Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Simpson.

Thank you. It sounds like there are still a lot of balls in the air. I think, when the Minister made opening comments, about half of this budget in the community health programs was for the long-term care facilities in Hay River and Inuvik. Where is the bulk of that money going, or is it sort of evenly split? I just want to get a sense of where we can expect to be. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. They are both 48-bed facilities that we are looking at. The costs are relatively split down the middle, recognizing it is probably a little bit more in the Beaufort Delta because the cost of construction is higher there. We are looking at both 48-bed facilities. It is close, but not exact.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Simpson.

Thank you. When we discussed this last year, the facility in Hay River was quite a bit ahead, schedule-wise, of Inuvik, and now it seems like they are both on track for the same date of completion, roughly. Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Abernethy.

Sorry, Mr. Speaker, I was talking total budget, not annual budget. I apologize. I misunderstood.

Hay River is further ahead, and our intention is to break ground on there before Inuvik. We still have some ground work and other things to do in Inuvik. At the same time, we have been approached by community organizations in Inuvik, the Inuvialuit and Gwich'in, who want to have the same discussions and possibly create a partnership like Avens in Inuvik as well. We want to make sure we are doing our due diligence on that one as well. It is a great opportunity for the Inuvialuit and Gwich'in to run a facility and employ their people, just like there is in Hay River.

It is not in this plan yet, but we have also been approached by the chief of Liidlii Kue and the president of the Metis in Simpson, looking for similar-type arrangements. We want to do our due diligence, we want to be creative in provision, and we want to make sure we are empowering communities and Indigenous people in the delivery of long-term care services, but we need to make sure that we get these beds out. The demand is there.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Simpson.

Thank you. Currently, there are still people working out of the site where this building is proposed. There needs to be demolition before we can break ground. It is my understanding that possibly we might need lab space, we might need clinical space to move the people out of where they currently are, which would require additional construction in Hay River. Where are we in terms of finding space for those people so that we can actually complete step one of this process? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, our priority, as the Health and Social Services system, is to ensure that our staff have adequate space to perform their duties as described in their job descriptions, but also have adequate space for client interaction, which includes meeting certain standards here and there.

We have shared and continue to work with Infrastructure as they explore options for different opportunities or facilities in Hay River. I know that staff from Infrastructure and staff from Health and Social Services went down and toured the health centre, as well as other facilities, to start formulating a plan.

This needs to happen yesterday. The department knows that I want this to happen yesterday, and they are working hard to make it a reality so that we can get out of H.H. Williams. It might be a couple more months.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Simpson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have heard a lot about the possibility of partnering with other groups to create a plan. Can the Minister put together some sort of briefing note or something that he can share with me or with committee about what is going on? Right now, it is just whispers and murmurs, and I am not sure what is going on in my community in regards to this quite-large capital project. Would the Minister commit to that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Abernethy.

Yes, Mr. Chair. I will put something together. It is not just for Hay River. I will do it for Inuvik, Beau-Del, and I will do it for Simpson, as well. We have made better progress in Hay River and Inuvik. We have made almost no progress in the Deh Cho at this point. Yes, I will get something together. Maybe there is an opportunity to sit down with committee and have a conversation.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Simpson.

Thank you. I appreciate the cooperation. Nothing further, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Next, we have Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the long-term care facility upgrade, last item, page 34, I think we have seen this before. It is a carry-over from the previous year. Can the Minister say why this program wasn't completed in the last year? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It was never intended to be done in this fiscal year. We are intending to start, break ground, and start the construction. We have been working with Avens. A number of months ago, in a meeting between staff and the department, the COO at the time asked us to stand down and put the project on hold temporarily while they worked out some technical issues and some program issues that they wanted to deal with.

We have been encouraging them to move. We are ready to go. There are some questions that we need them to answer. We want to keep working with them. I understand there have been some changes at Avens. Hopefully, that will kick things off and we can start. We will have to carry some of this over due to the Avens request for some delay. We intend fully to get this done and break ground if not later this year, early, early next fiscal year.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Ms. Green.

Okay. I didn't find that answer very illuminating. My understanding is that this upgrade was in the last capital budget. It is now in the capital budget that begins in April of next year. When is this project going to happen? Thank you.