Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the response. Mr. Speaker, my final question is: will the department increase the frequency of snow clearing on those sections of the highway that are subject to high winds during drifting snow? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

On this section of highway, we have a Government of the Northwest Territories employee and a maintenance contractor who inspect the highway twice a day to make sure the road is safe and cleared. If it is snowing or blizzardy and driving conditions are conditions that need to have the road closed, that will be informed and we will post that. There are protocols around highway maintenance of when the road needs to be plowed, and those are at the discretion of the maintenance contractor and the GNWT employee, and then they will follow up on that. For moving forward, being this is the very first year of this road operating in these conditions, I think the department is already looking at certain areas of difficulty that have snow drifting. They are going to have a look at what they can do for procedures to address that, be it snow fencing or some other means of something to help address that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Masi. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do know that this government spent $91 million in getting the fibre optic line up and running, and I think it is a very good investment. I think we expect to see a return on our investment. As far as the Member's question as to the exact number that we have in the budget towards promoting that, I do not have that exact figure at hand. I will find it and email it to the Member.

I would hazard to guess that, if I asked the same question about promoting our mineral sector, the Minister could find those facts and fingers at his fingertips, so can the Minister develop the same approach to promoting investment in working with his colleagues in the mineral sector for the global remote sensing sector? If we want to grow it, we need investment, so is this work something he can do?

As far as finding the figures on investment in mining, I would not have that at my fingertips, as well. The Minister of ITI might, but I will not. I do know that this government is investing a significant amount of money in trying to promote the knowledge industry because we do recognize that it is a way forward. We have taken a couple of tours in Europe to try to promote it. I have tasked my officials with finding some industry magazines that we could possibly promote the geographically gifted area for retrieving satellite information in Inuvik, and I have also asked them to see if there are any industry type meetings that I could go to to promote the Northwest Territories. Again, we are also, as the Premier said before, working with the federal government to try to see if they can streamline their whole legislation so that it makes the Northwest Territories an attractive place to invest because it is an attractive place to invest.

I appreciate the Minister's support for this important industry. This is another example of how we have natural advantages in the North tied to our unique geography, tied to our natural resources, and we need to use every one of them to grow the economy. On the issue of lobbying the federal government, has the Minister in his work with the fibre optic link had the opportunity to develop any regulatory improvement proposals to share those with the federal government? Has he done that work?

In our discussions with the federal government, my discussions with the Finance Minister, we have raised the issue of our concern with the act and how improvements need to be made. As far as actual regulations and a proposal to put forward, I am not sure. I do not believe we have done those yet, other than having conversations with them and attending meetings, but I will confirm to see if we have made an official submission to this particular issue, and I will share that with the Members.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Minister finds that an official submission has not been made or the consultation has not been done on improvements, is that something he will undertake? Can he make that commitment to pursue this issue, working with his Cabinet colleagues so we can clear up this regulatory bottleneck and get certainty over our remote sensing opportunities in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can assure Members of this House and members of the public that this is an issue, the Mackenzie Valley fibre optic line. We recognize that the area in Inuvik is very good for retrieving satellite information, so the decision to put a fibre optic line in and invite industry to come in and put up their satellite dishes, we recognize how important that is as we go forward. We have put a lot of effort into this. We have had a lot of discussions with the federal government. We are trying to do what we can to see if we can streamline this process and have more investment made in the Northwest Territories. As Finance Minister and our Cabinet colleagues and, actually, as an Assembly, we all do what we can to try to promote all types of investment in the Northwest Territories. If there are ways we can make Ottawa aware of some of the challenges we face, then we will certainly address those, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services about medical travel services in Hay River. The Minister is well aware of the issues we face in Hay River and has committed to look into them. The last time I raised the issue in the House, he noted that Hay River is unique in the way the medical travel services are provided. That is probably good for the rest of the territory, but not so good for us. Basically, because the services are provided through a contract, the department has little control over delivery. So, since this has been identified as a problem, what has the department done to remedy it? Thank you.

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in September I indicated that we were going to look into this issue and try to make some improvements in Hay River. Since that time, we have done some analysis on how it is done. The Member is correct. It is the only place in the Northwest Territories where the service is provided by contract as opposed to being provided by the territorial health authority. As such, the contract is going to be expiring in March of this year. We are not going to be renewing the contract. We are going to be moving forward with creating a position in Hay River as part of the Territorial Health Authority to provide consistent quality medical travel services in Hay River and the surrounding area.

Not only is he addressing the issue; he is also creating a job in Hay River; well, I guess, a government job. He is taking one away, though, so I have to be careful what I say here. I appreciate that something is being done, but how can I assure my constituents that this change will actually result in an improvement in service delivery? Precisely why should we expect the Territorial Health and Social Services Authority to provide a better service than we are currently getting?

I think the Member actually answered some of his own questions in his preamble. Building upon the comments that the Member made, one of the advantages of having the territorial authority do this, as opposed to a contractor, is we'll be able to ensure that our people have the best training and are completely familiar with the processes and programs that are in place. Also, we have to recognize that people go on holidays, people are occasionally sick; people might want to, you know, go on training or other development. Currently if that happens we're not always guaranteed that the person who is going to be backfilling is trained. By being part of the Territory Health and Social Services Authority, if one of our persons were to leave or go on holidays or be sick, we know we've got a group of competent, fully trained staff who can backfill on a minute's notice in Hay River; which means they will always have quality people, competent and qualified people, with lots of backup to continue to provide services at all times.

I'm a little under the weather myself, today. It would be nice to have a bit of backup here. Because of the timelines involved -- I mean, I think it's end of March you said the contract is expiring -- will there be enough time to hire and train this new employee?

We are going to move forward as quickly as possible to staff that position, but we acknowledge that it may prove difficult to get somebody. We've gone out for competitions before for lots of different jobs and not been successful on the first round, so we want to err on the side of caution here. What we're going to do is, for the first couple of months, we're going to work with the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, who is going to identify a person who can help us during the transition phase while we're out recruiting so that there is no gap in service. We also want to make sure that we have the best equipment and the appropriate equipment for our new person in Hay River to provide all the services. We want to make sure they're fully trained. So even after we hire them, they might not be full on-stream until we get them properly trained. So we figure this is going to take six months;, but there's going to be no gap in service, because we're working with Hay River to provide some temporary backfill in that area.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So just to clarify, there will be a person physically in Hay River who people can go and see about their medical travel issues? Because I know sometimes, you know, with elders, it can be a little difficult if they have to speak over the phone, or those kinds of things. So I just want to confirm there will be a person who people can go see in Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.