Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will try to be brief. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services and the Minister responsible for homelessness. In our last sitting in May I asked some questions about the GNWT Homelessness Strategy. The response from the Minister and follow-up from his office indicated that the development of a Homelessness Strategy and framework is being led by the Homelessness Coalition chaired by the City of Yellowknife. I was very surprised at that, and I asked for clarification from the office and I haven’t received it. I’d like to know from the Minister, is a non-government organization -- that would be the Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition -- developing a framework or a strategy which will govern GNWT activities related to homelessness?

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition provides a valuable service in Yellowknife. There is also an interdepartmental working group

when it comes to the issues within the Government of the Northwest Territories and shared jurisdiction by different departments in dealing with this issue. So to the question from the Member, the answer would be, in my opinion, no.

I thank the Minister for that. That leads me to the question. We have a homelessness framework. It was developed in 2007. I’m given to understand that we are currently still following that framework, which is now rather outdated. I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not or he can advise me when there will be some plans in place to update that 2007 framework. Thank you.

I think there’s a general recognition that this area has been somewhat untended. The Minister responsible for homelessness doesn’t have the actual budget. There’s a need to work closely with other departments and there’s a need to look at that type of ongoing coordination. At this late juncture with one more sitting day left in the life of this Assembly, I would suggest it will be one of the challenges for the 17th Assembly and the incoming MLAs to

decide on this issue, among many others.

Thanks to the Minister for his words of commitment, I think. I take it that he recognizes that there’s a lack of coordination. He indicated, I think, if I heard him correctly, that there needs to be some coordination and work done in the next Assembly, so people may be quoting Hansard from the 16th in the next Assembly.

Part of the answer that I got was that the Homelessness Interdepartmental Working Group develops programs. I’d like to know what activities in terms of developing programs that that working group has taken. Thank you.

They work, in many cases, more with the small community funds, working with communities outside of Yellowknife, in many cases, responding on a one-off basis to situations that arise in different communities dealing with homelessness or some hard-to-house issues. The broader idea and need for government planning across departments is one that there needs to be more work done. At one point in the 15th Assembly there was a Social Programs

Ministers Committee that came together on a regular basis because of issues such as this, seniors, as well, because of cross-departmental mandates and the need to integrate that kind of service and figure out how we’re going to better manage this and try to coordinate what money is there. That is still before us.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister. I gather from his response that this interdepartmental group does not do program

development. They simply seem to be reactive, if I understood him correctly. To the issue of the coordination and the work that needs to be done, I’d like to ask the Minister, if he is lucky enough to return to this House, will he make homelessness and the coordination of it a priority? Thank you.

I mean, this is an issue for every Member. It’s been on the table for the 16 years that I’ve been here. It is a challenge. It will continue to be on the table of the legislators of the 17th Assembly, and whoever’s

standing in this position a number of weeks hence will be having to discuss and indicate to the people how we intend to move forward on this. It will be based on the direction, of course, of the Legislature and the priorities set and the business planning process that’s going to follow. It’s an issue that’s on the list and it will have to be dealt with. We know there are things that have to be done better. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I wanted to highlight in some manner about how important midwifery services are here in the Northwest Territories. I also wanted to give credit to Leslie Paulette for making it the success it is. It comes with quite a national reputation of being a brilliant success all started by a small program in Fort Smith.

Mr. Speaker, the program in Yellowknife has been cut and it was a very important program to many families. My first question to the Minister of Health and Social Services is: when will the midwifery services be offered again in Yellowknife? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve committed to a process that is now underway. An RFP has been put out for a review of midwifery services. I indicated this in this House previously. That report should be done and ready by January 2012, at which time the Department of Health and Social Services will be able to look at the recommendations, share them with the Members and committee members, and look at what’s being recommended. Most importantly, as I’ve indicated time after time as Finance Minister in this House, what resources may or may not be available to try to hit the priorities of the 17th Assembly. Thank you.

It’s my understanding that the midwife in Fort Smith has been able to deliver at least half of the babies each and every year. It’s turned into quite a heralded success and, as we all know, I’m certainly glad I’m bending the ear of the Finance Minister at the same time. It’s a better choice on financial resources to use a midwife than it is to use a typical doctor. Perhaps, maybe the Minister can outline the objectives of how we are trying to translate the success in Fort Smith into Yellowknife and the territory as a whole. Thank you.

Let me first point out, of all the communities in the Northwest Territories, Yellowknife is the best served when it comes to birthing services with Stanton and all the specialists and obstetricians and doctors that are here available to provide those services. Granted, they don’t have the choice of midwifery services in many communities. There is no choice of any kind other than you have to come to Yellowknife and wait to have your baby. So the value is there. I think we’ve got some of the best legislation in the country. We’ve got a program in Fort Smith that demonstrates that it works. Now it comes down to the resources that are available to do the very many things we would like to do as a Legislative Assembly, recognizing the very tight fiscal conditions we are going to be working under and that governments across the land are working under. Thank you.

Perhaps, maybe if the Minister of Health could paint the pictures of the focus of the future of midwifery here in the Northwest Territories. Is it the goal of the Department of Health to help facilitate the growth? Is it just to place it in a few...provide this opportunity in a few communities here and there? What is the mandate and focus of this RFP and, certainly, will the general public be able to participate in the development of this so they can hear true testimony about how important this is as a service here in the North? Thank you.

The intent is to take a careful measured look at this service and where it makes the most sense to be applied, where is there critical mass, where is there any service at all, transportation issues, the population issues, and if there was a need to put birthing services in a community, some of the questions, for example, would you want to put it into a community that already has some of the best birthing services in the Northwest Territories or would you look at a region where it possibly has a greater chance to provide some service where none exists currently. Those are the kind of questions we have to look at and then we have to look at the hard facts of will there be money. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister talked about the money, you know, and I hate to think that the Health Minister, although oddly enough it’s the same as the Finance Minister, but are they going to invest some financial analysis into this study, report, and into the planning? In most cases it’s more affordable for the Government of the Northwest Territories to have a midwife providing the services than either flying the mother in from a community or flying a doctor into a community. Even in Yellowknife it’s more affordable having a midwife providing these services than an average doctor.

Just to be clear, Mr. Speaker, we are talking about non-complicated pregnancies, certain non-high-risk pregnancies. We are not talking about the ones that are challenging because we do need those specialists to manage those cases. Will the Finance Minister be ensuring that there is a complete financial analysis done on this issue, because it’s important and cherished here in the North? Thank you.

I was the Minister of the day when the midwifery legislation was brought forward and passed. I come from a community where it’s been a huge issue for decades and I am very familiar with the value of midwifery. We knew very clearly when we came forward with the bill and made it an insured service that it was the type of service we would like to provide. We made the steps to do that.

The issue now comes back to have there been any demographic changes and is it affordable. If we do have resources, where are the best places to put those resources to work when it comes to midwifery services? Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation some questions and he will be pleased to know it won’t be on Highway No. 7.

The travellers that go to Fort Simpson and stop at the airport and do have cell phones have approached me to see if there is a way we can extend the cell phone service from Fort Simpson out to the airport. The residents have raised that with me as a safety concern for medevacs, et cetera. It’s going to require an expenditure -- I’ve done some research on it -- up to about $200,000. I’d like to ask the Minister if his department is willing to consider or examine a business case for establishing extended cell phone service out to the Fort Simpson Airport. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.