Thank you, Mr. Aumond. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks for that response. We’re looking at $27 million, Mr. Chair. I think it gets to the point in terms of investing in the personnel, the staff and whatnot in a facility in the North, this would be a very significant contribution to employment in the North as these amounts go up. I’m not hearing opportunities for it to go down. I would say it may be worth, given that we get tax returns and so on, at some point figuring out where does it become feasible to entertain a northern facility even with all the staff involved and so on. So, I just throw that out. I heard your discussion and I heard those responses. I appreciate the Department of Health and Social Services is always looking at this. I would say look at it with the big picture on what benefits and real costs and returns we would get from having a facility that could help out here in the North. I myself had a constituent returned from the South to a facility in Hay River, which has eased things for the family in my constituency. I know there is also the human side to this, of course. I will leave it at that.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Minister pointed out, we review this on an ongoing basis. What has also been helpful in the past, harkening back to my time as Health Minister, we went down a number of times with the Social Programs committee and toured the facilities. When you walk on the ground and go into the facilities and meet the clients, you get a very, very stark understanding of the challenges. Not to say it can’t be done, because we have built facilities in Fort Smith. We put in facilities in Hay River, Inuvik and Yellowknife over the years to pick up children and adults who were down south, but the flow does not seem to ebb.

So I appreciate the Member’s comments, but it is an issue where the Social Programs committee, it would be a valuable opportunity for them early on, say in the next government, to take a look and really appreciate the significant challenges. I can tell you the complexity of some of the presenting problems are stunning, in some cases, in terms of the challenge. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Committee, we are on page 6, Health and Social Services, operations expenditures, program delivery support, not previously authorized, $1.473 million. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I certainly agree with the Minister that some of the specialized care needs to be in the South because we don’t have it in the Northwest Territories. Is there a critical mass in the North that could give warrant to discussion in this Assembly, saying maybe it’s time to consider? At this point right now, is it economic to continue to send our people down south for care?

I know there’s some discussion in the newspaper as to when residents in the North can maybe be seen as… Do we have the proper resources and facilities here in the North? I’m looking at one at the Stanton Hospital for a patient who may be considered moving down south for appropriate care. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Over the years the capacity of the Northwest Territories has increased in terms of the complexity of presenting problems and cases that you can work with, families and individuals who are very challenging. But there are still many that are beyond us.

It requires a regular review and oversight by Health and Social Services. As Mr. Bromley pointed out, for example, he had a constituent who they managed to get appropriate placement for. I’ve had

experiences in my constituency, as well, and they’ve worked out very well. The case I have in mind is of an individual who was down south literally for decades and came back north and has been there ever since and has been integrated into services into the community. We just have to keep tracking and see what the needs and requirements are. Sometimes you may bring one or two, or you may hit a critical mass like we did in Hay River, where at that particular point in time there were enough people who could be repatriated that a facility was built in Hay River. All the child care facilities we have in the North, and for adults, were all built on that premise of bringing Northerners back home. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Committee, again, we’re on page 6, Health and Social Services, operations expenditures, program delivery support, not previously authorized, $1.473 million.

Health services programs, not previously authorized, $4.911 million. Community programs, not previously authorized, $4.676 million. Total department, not previously authorized, $11.060 million. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. Page 7, Justice, operations expenditures, services to the government, not previously authorized, $80,000. Community justice and policing, not previously authorized, $316,000. Total department, not previously authorized, $396,000. Does committee agree?

Page 8, Education, Culture and Employment, operations expenditures, education and culture, not previously authorized, negative $150,000. Total department, not previously authorized, negative $150,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. Page 9, Transportation, operations expenditures, airports, not previously authorized, negative $624,000. Highways, not previously authorized, $140,000. Total department, not previously authorized, negative $484,000. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a question of understanding a term here. The capital investment expenditures, we’re transferring funding to that pot, I guess, for lack of a better way of putting it. Where does this money go? What are the capital investment expenditures? Is that a general fund or is it a specific fund? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. For that we’ll go to Mr. Aumond.

Thanks. Just to confirm, this is just simply transferring from the operations or O and M budget into capital. It’s not going into any particular… It’s just going as a lump sum of money into our capital budget. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Aumond, for the clarification. I guess the term that throws me off is “investment.” It suggests that we’re putting it somewhere and allowing it to grow, so I would maybe suggest to the Minister that the term should be amended for the next time around. Thank you.