Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The federal government, on the Building Canada Fund, has provided us an indication that they will approve $258 million for the NWT for both transportation and community infrastructure. Thank you.

That’s the exact amount of money I need to reconstruct Highway No. 7.

---Laughter

That’s great news. Maybe the Minister can detail how that $258 million will be broken up – he did indicate I think it was municipalities and transportation – maybe what kind of dialogue and is it $258 million over 10 years. How is that $258 million allocated for the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, it’s split between the community governments and transportation infrastructure. We have not determined that, but the $258 million has to be leveraged and they are what we refer to as 75 cent dollars so the GNWT will have to come back to the House to get our corresponding share, which would be 25 percent. It is over 10 years, so approximately $25.8 million per year from the federal government to the GNWT. Thank you.

I know that Transportation had an excellent Corridors for Canada III proposal, Building for Prosperity. That was $600 million over a 10-year period and it addressed many of the concerns in each of our constituencies and, in fact, for the whole of the Northwest Territories.

How does that funding impact our ability to follow through with Corridors for Canada III: Building for Prosperity in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Provincial/Territorial Infrastructure Fund request was for $415 million and that was the initial $600 million ask from the GNWT to the federal government. The portion that the Member speaks of where Highway No. 7 would sit was a $415 million request and we didn’t, obviously, get all of that since the entire ask to us was $258 million, so we’re discussing this between ourselves as departments, and also our infrastructure Minister McLeod has been leading some meetings to determine the split between the communities and the highways. Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It certainly impacts the well-touted Corridors for Canada III plan of the Department of Transportation. I’m just wondering: What does the department have? Will the department come back for a Corridors for Canada III divided by half proposal? How is the department going to manage

all those initiatives? I know we had great discussion in committee and it seemed like a great plan, but now with the reduced amount the Minister has already said he doesn’t know how much he’s actually getting because there are still discussions happening.

I guess the other question, too, if I may, is there any other highway initiative funding that the federal government has that will also help us with the Corridors for Canada III plan? Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, there is another fund. I believe its $4 billion. It’s projects of national significance and we are taking a portion of our ask and looking at it again, and we will be presenting the work that’s going to be needed to build new infrastructure and the project would be the Mackenzie Valley Highway. We’re going to be presenting that to the federal government before the end of this month. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Premier, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, on the potential of Deline proving their community government initiative tonight. I want to ask the Minister, are there within the life of this government here that Deline, should they be successful – tonight we’ll hear for sure – legislation in place for them to become enacted in legislation as a self-government body?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we’re all waiting with great anticipation for the results of the ratification vote tonight. Once we get the results, we’ll proceed with the next steps. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In the Sahtu they are really excited and they hope they will hear the news tonight.

What are the next steps should the vote be a successful vote?

Mr. Speaker, of course the federal government will also do due diligence on this legislation. Do we have any role in regards to working with the federal government in implementing Deline’s self-government agreement?

The GNWT is a signatory to these agreements and there are programs and services and assets that the Deline community will be taking over, so we will be participating in all aspects of those arrangements. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hate to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services questions today, but I’ll make my questions short and he can make the answers short and we can wrap this up.

I do not have before me the statistics on the incidence of diabetes and pre-diabetes in the Northwest Territories, but I’d like to ask the Minister if this condition is on the rise in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, how do our statistics on the incidence of diabetes and pre-diabetes compare to other jurisdictions in Canada? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, diabetes is, from my understanding, on the rise across Canada. We are not unique. Our rates increase by about 200 people a year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Does the treatment and education of people in the Northwest Territories with diabetes and pre-diabetes include an education component? Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. We have a variety of different programs that are trying to start with prevention, Healthy Families, Healthy Choices framework, a number of initiatives geared to educating people about food. I have directed the department to work a little bit more on trying to get some more information on sugar, as brought up earlier by Mr. Dolynny, into that advertising, that prevention works. But we also have professionals in Yellowknife and in communities throughout the Northwest Territories who actually provide services to the individuals, including education and helping people make positive food choices and help them control their diabetes.