Mr. Speaker, obviously, the safety is always our first priority. We will be looking into this. If there has been a plan in place to deal with these 10 stalls, there are more vehicles, what kind of other arrangements are being made? That is information that I need to follow up on the latest status. I will be sharing that with the Member. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I think the importance of this is that it should be looked into as soon as possible, because we do have a budget session coming up in February/March and the time for planning is now.

This is going to be my final question. Can the Minister give it a priority item, assess the situation and come up with, hopefully, a plan to have that in this upcoming budget? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as I stated, this is news to me, as well, as the Minister responsible, but I will be looking into this further in Fort Liard, the status. What is the initial plan, if there is a plan in place? How can we resolve that issue? I will definitely follow up after session today. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the interests of transparency and accountability for the

expense of major public dollars, I will ask the Deputy Premier questions on the significant cost of travel by elected officials and public servants.

Travel by Ministers alone in 2009-2010, in the first three months of 2012 totalled three-quarters of a million dollars. Quarterly reports are publicly available, which document the travel costs of Ministers, but we know that committee members also travel with Ministers. Whether these costs come from ministerial or committee budgets is all the same to the taxpayer. They are expressing concerns about travel costs.

What are the Minister’s views on widening the reporting parameters to include the cost for all elected Members travelling with Ministers, in the interest of transparency? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Deputy Premier, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Member is referring to 2009-10 is the last government’s budget. At the same time, the transparency and accountability is our foremost priority for this government. We do table those documents as well for the general public to be aware of what our expenditures are as Cabinet Ministers, the Premier and also Regular Members that do tag along to let’s say various meetings that happen in other parts or jurisdictions. We do invite them. They are part of the discussion that we have at the territorial level as well. We will continue to press that issue, where transparency is a first priority and also accountability. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the data I quoted was through early parts of this fiscal year. I certainly don’t see those figures. I only see figures for the Ministers’ travel, but I stand to be corrected. I would appreciate if the Minister could confirm that, by doing a little bit of research. The travel figures are a good start, but only report the expenses incurred by the Minister.

We know Ministers seldom travel alone. They are accompanied by their executive assistants, often by one or many department officials who wouldn’t normally be travelling without the Minister. Their costs should be included.

Will the Deputy Premier take action to begin including not only the Ministers’ costs, but the travel costs of all support workers travelling with the Minister? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, this particular area that we table those documents, Ministerial travel, we do have staff travel as well, deputies or EAs that are required at these meetings. We can obviously discuss that further with the standing committee and also Caucus, because the Member is referring to MLAs’ expenditures as well. We need to discuss that with the standing committee, maybe Caucus. We are

open as a government, as the Executive, to produce any document that is required for the general public if that is the wish of the Regular Members. We are more than willing to work with that. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Deputy Premier’s remarks there. They are right on. I appreciate that commitment. I am, indeed, interested in all MLAs’ travel but, once again, many things are left out frequently. For example, when the Minister travels, there are events hosted by the Minister and also, of course, when that happens, there are consultants there to help arrange those and so on.

Will the Premier commit to also looking at including all of those costs so that when we report Ministerial travel costs, we really do have the full costs? I ask this because constituents and the public are expressing concerns about travel costs, given all of our demands on our resources these days. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, yes, definitely we are open to those ideas. We will be sharing that with the standing committee and also Caucus. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I made a statement on November being Diabetes Month. I wanted to follow up with questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services.

What counselling is available for the families of diabetes patients? How would a family in Fort Providence go about getting that counselling?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in response yesterday, we are starting to work in the diabetes field. As the Member indicated earlier, it is relatively new. We are still about 2 percent under the national average in the Northwest Territories. Diabetes is a chronic disease. It is becoming an issue. We are starting off setting up the diabetes programs by doing pilot projects in Norman Wells, Yellowknife and Behchoko. Also, there is a Diabetes Program in Yellowknife that is available and through YK Health and Social Services. Recognizing that Fort Providence is part of Deh Cho Health and Social Services, however, the authorities can work together and provide support for each other for individuals to go to where the programs actually exist. Thank you.

I think it’s quite clear that we do have a very serious matter in terms of diabetes affecting mostly Aboriginal communities and people. So would the Health Minister arrange for diabetes patients in Fort Providence to have a choice of receiving care either in Hay River or Yellowknife? Mahsi.

Thank you. Yes, I think that is a good way to go. As you know, we are building a new health centre and a modern health centre in Hay River. We’re hoping that that could encompass more than what they are currently providing, and to not only the community, but to surrounding communities such as Fort Providence. We think it would be much more efficient for the communities of Providence, Kakisa and the Hay River Reserve to get their services in Hay River. It’s definitely an idea that we are working towards.

I’d like to thank the Minister for agreeing to the idea of at least having diabetes patients having these care services provided from Hay River.

Just building upon that, will the Minister also perhaps commit to the idea of a pilot project to be expanded to Fort Providence?

Thank you. Yes, the intention is to roll the program out. So Fort Providence will be a good candidate. I think a medium-sized community is what we want to expand into. So, yes, I will commit to expanding the program into Fort Providence. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What is being done in small communities to raise the awareness about being tested for diabetes?

Thank you. I think that the authorities basically have the information available, such as posters and so on and being aware of diabetes, what you have to do to prevent diabetes and so on. I don’t have a complete script of what each authority has to do in order to get the message out to individuals on the prevention of diabetes or what to do if you have diabetes, so I can get that information for the Member through the department. No problem. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement. I spoke about the difficulties that one of my constituents had in getting an income support cheque for the month of

October and the delay that occurred. He applied well in advance of the end of the month, and yet didn’t receive his income support cheque until the 15th of October.

I’d like to know from the Minister at the outset, delays appear periodically, I can accept that, but I’d like to know from the Minister what length of delay does the Minister or the department consider acceptable for a delay in income support payments. Thank you.