we get as well as possible.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The time for question period has expired. I will allow the Member a very short supplementary question. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you kindly, Mr. Speaker. On one hand the Minister will say in this House that the supplementary health benefit changes are not about reducing costs. The question still stands: what services are provided within the Department of Health and Social Services that examine the cost of our health dollars to ensure that they are being used wisely?