Mr. Speaker, of course this is a priority under the mandate of this government and I think all Members will recall we had an interesting discussion on this very issue at the Caucus retreat in August. I expect to have a legislative proposal to committee on the establishment of the ombudsman in the first half of 2017.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Health and Social Services here. I heard from the Minister referring to training and staffing of the upcoming Norman Wells Sahtu Regional Health Facility. Can the Minister elaborate a little bit more on which positions are going to be advertised competitively? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the opening of that new facility, and we plan to be moved in there and fully operational towards the end of the next calendar year, we do have to fully staff a long-term care unit. There is no long-term care unit in the Sahtu at this point so it's all new positions.

We're just in the process of quantifying how many positions that will be and they'll obviously include some kitchen staff, some support workers for the residents in the building, as well as some other janitorial positions, as well as some support positions like RNs. I don't have the exact numbers at this point. As soon as I'm aware of those numbers I will certainly share it with the Member. Thank you.

Could the Minister also highlight how many positions are going to be created on the higher-up administration level? Not so much a janitorial, sweeping the floor type positions here, but the administration.

Mr. Speaker, we have moved forward with Health Transformation, so we have the one authority here in the Northwest Territories as well as the Tlicho and Hay River. The senior management complement in the Sahtu is the same and is going to remain the same.

We have a CEO and a number of directors who are providing leadership within the region as well as some manager level jobs moving down. We aren't intending at this point to create any new jobs in that region in the senior management area; however, I will say that I have made a commitment to the people of the Northwest Territories and to the Member and to other Members that I want to support as much as possible training local people for local work. There are a number of those jobs that certainly we can train local people to do; other jobs are going to have some statutory requirements which makes it a bit tough.

In the health and social services system we have moved forward with some training of some local people for CEO roles; well, we're doing it in the Deh Cho, we've done it in Hay River. We're about to go out for staffing for a developmental COO position in the Sahtu and we're hoping to get a local person and train them up so that they can take over the role of the CEO after they have completed their appropriate training. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm very glad to hear that there is a vacancy in the secondary role, as COO trainee under the Northern Management Development Program. Could the Minister keep me posted on the progress of the advertising of this position? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We hope to go out for an open competition on that developmental position shortly. I will certainly keep the Member informed once we have a candidate; I'll also let him know who the candidate is, and hopefully we'll be able to find a solid person who in a couple of years can take over that CEO role in the Sahtu. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member's statement, I have a few questions for the Minister of Justice. The A New Day Program is going to sunset at the end of December, and I understand that a clause in the current contract would let the department and the Tree of Peace extend the program by one year. So I would like to ask the Minister what funds are available within the department's planning budget to continue the men's program in 2017-2018? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, we are waiting for an evaluation of the A New Day Program, as I have mentioned previously, and I'm not certain of the exact amount of funds that we may have available. So I will look into that matter and get back to the Member opposite. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If the A New Day ends as the department plans, how long would it take for the department to reinstate the men's program following that gap in services?

Again, Mr. Speaker, we are waiting for the evaluation of the program. Certainly we recognize the concerns expressed about there being a gap, and we will try to address that matter once we have had a full review of the report.

When does the department plan to complete and share with the Regular Members its evaluation of the A New Day Program?

The final evaluation of the A New Day Program is being finalized even as we speak. I'm expecting to receive that within the next week, and I will share it with Members opposite as soon as possible after that.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know we are meeting in December as Regular Members, so I'm sure we will get an update at that time. Hopefully we have some good news that this program will continue, as it is making a big difference for a lot of people and is successful, so it only makes sense to continue. So will the Minister ensure that the program continues? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly, Mr. Speaker, we are committed to this type of program. But we are, again, waiting for the evaluation of the A New Day Program and we are very much looking forward to receiving that report.

As I said, we should be receiving it shortly. Again, we are committed to the type of program. We are very much looking forward to this evaluation, as we recognize that this is a very important issue within the Northwest Territories. So as soon as we get the report and have reviewed it in Cabinet, we will share it with the Members opposite. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I made my statement regarding the wood pellet progress towards establishing an operation in my riding plus the South Slave region. Recently the community of Fort Providence and Aurora Pellets renewed their discussions and negotiations, so my questions are to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. My question is: what level of commitment does the GNWT have in terms of ensuring that the biomass industry has a role in the NWT economy? Mahsi.

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.