Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Just a chance to address some of the capital issues regarding… Maybe I can begin in Fort Simpson. I think it was last year I remember the Fort Simpson health budget was actually on the capital plan. I had thought it was in the capital plan, but it certainly is a red flag now. I know that they’ve done the initial work. I think they’ve done a peer review of the project and now they’re looking at doing an RFP for the planning study. I just want to get some details on that. I know that the community is anxious. There has been a lot of discussion in the community and the leadership with the village, the band and the Metis about the potential location of a new health centre, the type of health centre they’re interested in, the building plans, what’s in there and what it’s going to accommodate. They’re really interested in seeing that and they’re waiting for engagement by the Department of Health to move this forward. It’s a pretty significant replacement of their existing health centre. The existing health centre has been known for the past five years of having a crumbling foundation and it’s a much needed replacement. I think that’s why they listed it as a red flag.

As an MLA, you always get concerned when there are other projects in other areas, and you’re wondering why theirs got done, and my health centre didn’t get done in this case. But I’ll use this opportunity to ask the Minister and the department about the importance of replacing the Fort Simpson Health Centre. It’s our own technical report that said that it’s almost in immediate need for replacement and yet there it is, we’re still operating with it.

So those are some of the initial questions that I’d like to ask about the replacement of the Fort Simpson Health Centre. It’s been red flagged publically. Maybe you could help me and tell the

public exactly what that means as we move to replace the facility in Fort Simpson.

As well, the health cabins in the smaller communities are in need of replacements. On behalf of Trout Lake, I’ve written to the Minister about the health cabin in the community of Trout Lake. It was infested with ants for the summer and bats were getting in there. It’s not really a sanitary situation, especially when you’re treating residents and even when the doctor comes in, that’s the facility he has to use to meet and assess his patients there.

I did note that in the case of Jean Marie, because these are actually leased facilities, but in the case of Jean Marie they’ve got the same scenario. They’ve got an older building owned by the band and it’s too much for them to replace. They’ve got limited capital and no room to replace old and build new. So the department did step up and say, okay, we’re going to build a new health cabin in the community of Jean Marie. So that’s something that the community of Trout Lake’s immediate needs would be in terms of constructing a new health cabin for the community of Trout Lake.

So I’ll just stop there. Thank you.