Madam Speaker, hopefully, if we manage to reach an agreement on the accord with the people of the territories and the federal government, that would give us the legislative authority to do the kinds of things the honourable Member is talking about.

However, being a man of not one option, we are currently looking at other options, like legislation, that may be necessary, should we not reach a satisfactory deal with the federal government, to ensure that these diamond companies do demonstrate and bring about significant benefits to northerners. Otherwise, they should just leave the diamonds in the ground. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Health. As you know, in my constituency we don't have a health board, but we do have an administration body called the Mackenzie Regional Health Board. But, there are no representatives from the communities who sit on the board, just appointees from the government. I would like to ask the Minister of Health a question about physicians. I would like to know how the doctors who work in my community of Fort Simpson are hired by the Mackenzie Regional Health Board? Thank you.

Minister of Health and Social Services, Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, the Mackenzie Health Board follows procedures by advertising in certain papers. They also consult with physicians' medical associations across Canada to see if there are any available physicians who would be interested in working in the Northwest Territories, Madam Speaker.

Supplementary, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you. Madam Speaker, I was listening with interest when the Minister was replying to my honourable colleague from Inuvik's question when she stated that doctors come up north because we have more to offer than just their salaries, and they come for the experience. I'm sure a lot of them do. I would like to know what kind of experience they are getting in the communities.

In my constituency, we have two doctors who alternate and they work fairly well with the community but, just recently, one of them left and went to Rankin Inlet. Upon his leaving, I asked him and he said there seem to be some problems he is experiencing with the Mackenzie Regional Health Board. I, personally, and people I know have no problems dealing with him. However, I guess the experience has not been very good for him, so he's leaving.

I would like to ask the Minister, how can people in the communities be involved in keeping a doctor there or hiring a doctor if this task is left up to an administration that is appointed by the government? Thank you.

Minister of Health and Social Services, Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, when I referred to issues other than salaries and wages, there are a lot of people who want to see all parts of Canada, to see the living conditions and work with people they have heard a lot about but really haven't had the opportunity to go and work in different locations. It is like everything else, people like to travel and work with various people and groupings of people. They like that experience; it is all very fulfilling for an individual. This particular instance that the honourable Member refers to, I can't express an opinion on because it's specific. I believe that many of the doctors from years ago who used to work in the Inuvik area used to stay a longer period of time because it was remote and they enjoyed working with the people for the period of time they were there. Mind you, it wasn't a long time. But there are some people who are better suited to work in smaller communities and work with different groups of people, than others.

Sometimes people could find that something happens, and they feel that it's in their own best interest to move on. So I believe that the daily working relationship that a physician or any other professional has, in their experience with community groups, would entice them to stay on if they like people. Even if they like people -- I guess I shouldn't qualify it that way -- but if they liked the area they worked in and they didn't have any other aspirations, you would get them to stay longer. But it's very difficult for anyone to determine how long a person will stay in a certain area, and there are many factors that would have to be judged in deciding that.

Certainly, if the intent of the question was perhaps there should be a way since there is not a health board established to involve people, I can look at perhaps setting up some kind of a process where a represented group of people are involved, particularly in the area where there isn't a health board. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Supplementary, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The situation in Simpson is quite bad, I think, because the people who go for appointments with the doctors, even though this community has only a population of 1,000, are asked to wait for a week or even more before their appointment is confirmed with the doctor. The problem here is that I think the doctor has too much to do alone. So there might be a reason here to have more than one doctor in the community. I think this has been relayed to the department, through the doctors. However, the health board members, who are appointed by the government, are not responding to the requests from the people of the communities for the physicians, because there are no community people involved. I think the problem there is with your health administration, rather than with the people and the doctors. I would like to ask the Minister if she would look into this situation with the administration of the Mackenzie Regional Health Board. Thank you.

Minister of Health and Social Services, Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, I can look at the administration of the Mackenzie regional administration zone. But I would ask, maybe not right now, that maybe the honourable Member will share a little more specifically what he feels the concern is. If he feels the concern is that there's going to be a contemplation of placing another doctor in Fort Simpson when there is one there already, I would say that would be highly unlikely given all the other communities that have about the same population and don't have a doctor. So if it's not just a matter of providing another doctor, but if there are some areas where the Member feels that we can do better, then I would be pleased to work with the Member to see how we can accomplish that. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, as the Members of the House know, I've spoken many times in this House with regard to the hospital in Fort Simpson. We've had this hospital in Fort Simpson for many, many years. Now, with the move towards having more of the services done in Yellowknife, a lot of my constituents have to travel a long distance by charter and then on a sched to come here, and be boarded here for days on end. And that costs quite a bit of money, especially if women have to give birth to a child here. The last time, a woman stayed here for over six weeks and she had children at home. So we have a lot of problems. So if you're looking at a financial way of dealing with this situation of providing medical services in Simpson, I would like to ask the Minister if she could look into seeing if we could provide more services in Simpson and have better equipment so that we could do more of the work in Simpson rather than having to spend all this money bringing people into Yellowknife; flying them in here and putting them up while they wait for an appointment. Mahsi.

Minister of Health and Social Services, Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, the feasibility of the Simpson hospital, the Hay River hospital, the Fort Smith hospital, all these evaluations have pretty well been completed. What we do with the shortfall and the cost-effectiveness of where the services are provided and what can be done in providing these services in a hospital setting are certainly some of the questions. So this is a continuing issue and I hope that in the next few months we will be able to address it. Maybe some of the findings will not be very popular, but I think we should be looking at those very expensive analyses that have been done, sit down and see if we really want to do something about it or not. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Lewis.

Thank you. Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, the continuing negotiations with the federal government have taken up a lot of time for myself and other Ministers responsible for various areas on the issues or the outstanding programs that presently rest with the federal government which could be handled by the territorial government. This has been an ongoing, continuous dialogue between the federal government and ourselves, and then, subsequently, the officials' level. So there isn't a week that goes by that we aren't trying to reconcile how we can move in getting those devolution programs implemented.

As the Member is probably aware, this is a very frustrating exercise. Even though the Prime Minister of Canada made a very strong and direct message, and gave that very direct message, there are still a lot of processes that work against a quick and efficient evolution in trying to get that process in place, and trying to get the multitude of people from various departments who have a vested interested in Ottawa to start to make some positive moves rather than finding out all the reasons why they cannot do something.

So it's been a continuing process. I've discussed this at various times with the Prime Minister. I intend to discuss it again while we're on the trip to China. And, at the same time, we are trying to live up to some of the commitments or the criteria and guidelines that Minister Irwin has put down, that we have to try, as best as possible -- particularly in oil and gas and mining -- to have a working arrangement with all the aboriginal groups of the Northwest Territories so that we can take the next step. We're trying very hard to do that, as well. This is an ongoing dialogue and we are trying to pursue it as effectively as we can, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Lewis.

I worked for the federal government over 30 years ago. The plan was that the federal government was going to gradually withdraw from the scene. From what I can see, the federal government is just as strong, powerful and all-pervasive as it was then. On the issue of duplication, our federal government has indicated that they wish to talk to every single provincial and territorial jurisdiction in order to avoid duplicating services provided by those orders of government. Where are we at with the one issue of duplication of services?

Thank you. Madam Premier.