Thank you Mr. Speaker. Honourable Members, you have heard over the last couple of days about the situation with the funding for the Inuvik and Baffin regional hospitals. Mr. Speaker, I believe that this government has made a commitment to the people of the Inuvik and Baffin regions, when it signed the transfer agreement in 1988. Mr. Speaker, the Inuvik Regional Hospital, as we had heard was built in 1963, designed in the day when energy efficiency was not a high priority. It shows in the amount of O and M it requires to operate on a yearly basis. This existing facility according to the capital substantiation for 1996-97 states that it costs $850,000 per year to operate.

Mr. Speaker, this amount counts for 6.5% of the Inuvik Regional Hospital budget. In these days of budget reduction and increasing pressures in existing budgets there could come a day when the health board will be required to shut sections of the hospital down. Mr. Speaker, this government has a commitment to the people of the Inuvik region now we are requesting the appropriate Minister about this commitment. Thank you.