As we begin to roll out more midwifery programs, will this program speed up? Will we be implementing two programs in one year, or are we doing one a year? I guess we are learning our process as we go. Can we speed the process up?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated, it’s a good day. My questions are to the Minister of Health about the program of midwifery.

Can he give me an update on how other programs on midwifery are being rolled out currently?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Sean Ivens, a long-timer from Hay River and a friend of mine, as well as representative Herron who represents us. We’ve talked quite a bit about Alaska and the Northwest Territories and how much we have in common. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a good day. I would like to congratulate Cora Helmer and Stephane Millette. They had a new baby boy this morning, over 8 pounds, and they have not named him yet.

---Applause

I suggested Robert, but I’m not sure if that’s going to fly or not.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, it’s a good day. Today we can announce that we have two midwives in Hay River, Heather Heinrichs and Toni Fehr. Both have experience in delivering babies in a northern remote setting. This Hay River midwifery team will be partnered with Yellowknife doctor, Dr. Guthrie. Dr. Guthrie is well known to Hay River; he used to practice in Hay River.

This team will also receive training, along with some of the RNs in Hay River, to implement this Midwifery Program, a great thing for putting Hay River back on birth certificates, which was a goal of ours when we started this Assembly.

This program will be optional, but it does put Hay River back on the map. This program will be available to Hay River, Hay River Reserve and Enterprise residents. This program was started in January. We are excited to see the future come forward. Good luck everybody. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will keep my comments fairly brief. I think most Members have taken on the issues that concern me.

I guess one of the biggest issues that I see right off the hop is, like other Members have indicated, it is one of the biggest operating budgets but yet it is probably well in the bottom half of the capital budget. My concerns would be the fact that we have to keep upgrading schools. We have to keep upgrading those facilities. I see a couple of retrofits on them but not a lot of big projects. I know we have done a couple of big projects in the regional centres, but it just seems that we are not… We are given kind of multiple years here; we should be looking at more of a phased-in approach and having more projects on the go, I would think, for that size of department.

My concerns are as well with Junior Kindergarten. I think we are getting indications already before the budgets are even being implemented that the money is not enough that’s being put there. We are going to see demands from communities that the retrofits are going to be way more expensive than we originally estimated. You’re doing a lot of communities; you’re implementing this in all the communities, so it will be a bigger budget. I think we have underestimated the cost that it is going to take to fit these young children into our school system. I think we should reassess that sooner than later so that we actually have an indication of what it is going to cost to put these youth into the school system.

I guess it is concerning, again, the stuff that’s not in there. The troubling issue is always a concern, I think, from this side of the floor, that we have a school that is in a community hall that we continue to put money into and why aren’t we building a school there as opposed to just upgrading a community hall.

The other thing that’s not in here, and I know we are waiting for a court case, but I think the government has stepped aside from its responsibilities with the French schools in the fact that it says, well, we’re just going to wait for a court case, which is not necessarily a proactive approach. We know that there is going to be some costs associated with this; we need to be putting some money into it. I’ve made Member’s statements to this effect, that to have a French community versus a non-French community fighting amongst each other or having to argue about the cost of these facilities, upgrades and the court case is part of the government’s responsibility. They are the ones that created it because they want to fight the system. I think there should be some money that we are starting to put away, but then again I see us find lots of money real quick if we need it. I am concerned that we’re not putting anything in for the French schools. We know there is a court case coming, but we also know that we lost the first one. So that’s just my opening comments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister of Transportation commit to getting a meeting together of all the responsible federal Ministers to see that we can move this project forward in the future sooner than later?

I know some responsibilities that have been federal only, let’s say building new highways, have now become the responsibility of the GNWT. We’ve committed money to creating some of those new highways.

Is there a way that we can commit dollars to it to maybe move this project forward?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t think we have here in this House any of those Ministers, so the only Minister I can ask this question to is the Minister of Transportation.

I guess the question is: What is this government going to do to dredge the Hay River?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s statement, Hay River needs dredging. I know the Minister of Transportation had federal meetings, including the meeting with the federal Minister of Transportation. Was Hay River dredging on the agenda?