Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes the answer is always we are looking into it because that is exactly what we are doing. The price that we are looking at is about $13 million. This department does not have that kind of dollars at this point in time, and we are looking for other places like the federal government, like the honourable Member had asked me in the previous Assemblies to approach the federal government and that is what we are doing. I do not know when we are going to start, but it looks positive and we are pursuing it as far as we could take it at this point in time. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services. Following my comments earlier today regarding my Member's statement, I indicated a number of recommendations and issues I thought should be addressed in order to assist with the critical situation regarding the Keewatin Health Board. Mr. Speaker, a number of these comments and recommendations were also echoed and contained in the presentation made by the president of NTI and the president of KIA. My question to the Minister, given the fact that the meeting seemed to end somewhat abruptly and there did not seem to be a lot of closure to it; the recommendations that were made; can the Minister tell us as to what is the status as of today regarding the recommendations and how he plans to proceed? Thank you.

Mr. Ng. I heard two questions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the honourable Member was at the meeting, as well. I think maybe there is a difference in understanding what took place. I think I made some commitments publicly. It was aired locally in Rankin Inlet in respect to some of the issues. First of all, I had appointed the deputy chair as an interim chair, Percy Kabloona, up until April 15th. I committed then to opening up the process for the nomination of a permanent chair and that process would be open to all groups and individuals wanting to nominate a potential candidate. I said that we would provide interim management from headquarters' staff here in Yellowknife, during a transition period until such a time as the process for hiring and filling a new CEO's position took place and was completed. Also in respect to the issue of recruitment and retention of nursing staff, I committed to working with the NWT Registered Nurses' Association, NWT Health Care Association and with the department in trying to formulate a recruitment retention plan with some specific resources attached to it that the Finance Minister and myself could possibly put forward for our Cabinet colleagues for consideration by February 15th at the latest. With respect to some of the issues around the northern medical unit, the physician's and specialist's contracts, I said in the interim I had spoken with the acting chair and he was quite receptive with our staff coming over to reopen some of the negotiations to see what services could be provided in a transition period to provide the services while the Keewatin Health Board continued on in their plans in trying to provide those services in the region, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise me as to what is the timeframe that he has allocated to have in place a permanent CEO and chairperson. I know he indicated that the deputy chair is taking over until April. Has he allocated a timeframe as to when he expects full-time permanent replacement for those two critical positions? Thank you.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in respect to the chairperson first of all, I said that the deputy chair, that is the acting chair now, would be up until at the latest April 15th, and I am in the process of preparing the call letters. I mean, for all intentional purposes it is out now because publicly I have stated that. That it is the process. I will formalize it with letters to the hamlet councils, the trustees and the interested organizations. My intent would be to have that done within a relatively short time period, say four to six weeks maximum, to have a transition period between the new chair and the current interim chair and to have that individual up to speed as soon as possible, the sooner the better obviously. In respect to the CEO position, I mean obviously it would be up to the chairperson and the trustees on the process for the recruitment of that individual. Our staff will provide assistance in that we want to get things up and running as far as the intent and putting out the notices for recruitment so we can have hopefully, some suitable candidates identified for potential interview within the next four to eight weeks. Mr. Speaker, thank you.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister indicate whether or not negotiations with the Northern Medical Unit are taking place as we speak? If not, when will they be taking place and concluded?

Thank you. Two questions. Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not know if negotiations or discussions have taken place as of today. I know it is an intent to do that in a fairly short timeframe. The acting CEO has just got on the ground into Rankin Inlet this past Monday. I have not received the report yet through the department on exactly what actions have taken place. I know first of all, there had to be a human resource review of the staffing situation as that was of a highly critical nature to see what was there and what was required. Subsequent to that, of course, a review of some of the programs and some of the plans that are contemplated and that are in place to see what the needs were before taking further action, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Miltenberger.

Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Kakfwi.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Kakfwi.

Oral questions. Mr. Krutko.