The BRB, or the Bear River Bridge, as I recall was tendered procured in 2006. Now the Minister is saying 2005. I am a bit confused.

My question is, I understand the department, having mentioned the Bear River Bridge, in preparation for the Bear River Bridge, going back to 2006 and the procurement, there were some materials purchased and some materials produced, more specifically a stockpile south of Tulita for the mixture of concrete, Mr. Speaker. Since the stockpile of gravel that has been destined to be used for the Bear River Bridge project, but right now, while there is no work taking place there, since the location of this pit is near Tulita and the gravel is not being used, I am wondering if the material can be made available to the community of Tulita who does not have a source year-round and a supply for projects for the community.

To the 2005 and 2006 discrepancy, I believe 2005 is when the design was done for the bridge. Just to clarify that.

After that was shortly done, there was approximately 3,700 cubic metres of granular that was produced for the bridge near Tulita. That particular product is made for a specific use. It is made for high-strength concrete for when we go ahead and proceed with the building of the Great Bear River Bridge. It is not suitable for road construction or paths or that type of use within the community. I do suggest that the Member get a hold of our superintendent in Fort Simpson and ask him how we can support him to find the source of gravel for the community needs.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that response. It will be particularly good news to the community of Tulita. Tulita, I must say, is the only Sahtu community that does not have year-round gravel. We have not seen, at the community level, expansions of subdivisions or roads or paths. The material has to be imported at a very costly price, I must add. My last question, Mr. Speaker, is: can the Minister also mention and provide to the House here the status of the Canyon Creek all-season road, and also mention when will construction start on that particular project now that financing is secured? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Construction of the Canyon Creek all-season road access, we are expecting it to begin in March of this year, 2017. This is expected to be completed by October of 2018. We are very glad to announce this project. It is going to bring significant employment to the region, and training, as I said in my earlier comments. It is going to bring approximately 50 jobs to the region and help with the training aspect of a number of individuals. We contributed to our mandate working forward. Thank you for that, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member's statement earlier today, I have a few questions to the Minister of the Housing Corporation. I would like to ask the Minister: can the Minister provide an update on the disposal of old housing units in the Mackenzie Delta? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently within two communities, Aklavik and Fort McPherson, we have seven suplus units in Aklavik and we have two surplus units in Fort McPherson. Of those, the two in Aklavik and two in Fort McPherson will be tendered for sale and five units will be up to be demolished.

Looking to the future, what is the Housing Corporation's next steps on this issue?

So it's a really fine balance that we have to do. As the Housing Minister, we have to make some difficult decisions, so we have needs in the communities to build new housing units to replace ones that are not able to be used anymore. We have major renovations in communities that we have to address, and then we have the units that are no longer usable and it's very costly to do the remediation and the disposal of. So it's a fine balance, but we have committed because we know it's an issue. So we committed within this year and the next fiscal year that we're going to actually take out 101 surplus units throughout the Northwest Territories.

Next step, though, in all honesty, is recognizing that we're getting the surveys in. We are expecting to get a lot of really creative ideas, solutions for communities. So in preparation for that we're looking at some ideas. We're looking at perhaps training programs in the communities to help take down some of these units. With that, then, there would be some liabilities, so we're considering the liabilities for that.

We're also considering, and hoping that the surveys will back it up, that some of the units, even though they can't be used or they can't be sold, that there is still material within those homes that can be used by the communities. So we're also looking into the legal liabilities of what we would have to take as ownership as the Government of the Northwest Territories if we were to get the community to take those materials.

So in summary and conclusion, we're waiting for the ideas from the community. We are also doing some prep work to make sure that, if we can use training programs and give the materials to the communities instead of just taking them to the waste sites, that we are covered legally.

I'd like to ask the Minister: will the Minister work with each community, as every community is different? A good example is, in the past in Aklavik, for example, they did take some units apart and gave that material out in the community; but as you know, in Aklavik we have floods and we did get a flood that year and also high winds, so a lot of that material was left around the community, which the hamlet had to clean up.

So would the Minister ensure that each community is consulted with before a decision is made?

The whole purpose of the housing survey is to actually define what the residents of the Northwest Territories want to define within that compilation of results; individual community plans. So it would be disrespectful of myself as a Minister to go forward and try to receive the results from each separate community, working with them to find out their issues and their solutions and then not continue to work with them.

So the short answer is, yes, I am committed to working with each individual community to define what their issues are, what their solutions are and how best to implement their solutions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Premier about the new healthcare funding from Canada. The Premier was very public about his opposition to the deal as was presented by the federal government and a number of weeks later has signed on to the deal and spoke to the great benefits of it. So how did the deal change from when he initially opposed it to when he ultimately accepted it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The deal that was originally presented was on a take-it-or-leave-it basis; it was significantly less than what we we're getting now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Could the Honourable Premier give a few more details than just that? The deal that we accepted is still less money than we have enjoyed previously on -- even with the additional mental health funding and homecare funding, it's still less than we would have received under the old agreement, so can the Premier be specific about how we're winning on this deal?

I should ask the Member if he could tell me how much money we're receiving so that -- how he came to that conclusion.

Maybe I'll just tell him, so he'll know that we are spending $445 million on healthcare. We are receiving, on a per capita basis, funding through the Canadian Health Act. Per capita, we are receiving about $40 million, and the federal government offered targeted funding. Over 10 years the percentage increase on the per capita Canadian healthcare funding was 6 per cent, and it was going to drop to 3 per cent. We had a program called THIF which helped with medical travel. It provided for innovation and also for some other benefits which was going to disappear completely.

I am aware that the escalator was decreasing from 6 to 3 per cent, and that was the source of the frustration initially. It does sound like there's some other funding available, and I thank the Premier for making that more clear.

The last thing he mentioned was the THIF, I think, or the acronym for the innovation program that helps with medical travel. The Premier mentioned that it may have been disappearing. I assume that it is not and it is part of this deal. Can the Premier elaborate on that funding? How much is there? Has it increased from its previous level of funding and will it be there to benefit Northerners?

I'm not at liberty to disclose that information; obviously, the Government of Canada is still negotiating with many provinces. The three territories felt that what was offered in a very short period of time for which to respond was sufficient to allow us to accept the deal going forward and felt that as a government, as the three northern territories, we were very diligent in finding ways to become more efficient and effective in delivering our healthcare and consequently we were penalized because we were told, well, you're only spending this much money. I'm not at liberty to disclose the details because the Government of Canada is still under negotiations, and at the appropriate time we'll be able to release that information.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Premier for that answer. My last question, Mr. Speaker, is the Premier also made public statements to the effect that, if this deal remained at its current levels, there would have to be cuts made to continue to support the healthcare system. The new sources of funding that he has previously addressed in this line of questioning, is that enough to avoid the need for cuts to pay for decreases in the health system? Do we have enough money flowing in that we don't need to make any cuts or adjustments in order to maintain a quality healthcare system in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the fact that the majority of our healthcare funding is provided for through a formula financing arrangement will allow us to have enough money so we don't have to resort to program funding.

On the money from the Healthcare Act, which is on a per capita basis, because of the fact that it's reduced, it went from 6 per cent to 3 per cent. Obviously, that will have some implications but, on a per capita basis, the difference is a little over a million dollars. The targeted funding for home care and for mental health is on a per capita basis, and it's close to offsetting the reductions from the Canadian Healthcare Act, but, obviously, depending how much we want to provide for home care and mental health, we may have to supplement that funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.