Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This past Friday the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corp made a capital contribution announcement regarding the Betty House. First off, Mr. Speaker, I want to emphasize clearly that as a Member I’m very pleased to hear about this commitment on behalf of our government, and it’s something that I have spoken in the past about and stressed the need we need to invest into. But sadly, at the same time, I, like many Members in this House, was shocked to hear this announcement. What should have been seen strictly as a good-news story, something we’re doing to promote the cause and help women in transition shelters, now becomes a conversation of where is the process. Where was the involvement of the Members on this particular side of the House? Where was the discussion in committee?

Where did you get the money, as well? While this is happening, Members are becoming concerned that this is becoming an Epimetheus when it comes to work in this particular Assembly. In short, are we simply an afterthought of this particular government?

Our Premier preaches continually about building good relationships and working relationships; however, it’s starting to look like he’s inviting everyone but this side of the House. While he’s busy out there courting new relationships…

---Interjection

While this Premier is out, busy courting new relationships and he’s filling that wonderful dance card with all his new friends, he’s forgetting about us sitting on this side of the House looking to be involved in this investment.

It’s been my experience, with more than eight years behind me, that when any new contribution or major contribution is a budget investment or certainly infrastructure item of this type, typically the affected Member or Members are involved. What working

relationship is this Premier telling his Cabinet Minister to build? Regular Members want to be involved. He’ll say, well, I did inform you. Informing the Members an hour before session started on Friday while we were in Priorities and Planning getting ready for the morning is not communication. Yet again an afterthought.

The fact is the lack of information seems very disrespectful. It seems along the fine lines of are we trumping our privilege in this Assembly. Members want to be involved.

There will be questions later today to the Premier, asking about when you will start informing and working with Regular Members on projects like this. We should be celebrating this contribution, not concerned about the process.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize a former MLA and colleague, Mr. David Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize the former Member for Mackenzie Delta, who has left very big shoes to fill here.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize my former colleague, Mr. Krutko. It’s an honour to sit in his chair at committee meetings. They’re much shorter now.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 6, acknowledgements. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to acknowledge the passing of Bishop John Sperry, a beloved Northerner, on Saturday. In my time in the travel industry, Bishop Sperry was the most dignified, considerate, compassionate client I ever dealt with. His character and personal qualities were ones we would all do well to emulate. The North is a poorer place today. My condolences to his family and all those who knew him.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a bit of a thorny subject and I’m very reluctant to bring it up, of course, but in previous governments – a couple of them, at least – the Premier has committed to table, post, make public all travels of Cabinet Ministers. I would like to ask our Premier, the Honourable Bob McLeod, today if he is going to commit to share that same information publicly.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have an open and transparent government and we’ll continue that practice.

I do appreciate that response. We’ll look forward to seeing those travel reports. For the record, I think that Members on this side of the House should be expected to do the same thing.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. More of a comment. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is just a follow up from my statement regarding heart and stroke. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. What methods do we use, especially in small communities, to detect and diagnose heart disease in children?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that the method that is used is used by the doctors. I don’t actually know the exact terminology, but it goes to the regular process during the time when a child would be feeling ill. The doctors would go through a process that I’m not familiar with or not an expert to speak of at this time.

I’d like to thank the Minister for his response. My other question is: Is information regarding heart disease and heart conditions getting to school kids, and if so, how is that being

done regarding the overall health of children and heart conditions?

The department supports some of the Healthy Family programs. We have some Healthy Family programs in the North and also there’s Healthy Babies. During the prenatal stages there is support given to the mothers to see if there could be any issues prior to birth. One of the key areas is that when the babies are just born and until they start school, they have a program, Healthy Babies, and if there’s any issue, it’s hoped it would be caught at that point.