Mr. Chairman, the reason I'm raising all these outstanding issues is because they have impact on a number of initiatives the department is currently doing, particularly community health profiles, human resources and so forth. Since the 12th Assembly started, we've had no board members on the board. The budget from last year indicates that the Mackenzie Regional Health Board is developing a health service planning strategy for the Mackenzie region. How could they be doing that when we have no board members there? I don't know who is developing all of these strategies. I know they hired a consultant to identify options, but I don't know who is formulating the strategy for the Mackenzie zone. I assume it is the department itself.
The departmental people we have are not aware of exactly what is happening at the field level, in particular the smaller communities. That is why I am questioning the whole area of board membership, particularly the Mackenzie Regional Health Board. Without that being resolved, we can't do other things because the communities want to have input. I realize what the Minister indicated earlier when he said that, because there is no chairman of the Mackenzie Regional Health Board, he invited a representative from my region to attend the chairman and CEO's meeting that they had. I appreciated that because we wanted to have input. Nevertheless, that doesn't solve the problem. We still have that problem. It has to be resolved quickly. Without that being resolved, then other things can't happen.
My region has been pushing me to have our own board, like we do with our education board and everything else that is at the regional level in the North Slave riding. I am sure my colleague for Nahendeh is considering that because he raised it a number of times too, that his region has been asking for a similar board. I think that whole issue has to be resolved as soon as possible. I know it has been difficult for the Minister and his officials to deal with, but if he doesn't resolve that it has a ripple effect on everything else that the department is trying to achieve. I can't see the department going ahead with all of these other initiatives without the board issue being resolved. Thank you.