Mr. Speaker, earlier I made a statement on one of the communities that I represent: Enterprise. Enterprise, of course, is aspiring, like every community, to try to be independent and to try and create a local economy so that services at least are available to every citizen in Enterprise. My question is to the Minister of MACA. What support is there from MACA to provide communities to include basic infrastructure such as water supply? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Enterprise has put in a desire to have their own water treatment plant. Our role now is to work with the community, and look at all of the options, and look at some of the different cost factors, and work with them to try to come up with the best deal possible for the community.

I wanted to ask the Minister what kind of options there are. Are there at least some parameters to ensure that the community’s aspirations are achieved? At the same time,

whether there’s a path of at least a workable solution that the Minister can commit to the community in terms of working with them.

We have communicated our desire to work with the community and they have communicated their desire to look at some of the options of establishing their own water treatment plant. The letter that we’ve received from them, they had laid out some options, and we would like to sit down with them and work on some of those options. If there needs to be some changes made to the way the community is funded, we would have to look at that also. They’ve made the initial communication that they have a desire to establish their own water treatment plant.

I’d like to thank the Minister for that. I’d like to ask whether the Minister has discussed with the leadership, in terms of a timeline of how this process could work for all parties to ensure that there is a committed timeline to achieve the establishment of a water treatment plant in Enterprise.

That’s one of the options we would have to look at, as far as the timeline goes. We have to explore with the community the different options, as far as the types of water treatment plant. We haven’t had that discussion yet so we have to sit down with the community to discuss those options. I think at that time it would probably be best, or appropriate, then to come up with a timeline depending on which system they choose.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister if he would commit, at some point, to meet with the local leaders of Enterprise to discuss their aspiration of establishing a water treatment plant.

We already know what the community is looking for. Our officials will sit down and have a discussion with them. I’m always happy to meet with the leadership of any community, and if the need arises, then I would be pleased to meet with the leadership of Enterprise. Right now their officials and our officials are trying to iron out some of the details and we look forward to the results of their meetings.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Public Works

and Services concerning the Hay River hospital and the design/build contract that’s closed just over a month ago. Does the Minister have any information to provide this House about that public tender?

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Minister responsible for Public Works and Services, Mr. Glen Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The applications that have come in are being reviewed and we’re hoping to have a decision soon.

My question to that response would be soon and what kind of timeline soon is.

I imagine it’s going to be in the next week or two, and as soon as we have that information and a decision is made, it will be posted on-line and be available for everybody to see, but I will absolutely let the Member know as soon as I know.

My next question is as soon as that is completed, does the Minister have any commitments to have a public meeting in the community of Hay River on the building?

I’m not sure what the Member means. Does the Minister have a meeting in the community about the hospital, or the department have a meeting in the community about the hospital? The department will be meeting with the successful candidate, or the successful bidder, and they will be working out the details, so I will certainly share that information with the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.

I’ll ask my question a little differently. Some of the concerns in the community are about what’s in the building and what’s not in the building, so there is a great deal of concern in the community and that’s what I am referring to, is if the department is planning to have a discussion on what is going to be incorporated in the building. It’s a design/build, how the building is going to look, and get some feedback from the public on this future building in the community of Hay River that’s supposed to represent us for the next 50 years.

The program content and, therefore, the design is actually a responsibility of the Department of Health and Social Services, who is responsible for the program. I’m not sure if the department is going to be going into the community to talk about the program content, but I will certainly talk to the Minister of Health and Social Services about what their plans are. Technically the department will be meeting with the builders who are building it based on a design.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Premier and have to do with our dealings with Ottawa. In the past we as an Assembly have gone en masse to Ottawa. We called it NWT Day. We broke into small groups and visited with Ministers. We went to Parliament Hill. We had a reception there. Everybody in Ottawa who met us thought we were really cool, but I don’t think we came home with much. I’d like to ask the Minister, in view of all of our government’s negotiations with Ottawa, when are we going to re-staff the Ottawa office to coordinate our efforts for the best results when we do make trips to Ottawa.

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