Thank you, Madam Speaker. Recognizing that, Madam Speaker, we should be ensuring that the comfort and convenience of our patients, who are sick or recuperating, are taken into consideration. Will the Minister check into the policy to ensure if that is not there, she will amend it to ensure that that is the priority for medical patients? Thank you.

Minister of Health and Social Services, Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, I am sure when a patient is ill and has received treatment, that is the policy: to try to cater to their health needs as much as possible. From time to time, there may be issues such as this that would give us a link to some areas that may be overlooked. If there are specific incidents, it is good to know about those because it would reflect whether the policy has been overlooked and would allow us to make the corrections. We really should know about the specific instances, so we can make those corrections and to see whether we are applying the policy for the well-being of the patients we are dealing with, Madam Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Whitford.

Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, perhaps I should first clarify that the payroll tax is for everyone who earns a living in the Northwest Territories. They have to pay payroll tax on that. The tax credit system was coincidental. It is a totally separate system. The fact that they mesh quite well with regard to what you pay in and what you get out for Northwest Territories residents was totally

coincidental, Madam Speaker. They are, in fact, separate issues.

I would agree that there are people in the Northwest Territories who earn money that do not pay the payroll tax, but because they are residents of the Northwest Territories, they are entitled the tax credit. I did say that I would look into this anomaly. I have to report to the House that I have looked into it and the amount of money we estimate that we are losing in this regard is some $200,000.

I am of the opinion now that, first of all, the approaches I have tried to make are considered unconstitutional and I haven't been able to do them legally. If I were to put in a very complicated system together, that $200,000, I am afraid to say, would be non-profitable for the residents of the Northwest Territories because we would probably have more in administrative expenses than the revenues that we gain. I have been unable to plug those so-called loopholes, Madam Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Whitford.

Thank you. Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard.

Madam Speaker, all of the employers who have registered with us are paying the payroll tax and are deducting it from their employees. There is one organization that hasn't registered with us and is not remitting and that is the Dene Nation of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Iqaluit, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Madam Speaker, I think many times in this House and through the Special Committee on Health and Social Services, it has been recommended that the government could save sizeable amounts of money by locating specialists in the Northwest Territories, rather than sending people out at great expense to

visit those specialists. I would like to ask the Minister about orthodontic services.

I understand that proposals have been in hand in the Department of Health for months, if not years -- some from dental practices in the Northwest Territories -- to allow for a different way of delivering orthodontic services: by bringing orthodontists to the north, rather than sending people to Montreal, Winnipeg, et cetera, at great expense. What progress has been made on this long-standing issue? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Health and Social Services, Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, there have been several proposals received from the regions to provide the orthodontist services. The former Minister did indicate that a territories-wide orthodontic program would be explored. Locating a qualified and interested orthodontist in the feasibility study proved to be very difficult. It also became apparent that a territories-wide program may not be feasible because it would require a significant amount of organization and direction from a central agency. Proposals have been submitted to the Department of Health and Social Services from the Keewatin and Baffin, to provide orthodontic services within the regions. The rationale for these proposals is that patients requiring these services are now being transported to major southern centres for treatment.

These regional proposals to provide orthodontic services will be dealt with individually, starting with the Keewatin region, followed by the Baffin and then the western regions. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, if I understand the Minister's answer correctly, the department, having received concrete proposals from existing dental clinics about how they could deliver the service, has finally decided that they don't need to hire another orthodontist to do a feasibility study, nor do they need to establish an expensive central agency, none of which was suggested by the private clinics that put the proposals to the department some months, if not years ago.

Bearing that in mind, Madam Speaker, is how much longer are we going to have to wait for some action on these sensible and cost-saving proposals? Thank you.

Minister of Health and Social Services, Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, as I indicated, in one instance of a regional proposal, we've asked them to resubmit the proposal for some modifications. These discussions take place so that the services can be provided. In the meantime, the program delivery continues. I believe we always have to make sure that when we change the services, the services are going to be the types of services that people have become accustomed to, by referring to southern agencies. So it's just a matter of working them out, Madam Speaker.

I believe that these submissions are not years and years old. The regional centres have been asked to entertain how they can provide this service themselves. As we all know, orthodontists are hard to come by, and in the proposal that we had asked to be resubmitted was a proposal so that the orthodontist didn't really...It was the same type of service that we had provided before but it was regional. The referrals were still going to be somewhere else and the orthodontist was still going to be somewhere else. There is some question as to the total cost.

So we're not dismissing it. We feel that there can be some cost-savings, and we'll keep working at it and try to get to a resolution on these matters. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Madam Speaker, the honourable Minister referred to the need to provide new services in a manner that is consistent with what people have been accustomed to receiving through the south. I have to say -- maybe tongue in cheek -- that what my constituents are accustomed to receiving is not only orthodontic services, but a chance to do some free shopping in Montreal every six weeks or so at the expense of the Government of the Northwest Territories. So I hope that that is not going to be built into the new plan.

I would like to ask the Minister -- and I do recognize that there is an effort being made to change the method of delivery -- is it realistic for this House to expect, by the time we reconvene in the new year to consider the estimates for the Department of Health for operations and maintenance for the coming year, that there will finally be in place a new method of delivering orthodontic services or a plan to deliver orthodontic services in Baffin and Keewatin that does not feature this expensive travel to Winnipeg and Montreal? Thank you.

Minister of Health and Social Services.

Madam Speaker, I know that it's difficult to get all the information so that we can justify it financially. I believe that there has to be more closer-to-home orthodontic care, and how we provide it is not being suggested

in the same manner from all regions. So, in fairness to the regional health boards, I believe that we have to address it according to the care people need. I believe that there has been some criticism that for 10 minutes of care or tightening of braces, we're sending a lot of people out, not only to southern Canada but also in the west from the Delta to Yellowknife. So I think that we just have to diligently work at it and try to resolve it as quickly as possible. Certainly, with the cost, to try to justify what we're spending now and maybe have broader care by having an orthodontist move into the regions or closer to the people. So that's how we're addressing it. And we'll try to move as quickly as possible. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik, Mr. Koe.