Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister clarify the health board funding cuts that were being discussed? As a result of those discussions in that plan that was being developed, there will be no reductions based on those? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have tried to explain many times the change to the formula. Obviously I have not been succinct enough. I will try again today. Mr. Speaker, I think it is important for all Members to understand that boards or Divisional Education Councils are block funded by this government. The councils are one of the early examples this government has of success in community empowerment at the regional level. The department does use a formula to allocate funds to councils to ensure equity. After that allocation is decided by the department, the councils do not have to follow the allocation as it is set up. Councils are free to allocate funds in a manner they see as best filling the needs of the population they serve. For instance, Mr. Speaker, that means that a council could choose to decrease the support to bussing while increasing the pupil/teacher ratio. Or they could choose to decrease support to fine arts or to special needs students. It is totally at the council's discretion how they spend the money that we provide them, as long as they are following the guidelines and policies of the government. It became obvious in about 1989, there needed to be some examination of criteria for allocating funds to councils, and in 1996, after a considerable amount of discussion, there was a rebasing of the formula.

All of the directors from all of the councils were involved in discussions and, after changing the formulas around, the resulting amount of money that would have been going to the South Slave Divisional Education Council would have actually increased from the previous year. They would have had a net benefit in total dollars going to them over the previous year. But because of our deficit elimination strategy, all of the councils got cut by the same percentage to achieve the deficit elimination targets that were set by this Legislature. The resulting decrease in funds should not be highlighted as being allocated particularly to bussing. The decrease in funds to all of the councils was tied to the budget of this territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister explain why larger communities like Fort Smith that are tax based where people pay education taxes and municipal taxes in addition to all their other taxes, seem to be the ones that now have to bear the burden for user fees for bus services because they do not want to sacrifice quality of education in the program areas? Does that seem to be equitable? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I cannot answer the Member's direct question. As I said, the councils make the choice as to where they allocate the reductions that this government has had to pass on to them. I can say that the formula is believed to be equitable by the department, and it was agreed to by the directors who were present when the formula was being reworked. It includes such things as a fixed dollar amount for full time equivalent student, weighting for average school enrolments, living cost differential, and, Mr. Speaker, it also includes a distance factor based on school student populations and how far away they live from schools. The formula is equitable across the territories because the same criteria are applied in all communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister indicate the process in which this formula that has been developed and agreed to, however reluctantly, is monitored and possibly revised as it is implemented and the impacts are felt in case there is a need for readjustment? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In most cases where a council feels that there is something that is not taken into account in the formula, they can approach the department and ask that it be reviewed. In fact, South Slave did approach the department last spring and argued that the distance factors had not been accurately calculated for their council. Those numbers were looked at and it did make a difference to the formula, although not enough to make the council completely happy with the amount of money. There was some additional funding that was made available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the amount of money that students are paying on an individual basis, is there the opportunity to come back to the department to look for funds to offset the impact on individuals and families in our communities? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All of the funds that the department has available for supporting schools are distributed to the councils. There is no money left at headquarters that is available to supplement those dollars that are currently distributed. So the answer is no. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. As I mentioned in my Member's statement today, there are currently five speech language pathologists residing in Yellowknife and one in Inuvik. At first glance this would appear to be a rather inequitable distribution of this service in the Northwest Territories. I was wondering if the Minister could respond to that inequity and tell us why these individuals are not spread out more evenly for the delivery of services to the various regions.