The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Is the Minister willing to review the decision to end long-term care at the Joe Greenland Centre and come up with a plan that meets the needs of elders in the Mackenzie Delta? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The long-term care facilities need to be located near larger centres where we have physicians and nursing care and so on. Right now it makes it very difficult to put long-term care in the smaller communities where that service is not available 24/7. That’s been the issue in the past. Because physicians are not available 24/7, it’s difficult to keep long-term care in the smaller centres like Aklavik. Thank you.

Is the Minister going to increase the amount of home care workers as an interim measure until we receive a long-term care facility? Thank you.

Yes, we have. In the difference between the year when last year when the Joe Greenland Centre had housed the eight

people that were level 1 and 2 in the facility, we had 139 home care visits into the private home or into the units that are allocated in the Joe Greenland or around the community from the Housing Corporation, to just under 700 visits the year after that portion of the facility was changed to independent living. Thank you.

Thank you. At this time I have no further questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we move the Inuvik to Tuk Highway Project forward, obviously a risk matrix is going to be an important factor in this construction. We have to learn from lessons in the past, but again, the parallels that some Members like to make between the Deh Cho Bridge and the Inuvik-Tuk highway are unwarranted. We have a willing and able partner in the federal government that’s contributing $150 million to the Inuvik to Tuk Highway Project and we will develop a risk matrix and we will continue to move the project forward. Thank you.

Thank you. I do appreciate the Minister’s comment regarding the partnering, but again, risk matrix is more than just a partner. There are a lot of elements behind it and I’m sure the Minister is aware of that. So having said that, do we have any preliminary findings of a risk matrix that can be shared with the people of the Northwest

Territories as it pertains to this new project that is on the floor? Thank you.

Yesterday in the House we approved the $2.5 million in the supp. That will enable us now to go out and do that work that will, again, push us towards developing a risk matrix for the Tuk-Inuvik highway. So I want to thank the Members that supported that yesterday. Again, we will continue to make sure that the project does move forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Again I thank the Minister for his comments, but at what point can we expect to have a full risk matrix for the Inuvik-Tuk highway and will this critical piece, which is an important piece I think for the Members and the people of the Northwest Territories to have, will we get this information and will it be available before we get past that point of no return when it comes to proper funding?

Thank you. We’ve got to get out, get the geotechnical work done, the environmental work done, ensure that the environmental assessment is complete, get the financing arrangement with the federal government complete and get a better estimate of what the project is going to cost, and I think once all that work is done, we will be able to ascertain what the risks are associated with the construction of the highway between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk. So that, again, that work is going to proceed and we will at some point in time in the very near future develop that risk matrix for all Members to see. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services and I’d like to follow up on my statement. The issue of changes to the Extended Health Benefits Program was extremely contentious and it was a couple of years ago that we went through great upheaval and discussion about the changes. The policy was rescinded, but there were some recommended changes and some of those actions were put in place. I’d like to ask the Minister if he can advise the House and the Members and the public where things are at on the rest of the recommendations that were in the Joint Working Group’s report, provide us with an update on what has been implemented since the update that we had last year. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think there’s been a lot of discussion and that in dealing with the Supplementary Health Program. One of the key areas that the MLAs asked be looked at was addressing the working poor that didn’t have coverage, any existing supplementary or any sort of health coverage at all. The department has done the work, is now working on trying to fill that gap, and it seems to be a gap there now of the working poor, and the department is bringing information together to try to fill that gap.

Thanks to the Minister. I’m pleased to hear the department is doing some work. I guess I’d like to know from the Minister what kind of timeline we’re on to do this work and to get the coverage that’s required for the people who are not currently covered in terms of our health program. Can he tell me when Members will be advised of the work that the department is doing and what kind of a time frame we can expect to see this coverage in place?

This is a fairly large group of individuals. One of the key aspects of the work will be to cost out this type of benefit, and once the benefit is costed out, then this government would have to come back to the House in the business planning process to get the money together. It’s not going to be in this business plan, so I will commit to the Member that we can do the costing for the next business plan.

To the Minister, I guess if the Minister is needing costing, I have umpteen documents in my files which I can provide to him. That work was done when the Joint Working Group met over a year and a half, two years ago. One of the recommendations in the report was to look at a pharmaceuticals plan for the NWT and/or to work with Western Canada provinces and territories to try and develop a plan to reduce the costs of our drugs. It’s well known that drugs are our most expensive cost. Can the Minister tell me whether or not any work is being done to develop a pharmaceuticals plan either within the territory or within Western Canada?

The department is doing a pharmacy strategy. I’m sure all the costs of medicine, pills, pharmaceuticals are within that strategy.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.