Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Yes, I believe at the present time that we can meet that drop, Mr. Chairman. I think it's a reasonable goal. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Medical travel. Mr. Dent.

The honourable Minister of Health.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We're hoping that our medevac air carrier standards, the revised medical and non-medical escort policies, will continue to work for us. We're hoping, as I said yesterday, to get involved in central dispatching for medevacs. Mr. Chairman, we're not utilizing those airplanes as well as we should. Just last week we had a plane go all the way from Inuvik to Edmonton. In this instance, it probably was the wrong kind of plane. Because of the timing when it got there it was so late that the physicians, staff and pilots had to stay overnight and come back the next day. Sometimes there is an opportunity for us to back-haul patients from down south. That includes Montreal when we are serving Baffin or Winnipeg when we are talking about Keewatin. We are not using that back-haul, so we are hoping that we can get some greater efficiencies there and cut the costs that way.

We are looking at the strengthening of regional accountability for travel. We are going to continue to refine the nearest centre policy and expand advanced scheduling of medical travel. On the area of advance scheduling, if we are dealing with one particular referral centre in Edmonton, particularly for the larger population, which is in the western Arctic and Kitikmeot, then we can do better scheduling of medical travel and hence get some savings in that regard as well. All of those things we hope will contribute to reducing this particular activity. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Medical travel, total O & M, $17.578 million. Agreed?

Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you. Details of grants and contributions. Contributions, $89.375 million. Agreed?

Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you. Grants and contributions, $89.375 million. Agreed?

Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you. Information item, health and hospital boards on page 14-17. There is another information item on page 14-18. On the next page 14-19, we have another information item on health and hospital boards. On page 14-20, information item, health and hospital boards continues. On page 14-21, information item on cost-sharing dispute with DIAND. Information item on page 14-22, memorandum of understanding project. Information item on page 14-23, memorandum of understanding project continues. On page 14-24, detail of work performed on behalf of third parties. It continues on the next page and also on page 14-26. Total department, $330,000. Agreed?

Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you. Back to page 14-9, program summary. Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before we approve the total O & M, I wanted to mention a couple of things on health. First of all, in the discussion on the AIDS situation, in my constituency, recently in the last three weeks, there was a tour made by an HIV positive young man and a registered nurse from Vancouver who were sponsored by the youth centre and the community of Fort Liard to go into the communities to talk about AIDS awareness. I think some of the funding came from the Department of Health. I think it was the best way that the department was able to spend this kind of money in the awareness area because there has been some real positive feedback from the communities that they did visit. They visited Fort Liard, Fort Simpson, Jean Marie River, Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake. In each case, people were very tense when they were coming into a community, but as the young fellow and nurse explained the technical nature, the cost of this disease and so forth, it was a very positive reception.

I have been told by members of my family who attended these hearings that they got a great deal out of it and it was the first time they saw somebody with this disease and someone talking to them about what kind of disease it is and their experience. Many of the younger people got a great deal out of it. There is a request to have more of this type of awareness, rather than having posters, television and radio ads and so forth. That helps too, but if they actually have a face-to-face meeting with people who have a first-hand awareness of these kinds of diseases, they become more aware, such as our younger people, elders and adults in the communities. I wanted to mention that this was money well spent in the whole awareness area. I want to make the department aware that if we could do more of this type of awareness, I think it could be well done.

I was told that the Deh Cho Tribal Council also had been working with the federal Department of Health and Welfare to acquire more funds to do a more intensive AIDS awareness program in my constituency. They are pursuing it on their own and acquiring funding from the federal agency to try to provide more awareness in that area. They see it as a very serious threat, health-wise, for people in the constituency and throughout the whole north.

Recently, I made a Member's statement about a retiring health person in Fort Simpson, Maureen McEwan. She has been with us for about 18 of the 20 years that she has spent in the north. People in the community feel that once she goes we are going to be losing a valuable asset to the health service in our area, because she has been there so long. The doctors come and go, but she was there the whole time. She is very dedicated to her work. We are going to be losing somebody there. Hopefully, we get a replacement who will be equal in her dedication and commitment to the health field. I just wanted to mention these two items with regard to health. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, I think what Mr. Antoine has been saying about AIDS is precisely what we believe as well. Governments have failed with the posters, handouts, television ads and so forth. That is why I am saying that suggestions from people in communities is where we should be going. Just so that Members are aware of what happened in 1993-94 in these community areas, in Rankin Inlet there was a theatre project. The AIDS student, Arctic College and Rankin Inlet put it on. There was a three-day interactive training workshop for youth. The youth then developed and performed a play on HIV and AIDS issues. In Lake Harbour there was a project called Making AIDS Real. The Kingmirut Asapi Committee put it on and a person living with HIV was invited to the community to participate in school and public discussions.

In Cape Dorset, a similar thing occurred, but this time the community chose to do a logo contest. The winning logo was printed on clothing as promotional material. As Mr. Antoine mentioned, there were activities in Fort Liard, Fort Simpson, the Deh Cho Regional Council and outlying communities, and, of course, AIDS Yellowknife that I mentioned. There was also a cost of living tour put on by the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre in Yellowknife which we supported. There is also community HIV/AIDS awareness funded by 1994-95 dollars in Arctic Bay. That will be a poster contest again. I think Mr. Antoine is correct that when the community gets involved, people take more notice. I appreciate his comments, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you, very much. Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I may be behind with this question, but I would be grateful if the Minister could give me a status report on the hospital health planning for the Baffin region. How is it progressing? Is it on target? Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, I believe that they're through the third draft right now and that's for the profiles. There have been ten communities consulted. The last I heard is that tenders have been called for a planning consultant. It's coming along in the Baffin, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Program summary for Health, total O and M, $178.008 million. Mr. Patterson.

I have just one question that I overlooked asking earlier, Mr. Chairman. Could I ask the Minister how is the health insurance decentralization operation going in Inuvik and Rankin? Is it running smoothly? Are these services able to do the monitoring of positions and billings that I believe the department had wanted to do to ensure value for money? How is it working now that these facilities are up and running?