I do know that we have 33 communities in the Northwest Territories. We have 16 of them that do have updated emergency plans, we have 15 that have emergency plans that need to be updated, and we have two communities without any type of emergency plan at all.

I appreciate the Minister with those statistics. Can the Minister indicate what is the policy, really, to road emergencies between Yellowknife and Fort Providence, who are the exact care providers and what services are being offered?

As far as the policy goes, if there is an accident on the highway such as there was last week, I mean, first of all, being good neighbours that NWT people are, they will respond to accidents and do what they can to assist. As far as whose jurisdiction that is, that is a question that I’m not sure about. We would like to think that our communities would be equipped to deal with situations on the highway, and that’s part of how we’re going to do business now. The plan, through MACA, is to offer training to those that want to be qualified as first responders, and that way that will enable them to get the proper equipment and they’d be able to go out and respond to an accident. They’ll respond to an accident and then we’ll worry about the jurisdiction later.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is evident that the Yellowknife Fire Department has well-trained staff that are NFPA 1001 certified, and that could provide a level of rescue and care along the entire length of Highway No. 3. Has the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs or the Minister considered a formal policy to contract these services in the absence of any formal emergency action plan along this stretch of highway?

We will have a discussion within the department and then we can further that up with a discussion, if need be, with the folks in Yellowknife, because they do have a lot of qualified personnel here.

At the end of the day, our goal is to have qualified first responders in many of the highway communities in the Northwest Territories, then they would be better equipped dealing with emergencies such as this and other such emergencies involving vehicles on the highway.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to ask questions again of the Minister of Health and Social Services, and it’s along the lines, as well, about the lack of services for being able to have babies in Hay River. It’s not on the midwifery line.

It’s going to be a while before we probably have resident doctors in Hay River who have the credentials that would allow us to allow our residents of Hay River to have their children in Hay River. That being the case, they have to come to Yellowknife or they can go someplace else, but most do come to Yellowknife. They have to come three weeks before their due date. I believe they receive a $50 per day allowance or they can stay at the Vital Abel Boarding Home. This boarding home, although it may be a wonderful service, is in a very out of the way location, and it is not convenient unless you want to be down there the whole time. It costs a lot for cabs and so on.

I have an idea. For those coming from Hay River, $50 is a long ways from the cost of any hotel room in Yellowknife. I would like to ask the Minister if his department has ever entertained the idea of having some form of a residence here in Yellowknife that could be accessed by expectant families coming into Yellowknife to await the arrival of a baby.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t believe that we have examined the possibility of having a residence for expecting mothers here in Yellowknife to accommodate mothers from out of the communities.

Does he know what the per diem cost to this government is of the Vital Abel Boarding Home? If someone was going there to await the arrival of a baby and they were there for three weeks, there must be a cost to this government on a daily basis. Does he know what that cost would be?

I don’t have the daily cost of the individuals to stay at Vital Abel, but I can easily get that information for the Member.

I’m going to guess that that per diem cost per patient is not a small amount of money, and I also think that there is probably a fair amount of uptake of beds in that facility. When you look at a community the size of Hay River, which is the second largest community in the Northwest Territories, and the number of people that have to come over here and pay out of their pockets causing financial stress, I think that we need to do a cost-benefit analysis of some other form of accommodation for expectant mothers when they come here that is perhaps specific to Hay River or specific to communities outside of Yellowknife besides the Vital Abel option.

Hopefully, by the time we look at the cost of trying to get a residence in Hay River we would have the new health centre functioning with doctors and midwives, hopefully. But I have no issue with looking at the possibility and examining what the costs of Vital Abel are and what it would cost to provide that service for Hay River.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for those answers. I want to tell him that I’d be very happy to work with him on that. I think that we are hopeful we will have doctors. I’m hopeful we’ll have midwives. I’m hopeful we’ll have a lot of services that won’t require people to travel. But in the meantime, even a rented residence dedicated to offsetting the costs of expectant mothers waiting here in Yellowknife to have babies would be great, so I would just like to offer to help him work on that cost- benefit analysis.

As we examine this possibility, we will work with the Member to look at the costs and so on.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Item 8, written questions. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services related to the lack of infrastructure in the NWT to house adults with many different disabilities.

1. Please provide information, by community,

about NWT residents in need of independent, 24/7 supported living housing.

2. Please provide information on all waitlists for

independent supported living housing, with particular regard to Yellowknife.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table a document, a picture I took which demonstrates that regular gas is sold at $1.389 per litre here in Yellowknife and continues to underscore my issue with gas prices. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Item 15, notices of motion. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. There is a call for Motion 4-17(4). Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Tabled Document 9-17(4), NWT Main Estimates, 2013-2014, Health and Social Services.

By authority given to me as Speaker, by Motion 1-17(4), I hereby authorize the House to sit beyond the daily sitting hour of adjournment to consider business before the House, with Mrs. Groenewegen in the chair.