Mr. Speaker, I would, I guess, suggest that it would be a very high percentage of people but I can understand that the Minister is not going to have that information at his fingertips. But I wonder, I'd like to ask the Minister if it would be possible for the Minister to provide us with that information where the number or the percentage of people that are in the hospitals are in there with issues that are 100 per cent preventable, and that there can be programs put in place to address those particular health issues?

No, I won't commit to doing that. I think trying to determine that data would be incredibly time-consuming; it would be near impossible because there are multiple reasons somebody might be sick. Somebody who has addictions might be sick but their sickness may not have any addictions. It would be almost an impossible question to answer.

We have in the Northwest Territories a number of criteria, a number of evaluation criteria that we use to determine the effectiveness of our health system and track the health conditions of our residents. We've got that information; we brought it forward in the last government. We've started collecting statistics on those data points and I'm happy to provide that information to the Member and all Members so that we can make informed decisions. But I'm not prepared at this point to invest a significant amount of resources and time to answer a question which, you know, for most part would be almost impossible to make 100 per cent determination on whether or not that is why somebody is sick.

Mr. Speaker, I totally disagree. This is not an impossible thing to do; this is an easy thing to do. If the Minister had talked to the people in the communities, as an example, those nurses as our people are walking in the doors could determine why that individual is sick. They actually send people home because they think that their issue is 100 per cent preventable by stopping drinking. That's an example of what's going on right now. This is not rocket science here. This is a simple thing. You go in the hospitals; you look at the records why individuals are there. Why would the Minister not commit to it? It's not impossible to do. It's not just about impossible, it's a simple thing. I'd like to ask the Minister if he would take a look at it? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, obviously we're going to have to disagree. I've been around the healthcare system for a while; I've had an opportunity to talk to health practitioners throughout the Northwest Territories, across this country, around the world, there's no question that alcohol and addictions have a huge impact on healthcare and the health results of people across the Northwest Territories, the country and the world. I'm not denying that. I'm saying investing a significant amount of money to go out and determine why every resident of the Northwest Territories is sick and whether or not their condition was preventable if they did not drink is not good value for money.

We have acute care needs. We know there's a huge problem with mental health and addictions in the Northwest Territories. We've got the results from the Mental Health and Addictions Forum led by the-- ordered by the previous Minister of Health and Social Services. We're doing our work on the Mental Health and Addictions Framework. We've got our reporting mechanisms on the key factors to help determine whether or not we're meeting the health needs of residents of the Northwest Territories. I'm not arguing with the Member that addictions is a problem, what I'm saying is investing significant money to determine the exact reason why somebody is sick is not going to add value to this system when we already know that alcohol is a factor.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I asked that question to see if the Minister could move away from almost reacting to individuals once they're sick, but actually do something in the area of prevention. I'm not asking the Minister to give me a presentation of every person's ailments across the Northwest Territories; I'm asking the Minister to look at the hospitals. I don't care if he takes a two-month example and extrapolates the numbers from there. I have no reason to say that every person has to have a head count either. I'm saying there should be some work done in that area. I'm asking the Minister if he would stand up, do the work in that area and try to lessen the costs to the health system. That's what I'm here to try to do, try to lessen the costs to the health system. The Minister says no, I can't do it, it's too much work. That's ridiculous. Asking--

Member, I believe you already asked those questions so I'll allow the Minister to answer the question. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not here to save money for the Government of Northwest Territories on healthcare; I'm here to provide the best healthcare possible to the residents of the Northwest Territories through the systems and mechanisms that we have available. I also need to do that in a fiscally prudent and responsible way.

The Member is obviously leaning towards prevention. I'm not arguing with the Member, I think prevention is absolutely necessary, and we've made investments in prevention and we'll continue to make investments in prevention. But I'd rather spend the money on prevention than spending a whole lot of money to do an assessment as to why, you know, what resulted in everybody being sick in the Northwest Territories.

We already know we have poor outcomes for Aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories, poor health outcomes. We know we have high rates of addiction. We know we have challenges. These are the things that we need to address and we're not going to address that by doing a study. I think ultimately I'm agreeing with the Member; I'm just saying I'm not prepared to spend a whole lot of money to do a study on why people are sick when we already have a significant amount of information out there.

I'm also indicating that we are working on prevention. We need to do more around prevention. I think I've agreed to everything the Member has said, so I'm not sure where the Member is going with this other than suggesting we need to spend a whole lot of money for something that's not going to give us any benefits.

Masi. Time for oral questions has expired. Item 9, written questions. Item 10, returns to written questions. Item 11, replies to Commissioner's opening address. Item 12, petitions. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents, entitled "Skills 4 Success: NWT Jobs in Demand: 15-year Forecast," "Northwest Territories Labour Market Forecast and Needs Assessment: Briefing April 2016" and "Labour Market Information Resource: Northwest Territories Labour Market Forecast and Needs Assessment: Resource April 2016." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister of Public Works and Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents, entitled "North Slave Resiliency Study Final Report: Attachments" and "Northwest Territories Housing Corporation 2016-2017 Capital Adjustments." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation. Item 15, notices of motion. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to amend the notice of motion I provided yesterday regarding addressing core housing needs in the Northwest Territories. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Member for Yellowknife Centre is seeking unanimous consent to amend the notice of motion she gave notice of yesterday for Motion 19-18(2): Addressing Core Housing Needs in NWT. Are there any nays? There are no nays.

---Unanimous consent granted

You may proceed with your motion amendment.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I hereby amend the notice of motion which I gave yesterday by deleting the words "within 120 days" in the third section of the resolution portion and inserting the words "at the earliest opportunity." Further that the following words be added as the fourth section of the resolution portion of the motion, "And furthermore that the Government provide a comprehensive response to this motion within 120 days." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. The motion will be amended accordingly. Item 15, notices of motion. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters, with Member for Hay River North in the Chair.

By the authority given to me as Speaker by Motion 18-18(2), I hereby authorize the House to sit beyond the daily hour of adjournment to consider business before the House. Masi.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, committee would like to continue considering Tabled Document 50-18(2), Main Estimates, 2016-2017. Committee would like to consider Health and Social Services and possibly Industry, Tourism and Investment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Does committee agree?

We'll take a short break and resume with the consideration of the document.

---SHORT RECESS

We are back to order. We've agreed to consider Tabled Document 50-18(2): Main Estimates, 2016-17. And we're going to consider the Department of Health and Social Services. Minister, would you like to bring witnesses into the chamber?

Yes, please.