Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Quite a bit of progress has actually been addressed. The City of Yellowknife, I commend them for doing the ten-year report. It was amazing, and it actually backed up a lot of things that I had been saying, that it needs a continuum of services; we can't just look at one model; we have got to look outside of the community, et cetera.

The City of Yellowknife asked me if I would sit on a committee and work with them on that. I agreed to do that. The City of Yellowknife has taken the lead on that committee. I have met with them once, and we are working towards that. The Department of Health and Social Services has done the sobering centre. I committed to doing homeless shelters in communities outside of Yellowknife. We have almost got the three communities that are covered. We are looking at a homeless support worker position.

I could go on and on. We have done a lot towards working on the plan, and again, my biggest stress is that the City of Yellowknife did an amazing job of doing that report, and I must commend them. They didn't only look at the City of Yellowknife; they looked at the extenuating circumstances, as the Member had stated. Homelessness in Yellowknife is not just a Yellowknife issue; it's a territorial issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It appears in the report that talks about all of the reasons for homelessness and maybe addressing homelessness should be to resolve those issues, but it sounds like the Minister is telling me that they're putting things in place here that I'm not sure that it addresses the homelessness anywhere other than sobering up the people on the streets, maybe, if we're talking about the sobering centre.

I'd like to ask the Minister if there are homes being built in other communities to address homelessness on that report. When she mentions that there are homes being built in other communities, are those directly for the individuals who are considered homeless in that report? That's my question.

Yes, my years before being a politician, Mr. Speaker, I did work with the Yellowknife Women's Society, and so homelessness was something that I have been working with for many, many years. I recognize that the majority of people actually who access the supports in Yellowknife are from other communities. When I came on, I committed to not only looking at Yellowknife but other communities. Right now, we have a fourplex in Behchoko that is just recently done. That is ready for operation and that will serve people who are homeless within that community. We have a fourplex that's just being completed in Fort Simpson that is looking at homelessness. I believe it's Simpson. Then the last one was the homeless shelter that we're still looking at bringing into Aklavik.

The other thing that we're doing to address homelessness is we're doing a pilot project. A lot of times people have a place to live before they become homeless. We're doing a pilot project in Behchoko where actually we're having a homeless support worker. A housing support worker; it's not homeless. A housing support worker who will work with people who are on the last kind of chance, they're falling through the cracks, and they may need a little bit of support and able to retain their homes because, if we can be proactive and we can actually help people to retain their homes before they become homeless, Mr. Speaker, that's the most humane way to deal with people. These are people. They aren't numbers, so keeping them in their homes is a priority of mine.

I'd like to ask the Minister if there are other departments involved in trying to address the homelessness issue. As I see it, a big part of the homelessness issue is lack of employment. I'd like to know if there's any work that's being done to try to get people employed so they can find their own homes.

Yes, the Ministers actually sit on a social committee. On that committee is the Minister of Justice, the Minister for Health and Social Services, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and myself, the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Education, Culture and Employment is doing a lot to try to get people employed, but also what we're looking at is people within the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. We have people who have huge arrears, so that is one of the policies that we're looking at currently to see if we can actually look at ways to support them so that they can get employment opportunities, work with us to actually pay off some of their debt. It might not be the traditional sense of employment that people think, but in my opinion, it's employment and in gear to actually helping people stay in their homes, and that is my focus as the Minister responsible for Homelessness.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is certainly a big issue. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister if there is an actual budget put in place to address the homelessness identified in the report. I'm looking about a holistic type of approach here in trying to resolve the issue. What I'm hearing and what I know from my own history of just being a Northerner is that homelessness is not necessarily an inventory issue. I'd like to ask the Minister if they're doing things to try to get people into homes and homes that actually already exist. Thank you.

Yes, there are budgets. I don't know the exact number. We'd have to pull them all through, but like I said, there is a budget for building of the homeless shelters within the community. We provide the operating money with that. We have food security initiatives that we provide to people. That comes with a budget. We also have a homeless assistance program. Again, I'm not sure of the total budget, but that is just people with up to $1,500, a one-time funding that they can actually use to repatriate, if they wish to go back to their communities, if they need to pay off a little bit of debt so that they can get a home. That funding is actually specifically for people who are struggling, so that they can actually not enter homelessness. There are quite a few programs within the Housing Corporation that are specifically budgeted to address homelessness or to keep people housed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Masi. Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, in January, the corporation made the determination that they had to terminate the contract because of the non-delivery of the two generators. There was a set-off for some of the costs. I would expect that overall, however, our costs will be more than anticipated because of the necessity of re-contracting for the final two generators. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I didn't really get any clarification. A year ago, the number was $500,000. Can the Minister clarify what that number is today, that has cost the Power Corporation, ratepayers, quite frankly, what it has cost them extra to date by not receiving those generators, and are we collecting it from Virdi Power? How are we collecting it from Virdi Power?

Yes, there is set-off for some of the costs that we have incurred as a result of the late delivery, in fact, non-delivery of the last two generators. It is expected that overall, however, that the $8 million budget that was anticipated for this will be exceeded by about $500,000. I think the only way of collecting the extra money would be to commence litigation against Virdi. There was a set-off on some of the payments to Virdi, but I don't know whether it will be worthwhile to litigate this in California.

Well, it seems to me that this is probably going to be a line of questioning for another day, but I want to jump ahead because this is part of the problem. There is always this degree of openness and transparency that we don't seem to receive as it relates to the Power Corporation. I am wondering can the Minister, and I have asked him this before, commit the Power Corporation to providing its annual operating and maintenance budgets and its capital budget through similar processes that we already use for the Housing Corporation? It's a Crown corporation. It partakes in the annual business plans, and it presents its budgets to the Committee of the Whole. Can the Minister commit the Power Corporation to undertaking the same processes so that we can have a public, open, transparent conversation about the Power Corporation?

The Power Corporation, of course, is a publicly regulated utility, so there is the necessity of filing each year or each time there is an increase in front of the PUB, so the process is quite open and transparent. In addition to that, we file annual budgets, capital and operating annual financial performance, and a corporate plan, which will now include a 20-year strategic plan, so the corporation is quite open. We did appear in front of committee and would be prepared to do so again if required or if asked.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I appreciate that they have come and presented to committee. It was a PowerPoint presentation. I also appreciate that the some of the documentation the Minister spoke about is provided publicly. However, it's not put to public scrutiny through the similar processes that we already use to put the rest of the government's entire budget through scrutiny. That said, I would like to ask the Minister: we heard earlier the Minister of Infrastructure talk about federal infrastructure funding coming our way; can the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation indicate if there are any dollars from those funds coming to the Power Corporation to help it reduce its infrastructure gap? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Power Corporation participated actively in the drafting of the energy strategy, so I expect that our corporation, the Power Corporation, will be developing alternative renewable energy solutions for the communities of the Northwest Territories. If I could just outline some of the things that we are hoping to do, one of the things that clearly is a priority or a concern of the corporation and all of the communities is to reduce costs, so we are looking at LNG in Fort Simpson and Tuktoyaktuk; reducing emissions; wind, we are looking at possible wind projects in Inuvik, Norman Wells, and Sachs Harbour; possible transmission lines to Fort Providence and Whati; and hydro, small hydro projects in Lutselk'e and Gameti. We also are hoping to improve reliability, the Bluefish hydro redevelopment, hydro overhauls, and micro-solar. In addition to those things, we are attempting to increase our number of clients by growing the rate base, and that is why we are working with other departments, to look at possible Taltson expansion. So those are the things that we are doing. Clearly, we will need federal involvement and funds to advance those projects. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions will be for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Since our last sitting, I have heard of individuals who had stroke symptoms and stuff like that, and there are different processes in the matter there, especially in our region, in our smaller communities. Can the Minister please explain what is the process when a person is diagnosed with stroke-like symptoms in the Nahendeh riding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can let the Member know that the department and the authority take stroke symptoms very seriously and want to make sure that residents who are presenting with stroke-like symptoms are dealt with appropriately. It is kind of a difficult question to answer because it is important to note, Mr. Speaker, that an individual can present for a large number of reasons and stroke-like symptoms do not always necessarily mean a stroke.

However, if a person does present in one of our smaller communities where there are no doctors, with stroke-like symptoms or a stroke, one of the first things that we would obviously do is work to stabilize them in their current location, at which point the staff would be getting in touch with our medical response team, who would put them directly in contact with doctors in the Northwest Territories who can help determine next steps. Those next steps may include a medevac out of the community they are in, depending on the severity of the stroke, to a place like Stanton, where they can receive a CT scan, which is an important piece of the diagnostic tools available in determining what next steps will be. That CT scan will often help determine what those next steps will be.

Having said all that, Mr. Speaker, I want to also make clear that the department and the authority are currently updating their clinical practice guidelines for primary care nursing throughout the Northwest Territories. This work is in process. This work will help put in some consistent standards for nurses across the Northwest Territories in health centres on how to deal with things like stroke and stroke-like symptoms. That work is currently being done.

I appreciate the Minister's answer. At no point in time am I saying that the staff are not doing the job. It's just there have been some different processes to it, and I thank the Minister and the staff for dealing with this in such a proactive way. My second question: does the department have a mandatory time that a patient needs to stay in a hospital or a health centre before being released to ensure the person is able to leave and the medication is working?