Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Erasmus

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, could the Minister elaborate on the northern experience of the people who did the report, the interviews and the actual report and their prior northern experience in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not have all the CV's of the individuals with me. I know there was, I can say there was some limited northern experience. I think what is fair to say is that we recognize that they had not a lot of northern experience. Why we recruited them is for their medical and social services expertise and not so much their northern experience where we felt that northern experience would come from the individuals they had spoken to at the boards and in the communities. It came from the people who were assisting and facilitating them within the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Oral questions supplementary. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so we have a group of people with limited northern experience and we understand there was very cursory consultation with the medical profession, I do not know if that is an indication of how they consulted with the communities, but I would like to

know is the department implementing this report in their health care reform? Thank you.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to say once again that it was a draft strategic plan that the Med-Emerg International group proposed to us. That is the basis of a document that we took forward to the public, and it is still out there now with our partners the boards who have agreed to take on the consultative process within their own regions to receive input from their service clients on whether or not the plan addresses some of the needs and some of the directions and if we are going in the right direction in respect to some of the reforms that we are undertaking and to address some of the strategies that were put forward in that report, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Oral questions final supplementary. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, could the Minister indicate how long the process was from when notice was given that interviews were going to be done. How long was there between the time people found out and when the interviews were completed? Thank you.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not have that information right in front of me, Mr. Speaker. I have to go back and check some of the notes and correspondence quite frankly, and advise the Member accordingly. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier today Mr. Todd made a statement concerning the draft transition plan that he intends to table later today. I have several questions on the transition costs in his statement. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Todd made mention of $136 million in additional transitional costs. There has been a great deal of discussion on transition costs and incremental costs and the like. We talk about division and it gets quite confusing when we talk about incremental and transition costs. I wonder if Mr. Todd could clarify for this House the difference between transition and the incremental costs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister of Finance, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity today to answer that question because I think it is an important one for the constituency at large. The transition, Mr. Speaker, are one time costs, if you want. One-time costs in terms of the establishment of the Nunavut government. They are the costs, for example, of training employees. They are the costs for the building of the houses. They are not ongoing. The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development is responsible for paying for these transitional costs. So, Mr. Speaker, transitional costs are, if I just be a little more succinct, one time. There was a short fall as I indicated in my speech, in our opinion, which we outlined to the federal government in March, 1996. Our report kind of clearly outlines what we think the shortfall is and identifies clearly what it relates too. These transitional costs have to be paid for by the federal government. On the incremental side, incremental costs are ongoing costs to run the government over whatever period of time in history the government is. For example, Mr. Speaker, if we are going to have two Departments of Health and Social Services, one east and one west, the monies that we now have in place are insufficient to run two departments because there are going to be additional costs, and these are what we call incremental costs. We are currently negotiating, if you want, with the federal government these incremental costs when we negotiate the two new gross expenditures bases. It is a bit confusing, but I hope that clarifies for my colleague what the difference is between transitional, which is one time and incremental which is ongoing.

Oral question. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think the federal government has already committed $150 million on the table for these costs. I wonder if the $136 million that Mr. Todd is now talking about is that on top of the $150 million that we have already received? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes. Mr. Speaker, the numbers we have identified as $136 million in the document which I will table today is in addition to the $150 million that was submitted to Cabinet in March of 1996. Thank you.

Oral question. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister mentioned in his statement earlier that he had already spoken to the Minister for Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development about this $136 million that we seem to be short of. I wonder if the Minister could update this House what the Minister's reaction has been to this development. Thank you.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, well there are two things we have asked the federal Minister to consider. One is we have asked the federal Minister to consider re-examining the original $150 million submission to see where that money is being spent, what is left over and if they are prepared to reprofile it, if you want, in some of the new priorities that have been identified in our report. That is on the one side and that is existing dollars that have been voted by the federal cabinet. On the other side, I am pleased to say, as I announced in my statement earlier today, that the Minister of Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ms. Stewart, has agreed to put forward a table, if you want, of the interested parties to discuss the additional and some of the additional transitional costs that are necessary. I am reasonably content, Mr. Speaker, if I could say that, that we have a commitment on the part of the federal government to one, re-examine the $150 million submission to determine, as I said, if there is any ability to reprofile those dollars and two, to sit down with our partners in the process to determine what would be an appropriate level of additional dollars required over a period of time. Thank you.