Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, and I’d like to initially thank the Minister for the MACA fall update which we received a little while ago. One of the pages in the update talks about municipal access to information and protection of privacy legislation, and this is a recommendation from the Information and Privacy Commissioner which has been stated for many years running. Those recommendations from the Information and Privacy Commissioner have been supported by the standing committee again for many years running. But recently the government seemed to agree, and as the update states, we entered into a process of consultations, and apparently there was a discussion paper put out.

So, my first question to the Minister is to ask what the status is of these consultations and the discussion paper. How close are we to seeing some finite end to this long process? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have to get the update on that and provide it to the Member. I don’t have it with me right now, so I’ll take the Member’s question as notice. Thank you.

---Question taken as notice

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Public Works, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It has been determined that the Stanton Hospital still has a lot of building left in it. It was built with the concept that at one point there would be a full mid-life retrofit, and we can’t shut the hospital down.

There have been many incidents where they have done mid-life retrofits to hospitals and they continue the operation of the hospital. It would be difficult for us to relocate the hospital while we’re doing a mid-life retrofit to it. Thank you.

For a couple years I’ve been asking about providing an opportunity to build a new hospital or at least a new fully independent wing attached to the hospital, because it makes better sense to make new than to renovate a hospital while it’s in full operation.

The Department of Public Works has always said, well, if that’s the choice of the bidders, then that’s the one we’ll examine, of course, and the best value for Northerners is the way we’ll go. It’s been my understanding that that has been taken off the table, and the three bidders, I was speaking to one a couple days ago and they said that option was taken off the table.

So, why is that the case that the government wants to renovate a hospital that’s up and running, rather than building a new wing and attaching it to it, which would make the most sense to build new, rather than renovate? Thank you.

The budget that we were looking at for the hospital at the point when we had gone out to RFP, looked like in order to bring that in on the budget that we were looking at would be to renovate, renew the hospital while the hospital is in operation. If one of the proprietors is able to come in at a cost that was equal or lower for a new site, new building and everything, then the government would take a look at that as well. It’s not off the table. Thank you.

In speaking to two of the three invited contractors as well as speaking to a number of people in the construction industry here locally, they have all estimated that renovating the hospital while it is in full operation could run anywhere in the range of 20 to 30 percent more than what the project should cost.

These are estimates now, granted I know that, but why is this government so fixated on renovating a hospital that it costs us so much more than just

building a new additional wing to it? The fact is that is the truth of the reality, we are going to spend a lot more than necessary. Why is the government fixated on this?

Finally, Mr. Speaker, have they ever been given advice, their own advice, that it would be cheaper to build an addition on it than it would be to renovate it while it is in operation?

Part of the reconstruction of the hospital is to add a wing or a section onto the hospital while we are doing the hospital. So the hospital will actually expand in size by an additional 30 to 40 percent. That does include a wing to the existing hospital, if that is what is most efficient. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Industry has told me that it could run anywhere between 20 and 30 percent more because we are going to renovate and build while it is in full operation. I want to understand, does the Department of Public Works realize and accept that additional costs of this project, which we all know is going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, is the department proceeding with that full knowledge and appreciation that additional costs are unnecessarily being borne by the taxpayer when we can’t even afford it? I am not going back to the Finance Minister’s statements, but he has illustrated quite clearly that the cupboard is financially bare. Thank you.

If the proprietors were able to come in with a new hospital, new construction, 30 percent bigger than what we have in place, 30 to 40 percent bigger than the current hospital, with a more reasonable cost than renovating and expanding the hospital, of course we would go with a new hospital, but at this point we were thinking that this would be the most efficient way to go. Once the proprietors are able to look at the project and cost the project out, we would have a better idea of which direction to go. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. What are the current rates of smoking in the Northwest Territories? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can’t remember the exact rates off the top of my head but I do know that we have some of the highest rates in Canada. Thank you.

What is the Department of Health and Social Services doing to help people quit smoking cigarettes? Mahsi.

There are a number of things that we are doing to encourage people to quit smoking or to reduce the amount they smoke, preferably quit smoking. We are promoting some services, resources, tools to help people quit smoking, such as the NWT Helpline, we have tobacco cessation aids, we are continuing to promote things like National Non-Smoking Week, and we are also promoting World No Tobacco Day. We are putting together some new websites, building upon the good work that was done with the Don’t Be a Butthead campaign. Those resources or tools still exist and we will continue to hand those out until we are out of them, but we are working with some of our community health reps in the communities to tailor make programs for each individual community as well. Thank you.

I want to thank the Minister for his reply. One of the experiences that I have had is that you could approach your family doctor or physician in trying to assist you in terms of quitting cigarettes. They could offer a smoking cessation program. One of the examples of what kind of services that the people could find through their doctors is the patch, the Nicoderm patch, and that is what I personally use.

What is the department doing to reduce the overall impacts and costs to the health care system caused by chronic illness caused by smoking cigarettes and tobacco use? Mahsi.

One of the best ways to reduce the amount of smoking is to ensure that new people don’t start smoking, which is why we are working with the schools and the community health reps in the individual communities to tailor programs to suit, match or meet the needs of individual communities.

With respect to individuals that are already smokers, we are providing the NWT Helpline, and we also encourage them, if they need additional support, to talk to their physicians or health practitioners in their communities, who will be able to point them in a path of tools that might work for them on a cessation program. Thank you.

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