Yes. Many of us, along with staff, did have the opportunity of going to Guthrie House, and I think we were all impressed by what we saw and heard there. Two site visits to the Guthrie Therapeutic Community in Nanaimo, British Columbia, have been conducted. We met staff and inmates, and, as I say, I think we were all impressed from what we heard from both staff and inmates. So, the corrections service has established a committee to examine the feasibility of implementing a therapeutic-community model for addictions in the South Slave, South Mackenzie Correctional Centre, so we are researching the issue. We are contemplating the number of inmates who might avail themselves of this type of program and also looking at changes that might be required to the physical plan, the facility, itself. So, yes, this issue is being carefully examined. Thank you.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that answer. I have had conversations with him previously, and I am very encouraged to see this happening. Mr. Speaker, what were some of the things that they saw that can implemented right away for the betterment of our inmates, that we saw at the Guthrie House?

Yes, as I mentioned earlier, I think we were both very impressed with both staff and the inmates at the Guthrie House, and I can advise that the department is currently in the final stages of curriculum development for the pre-treatment healing addictions programs to be facilitated out of SMCC. So, we went down to Nanaimo, we listened and learned, and we are making progress in this important matter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I have some questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I am not going to ask for his head, hands, or feet. I just want a little bit of his time and money. The current staffing of the NWT Arts Council deals with more than 120 applications a year, requesting about $1.5 million against a budget of $600,000. There are two application deadlines a year, and staff can barely keep up. There has been no increase in the NWT Arts Council budget for 10 years, and there is nothing in the budget that was tabled by the finance Minister yesterday. Can the Minister tell us what will trigger an increase in the budget and capacity of the NWT Arts Council? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, there is no trigger to look at what will help in determining an increase in the budget. As I mentioned yesterday, when it comes to supporting the arts in the Northwest Territories, collectively as a government we are looking what all of our supports are within the departments. I also just want to point out, Mr. Speaker, that my department, the Department of ECE, has the second-highest per-capita rate in Canada when it comes to providing support for the arts, culture, and heritage here in the Northwest Territories, and every year we serve approximately 250 clients in the Northwest Territories on a yearly basis. That has helped foster some very healthy relationships when it comes to supporting arts in the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. I am just glad that no one put their foot in their mouth on these questions. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I don't think I can top that. I appreciate the response from the Minister, and I know staff work hard to get money out the door and so on, but we could be accessing a lot more federal funding, as well. There are over 15 funding programs listed on a Heritage Canada website that could be used to support arts activities and initiatives in the NWT. They cover everything from performing arts to capital investment opportunities. Can the Minister give us a snapshot of what federal program and capital funding the NWT received this year for arts-related activities and projects? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I did give him a heads-up, so he knows about this.

Any support that we get from third parties or any of our partners in terms of supporting our culture, our heritage, and our arts programs here in the Northwest Territories is greatly appreciated, and I know our staff work very hard to try to access those funds. However, I do not have that information on hand with me right now, but once I do get that information I will be happy to share it with the Member and committee and all Members who are interested in knowing how much we are supporting the artists in the Northwest Territories in taxes and other sources of funding.

Thanks again to the Minister for that commitment. He will pull together the information. We will get it. The currently prevailing plan for promotion of the arts is the 2004 NWT Arts Strategy, and it states as its goal "the coordination of programs and services that will ensure more effective and efficient use of available funds." As a means of achieving this goal, will the Minister commit to examining the amalgamation of all GNWT arts funding, production, and marketing programs under the leadership of an arm's-length NWT arts council?

I do agree. The NWT Arts Council does play a very important role as an advisory board to me as Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I did mention yesterday that I will be working with the Minister of ITI to look at options moving forward in terms of whether it is a strategy or how we can work better together and more collaboratively and, obviously, having the NWT Arts Council play a pivotal role in that. They are the ones who we assign to the boards, and they are the ones with the expertise who also help give us direction on how these funds are being allocated throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Once again, I would like to thank the Minister for his response. That is good news. Yesterday he committed to reviewing GNWT support for the arts, and he has made some additional commitments here, in my view, today. I really hope that this review is going to be more than just pulling together the current support across at least two departments and then concluding that everything is just fine. Clearly, structural change is needed to bring an improved focus to this sector and to better leverage federal funding. Can the Minister tell us just what he is going to review with regard to support for the arts and when he will report back publicly? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I did mention that we are working with the departments to see what the overall supports that the GNWT as a whole gives to the arts community as well as culture and heritage. Once we get those numbers, we can start having further discussions moving forward, but that work has to be done first. Currently, I do not have a timeline, but, as soon as we get that information, we will be sharing with Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services, although the Ministers I discussed in my Member's statement, I realize, straddle both health and finance responsibilities. However, the primary purpose of my suggestions is to reduce alcohol harm rather than to increase revenue from alcohol sales generally, so my first suggestion is about reducing liquor store hours, since longer opening hours are related to both impaired driving and alcohol-related hospitalization. Will the Minister work with his colleague, the Minister of Finance, to examine the reduction in the hours that liquor stores are open? Mahsi.

Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this morning I did have an opportunity to talk with the honourable Member from YK Centre about the report that she mentioned in her statement. I have to admit I do spend a significant amount of my time reading reports and other documents, but I have not read the report that the Member had made reference to this morning. I can confirm that the department is very familiar with the report, has read it, and that that type of research is helping inform the development of the addictions recovery action plan that we spoke about yesterday.

I understand the value of harm reduction. I understand the value in doing things to prevent chronic addictions and other things that we face here in the Northwest Territories, so today I will commit to the Member that I will share the report with the Minister of Finance and the NWT Liquor Commission so that, if and when it comes time to re-price alcohol here in the Northwest Territories and review hours of operations, they have that data to help them to make evidence-based decisions.

I appreciate the frankness of the Minister's response and appreciate that he will make time to read this report. I am hoping that the pricing question as well as the liquor store open hours question will come up sooner rather than later. As I mentioned, indexing the cost of alcohol to both alcohol content and to inflation makes sure that alcohol remains an expensive product for people to use. Will the Minister review these options and, again, consult with the Minister of Finance on increasing prices to reflect alcohol impact?

I believe that we have some of the highest-priced alcohol in the country at this point, but the report has some valuable information, and as I have already indicated, I will be sharing that information with the Minister of Finance, as well as the NWT Liquor Commission, so that they can make evidence-based decisions if and when the opportunity comes to review liquor pricing here in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you to my colleague the Minister of Health. While our prices may be high, our alcohol harm is also high, so I don't think we should rule that out as a possibility.

Another possibility that came out of the report, one that is totally within the discretion of the Minister of Health, is to have clinicians screen their patients to identify harmful drinking patterns. The screening is a few questions that is then followed with a very brief counselling session aimed at increasing the awareness of heavy drinking and referral to care. Will the Minister investigate the implementation of this protocol?

Hospitalizations entirely caused by alcohol is an effective measure of the effectiveness of prevention and treatment programs and provides for evidence-based decision-making. The abuse of alcohol is a cause or a contributing factor in a number of health conditions and is the leading factor of preventable death and disease. Currently, the Department of Health and Social Services tracks that data, and we will continue to track that indicator, hospitalizations entirely caused by alcohol. Just for note, the department will be reporting on this indicator in the 2016-2017 Annual Report, which is actually scheduled to be tabled during this session. The department also made reference to this indicator in the 2018-2019 Business Plan, and it was something that we discussed with Members previously.

In 2015-2016, the NWT rate of hospitalizations caused by alcohol was over five times the national average. There have not been any statistically significant changes in that rate since 2004-2005. The report that the honourable Member is mentioning has been shared and is a part of the documents that are being utilized to help inform our Addictions Recovery Action Plan, so that information the Member is bringing up will be something that we are looking at in moving forward with this plan.