Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For these particular group homes, the contracts are usually multi-year, over three years, with inflationary increases in the second and third contractual years. That is why there is a supp for them. The increases are required to meet specific terms of existing contracts, for home support programs and group homes for the disabled. They are delivered through contracts with private contractors who are non profit associations. So, these are usually multi-year contracts. This supp is for the contractors who have had contracts for over three years.

Mahsi. I'm aware that they're multi-year contracts. That is what it says here. My concern is what is not here, and those are senior citizen facilities. Can I get an undertaking from the department that they will look into the funds provided for senior citizens' facilities and ensure that they're provided for, enough to carry them throughout the year. I appreciate the Minister of Finance's reasons for why we have supps and I can almost guarantee that we could go to any home and they will tell you they don't have enough money. Can I get an undertaking that you will look into the amount of funding provided to senior citizen's facilities?

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we hear about people not having enough money through different sources but primarily the department responsible for a particular area of government will acknowledge a shortfall in somebody's funding. Then they try to address that, if they think it's warranted and feasible. They usually try and cover the increase in costs from within. If it falls into forced growth or inflation rate, then the department may prepare a supplementary appropriation and submit that to the Financial Management Board. If it fits within the guidelines and as I said, if it's forced growth or inflationary increases then generally the Financial Management Board approves the extra funding, it goes back to the department and then the department deals with the agency, the home, the person, or the people that requested the expenditure in the first place. That's normally how is works, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One of the ways to find out when the operator is in fact experiencing a shortfall in financing is for the government to monitor these homes. Now, if in fact the government monitors these special care homes, I'm wondering how it is that the department may not have realized the senior citizens' homes were in need of extra funding. Perhaps this is an oversight of the system. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I think what happened here is that, as the Minister said, there was an inflationary clause in the contract that drove the contract up and they came forward for a supplementary appropriation. With regard to other homes that may be housing different kinds of people, they may be on a different contract schedule, they may be on a different kind of funding arrangement. Certainly, if there's a

concern in the House that there are seniors' facilities across the territories, or seniors that are in care across the Northwest Territories who are in need then, as we've said, the Minister of Social Services will look into that aspect and report back to the House at her earliest convenience. Mr. Chairman, I don't think it was an oversight on the part of the department. They reacted to a contract that they had in place and it may be that there may be other contracts with different time frames and different clauses in them that they may have to react to later in the year or early next year. Rest assured, however, that I don't believe it was an oversight that senior citizens were left out. I would imagine it was because of some other reason, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm sure the Minister of Finance has noted that this issue and related issues have been a subject of concern expressed by Members during this session of the Assembly. I would just like to say, Mr. Chairman, that I am pleased to hear his undertaking to review the wages and benefits of workers in elders' facilities. I have to note that there are other non-profit agency employees who are in the same situation as well. I'm sure Mr. Koe didn't intend to exclude them. We have talked, at length, about alcohol and drug workers. I'd now like to raise the questions of the wages and benefits for shelter workers. I don't know that that category of people has been specifically addressed in the House.

Mr. Chairman, compared to having the Government of Northwest Territories offer these vital services in-house with public service employees, delivery by non-profit agencies represents a much more modest cost. I also believe it's often a very much more effective program because it's usually community-controlled and therefore, very appropriate to the area served. I do submit, and I hate to sound like somebody who's always whining that more money be spent because I'm aware of the restraint pressures on our government, but if we keep squeezing these non-profit agencies and expecting them to deliver vital services instead of the government, without offering even inflationary increases, then I fear that the government itself will end up being forced to run these facilities at much greater cost and I would submit, without the same kind of local sensitivity that you find with the dedicated people who are running these facilities in the non-profit agencies.

I want to note, for the record, that there are other categories of workers, and I will specify the shelter workers, who are in need and should be included in this review that the Finance Minister has committed to. I would like to ask the Minister of Finance, would he commit to broadening the review to include other non-profit agency employees delivering services in the social area? Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I distinctly heard Mr. Patterson mention wages and benefits, as if I had said that in the House. I'm pretty sure I didn't. I think that what I said is that I would look, along with the Minister of Social Services, to see if there are seniors in need across the Northwest Territories and if there were then we would have a look at that situation. I don't believe I said I would review wages and benefits. I'll check Hansard tomorrow, Mr. Chairman, and I stand to be corrected. Mr. Chairman, I hear what Mr. Patterson is saying, I understand his concerns and we'll look at the situation and see what we can do, but I can't mislead the House and say I'm making a commitment to go and review all wages and benefits of this staff across the Northwest Territories. We'll look at the situation and report back to the House, but I'm not making any commitment to increase those wages and benefits, Mr. Chairman.

Just clarification on the Minister of Finance's last statements. The undertaking I requested was to look at the operations of senior citizens' facilities, not seniors in need, but the facilities and, included in that, are the wages and benefits and capital needs. All the financing required to manage and run these facilities. Thank you.

Agreed.

---Agreed

Agreed.

---Agreed