Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In Hay River right now, we're in the process of moving the medical clinic to the new health centre, and it's my understanding that, I imagine, in the next year or two the rest of the hospital will move as well. The Minister of Health and Social Services tabled the Long-Term Care Program Review in this House on Monday and it discusses our lack of long-term care beds. Currently we're slated to get 10 new beds built onto the Woodland Manor, and all that does is take the current long-term beds in the current hospital and move them to the Manor. My question to the Minister is: Since we have this shortage of beds and since the all-in capital investment of new long-term care beds is between $800,000 and $1.2 million, and since the cost of operating a current bed is $136,000 a year, why aren’t we continuing to use the current long-term care beds in addition to the 10 beds that we'll be getting? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm glad the Member has read the report. This is a huge issue affecting us here in the Northwest Territories, and we certainly have to think outside the box to ensure that we are providing the 258 long-term care beds that are necessary by 2016. In the short term, we are staying in the old hospital until we have actually addressed the Woodland Manor expansion, but at the same time, and I’ve had discussions with other individuals who have indicated maybe we should look at a larger project in Hay River to accommodate the 50 beds that will be needed by 2026, we have to look at all options before we can consider a permanent residence in the existing HH Williams. We'd certainly have to have Public Works and Services do a technical review of that building to see if it's even appropriate. One of the reasons we got out of that building was it wasn't meeting our acute care needs with respect to things like infection control, and we would definitely want to make sure, if that was something being considered, that that building would be suitable, so that assessment would have to be done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I could probably live with that 50-bed expansion that the Minister mentioned. ---Laughter

I understand the old hospital is not meeting, maybe, today's standards. I know there's an older part of it and there's a newer part of it, and the older part is the issue. That’s the reason, I believe, that we needed to move out. The new part appears to be structurally sound. I know there needs to be some renovation done to it. Will the government look at renovating that building so the newer part of the building can extend its life?

This is a conversation that will obviously have to occur between a number of different departments. I have been in that building and I know if you walk from one end of the building to the other end of the building, at one point you are technically walking downhill, so it does need some significant work. Before we can even have a discussion about whether or not it's a suitable building for this particular discussion, we would need Public Works and Services to do the assessment on the building to find out what kind of mechanical upgrades it might require, and whether or not it is the best use and best value for money, but certainly, as I said, we have to look for all options when we're trying to address this 258-bed problem and we certainly will consider options such as HH Williams, if it were to get a suitable review from Public Works and Services.

I would like to ask: Will the Minister commit to doing that review with Public Works and Services so we can use this facility?

As we leave to building to move into the new hospital, as well as the expansion of Woodland, the building would get an assessment from Public Works and Services to determine whether there was actually any practical use for this building. We will certainly have those discussions, and I commit to having those discussions with the Minister to see if this is appropriate, but we also want to make sure we get the best bang for our buck and best value for every dollar that we have to spend, given that is going to be a significant expense. Long-term care facilities are a person's home, and we don't really feel that an institutional setting is necessarily the most appropriate, so it may require significant renovations, if the building is even remotely suitable. But certainly, we will have those discussions and I commit to having those discussions as well as additional discussions with the Members from Hay River, who might have other alternatives for consideration.

Mahsi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My grandma has lived in that building for 12 years, and so while it is an institutional setting, it is still a home and she looks at it as a home, so I know people do. It is their home. I would ask that the Minister commit to sharing that assessment with myself and the other Member for Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As we are working for solutions to address the 50 beds that are going to be required in Hay River by 2026, I'm certainly going to be working with both Members from Hay River. I think this is a huge undertaking in Hay River, as it is in the Beaufort Delta, as it is in Yellowknife, as it is in the South Slave, Sahtu, Fort Smith, and Simpson. This is a huge issue that we are going to have to work with all of the Members on, and I am committed to working with the Members to address this significant challenge.

Mahsi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance. CBC is reporting that Ledcor has fired its subcontractor on the first two-thirds of the fibre optic line because the work was inadequate. My question for the Minister is: What is the impact of this change on the cost of the project? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There should be no change. Thank you.

Mahsi. Oral question Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi to the Finance Minister for that. I would also like to ask about the impact on the timing of the completion of the project.

There should be no impact, but I will follow up with their proponent and confirm that.

My larger question is about P3s. First the bridge, now the fibre optic line, and soon the hospital. What kind of oversight is the government providing of P3 projects to avoid the kind of problems that we seem to run into consistently with them?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, we have oversight on these projects, and that is how we discover some of the deficiencies in the project. You know, we can't assume that with the new hospital we're going to run into difficulties there too, but we do have a fairly significant oversight to a lot of products that we work on.

Mahsi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Finance Minister for that answer. Could the Finance Minister please explain what that oversight process looks like? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We would ask for updates from the proponents, and we have our own people monitoring these, and if we feel that there's a need for additional information we will seek that, but I can assure all Members that for the projects we enter into, we will have oversight, because these are public dollars that we are speaking about.

Mahsi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker and my apologies to the Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources that I didn't give him a heads-up, but I’d like to ask him some questions about Thaidene Nene, if I may. I think these are sweetheart questions, so I think they are going to be pretty easy for him to answer.

---Laughter.

There's a rather large land withdrawal that has been set aside for this area and some of it dates back to 1970, and I think that's a good thing, but as I understand, that land withdrawal is going to expire on March 31 of this year. Is the department prepared to extend the land withdrawal? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.