I think we’ve done a lot with the website. We’ve got a number of times on there. We’ve affiliated ourselves with the Association of Film Commissioners. It’s an international organization that gives, when we use their logo on our website, us instant credibility to the industry world-wide.

As I mentioned earlier, we are working with and we have worked with ECE. We’re working with Finance. We’re trying to find a path forward. We believe that once we do get the report from the consultant that took part in the producer forum, we will be able to chart a course forward and identify areas where we feel we can improve on.

Certainly, the Member and other Regular Members, when we do start taking those next steps forward, we certainly will be looking to Members to share where we’re going next and their input will be valuable in that approach.

I do share the enthusiasm with the Minister. As we learned in my Member’s statement today, the premise of creating our own infrastructure in terms of new jobs and new opportunity and to ensure the future in our films could start with Aurora College, the Department of ECE, and proper investments from ITI in the creation of such concepts as film cultural consultants and creative staff writer courses. These positions were singled out as being imperative for professional film producers to tell their stories, to understand the land and its people, and to preserve our northern culture accurately. This, of course, was topped off with companies such as Omni Films offering a joint mentorship to advance the spectrum of this new emergent education. Would the Minister commit to work with his fellow Cabinet colleagues, his department, the Department of Finance and the industry to create this opportunity for these new positions?

We’ve been doing all of this on what amounts to a shoestring budget. Certainly, if we are going to move forward, we’re

going to start talking about positions. We certainly need to look at finding some additional funds to make us get to where we need to go.

I’d like to, again, chart that course for Members, work with Members, and we want to make sure that we do this right, that we take advantage of the opportunities that are out there.

Again, the Member mentioned Omni Films. That’s been a company that’s done work here in the Northwest Territories. We need to keep getting the positive message out that the Northwest Territories is a place where people want to produce films. They want to come here and do the work. That’s something that we have a reputation for right now. In this industry your reputation means a lot. It means everything. For us, it’s very important that we maintain that good reputation, and by putting some programs in place, by looking at an implementation of film rebates, implementing a film tax credit system, or increasing a dedicated amount through the SEED program, we have to look at everything. I think we will look at everything and we’ll get this right.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, the Minister mentioned a couple of times the information report from this film forum. I think Regular Members would appreciate that and having access.

Finally, the topic that was mentioned of tax incentives. Not as prevalent as we may think, but it would also be an economic benefit for this industry. If jurisdictions like Yukon and Ontario are leading in this area, and provinces like Saskatchewan only learned that by dropping it, their film industry recently dried up, we don’t have any form of tax credit or rebate program in this industry.

Will the Minister commit to this House that he, his department, the Department of Finance will come up with a form of tax incentives, travel rebates, lodging rebates, or expenditure tax refunds to make the NWT a lead player for the future investment of the professional film industry?

Again, we are working toward that. We will continue to work with the folks at the Department of Finance. We will get that information. It’s a work in progress.

I appreciate the Member’s enthusiasm about the film industry here in the Northwest Territories and its importance to our economy here. We’re going to make sure that we get this right and continue to work with both Finance and Education, Culture and Employment.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Again and again I hear from constituents that don’t know that they are not covered for medical travel expenses by NWT Health Care when that travel originates outside of the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Minister what measures our government has undertaken, or if they feel any obligation to make sure that people are aware of this or are reminded of this. What responsibility do we have as a government to make people aware of this?

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Although the government or Department of Health and Social Services does not have an obligation to advise people on their travels to get medical insurance, I think it’s a good idea. I know that travel agents, when you’re going by plane, advise you to get medical insurance, but people who drive out don’t usually bother getting medical insurance, although it’s a good idea. I think the premiums are very reasonable and it’s something that if you do, as the Member indicated, have an accident while you’re down south, medical bills can be astronomical. Even getting to and back from the hospitals down south can be a big cost.

No one thinks about these things until it happens to them and then it’s too late. I’ve had two really serious incidents of people requiring medical travel for accidents and issues that took place outside of the Northwest Territories, in Alberta actually, and it cost a lot of money.

I know the Minister is saying that we don’t have an obligation to tell people, but I’m wondering if it would be worthwhile to have this information posted somewhere. Like when we issue health care cards, would it be worthwhile to have one line on the health care card that says this health care card will entitle the cardholder to medical services within the Northwest Territories and medical services in Canada at other health service providers, but have a line on it that says this does not include medical travel that originates outside the Northwest Territories. Would that be one way of conveying it? Would a public announcement? We put public announcements on the green screen for all kinds of things. Would something like that go some ways?

I’ve just been amazed at how many times this has happened to constituents of mine and I’ve spoken about this in the House many times before, but it’s still not something that comes into people’s consciousness when they’re about to travel.

I definitely think it’s well worth advertising this. I think that it is something that I could advise the department to start working with the authorities to get the word out to people who are going to travel outside our jurisdiction, to ensure that they are carrying medical travel insurance. I think it would be well worth doing that, even if it only prevents one person from having to pay huge medical bills as a result of an accident or something like that.

Because of this one particular incident that happened to a constituent of mine, I recently went on the RBC website and clicked on travel insurance and, actually, for my husband and myself for $75 per year you can buy medical travel for multiple trips. They even send you a little card that you can have plasticized so you can carry that in your wallet. It is as you said, Mr. Minister, extremely inexpensive.

I’m wondering, most of our constituents visit a clinic or a health centre or a health authority or a hospital or wherever they receive their medical services. Most of them would attend there at some point during the year. Do we have a poster that conveys this information that we could post in a public place, such as our health care facilities? Do we have one now, and if we don’t, could we get one that warns people of this cost to avoid?

We may have that type of poster in the health authorities. I’m not aware of that, but if we don’t, we should. I think that after today I will advise the deputy minister to contact the health authorities to ensure that these posters are in all of our health centres across the North, advising people that it would be a good idea to have medical travel insurance.

I didn’t know you could buy sort of like an annual medical travel insurance. That would be even better. It’s usually per trip, but if you can buy something on an annual basis, much better.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I was surprised to find out that you could buy it for multiple trips over the course of a year and how cheap it was; $75 for myself. I’m over 50, but it was $75. But there are a number of sources for this, so that’s something else I’d ask the Minister if he could also put together, because people may not know where to go to look on line. But there are several sources, and I would like to include that in the public information we make available to Northerners so they know where they can easily access this coverage.

I will commit to providing the sources on advising people to get medical travel insurance. I will also commit to putting on the

posters where they can get the medical travel insurance from.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess not so much as a policy but more of a clinical practice. A decision as to when the patient is released is a clinical decision made by the physician that’s responsible for that patient.

Thanks for the clarification from the Minister. I’ve been told, when I went to Fort Good Hope, that there are several patients from the Sahtu that had surgery in Yellowknife’s Stanton Hospital and they were released based on the clinical decision by the doctor of when they came back to their home communities. Because of the operation and because of the sensitivity of it, they were released a little too early and then they had to come back to the Stanton Hospital for some more medication and recovery.

I want to ask the Minister what assurance he can give me that these patients, once they leave back to their communities, that they possibly, to the highest degree, will not come back to the Stanton for further medication on that surgery.

Every patient that has had surgery has a plan, a care plan as they are discharged from the hospital. This could include medication, follow-up appointments, and also advising the patient to look out for certain warning signs, post-surgery warning signs, and if anything comes up, they are to report back to the clinic. I will just make sure that these post-surgery plans are thorough and that everyone has a clear understanding of this plan prior to leaving the hospital.

Is there any sense the Minister has in regard to some of the patients… Sometimes they are released, and even they know that they are released a little too early, and they just need to stay an extra week or two for the recovery. Sometimes they do not speak up and they are released back to the communities, knowing that it’s not quite right.

Is there any sense that the Minister can assure me and the people of the Sahtu that they have the right, if they would insist that they stay an extra week or two at the hospital, to make sure that their recovery is well in good terms?