Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I was saying, there is another issue that may not be as visible as the nursing shortage, that being the shortage of social service professionals in the Keewatin. The number of vacancies also stands at an alarming 40 percent. Mr. Speaker, another example of the situation in the Keewatin and the seriousness of it is in my own home community of Arviat. Over Christmas the situation was so bad that there was only one nurse on duty in the community of Arviat to service and provide a service for approximately 1,650 residents, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In my other constituency of Baker Lake, things were a little better. They had two nurses available to service 1,400 residents. Mr. Speaker, this is not reasonable nor safe and certainly not acceptable.

Mr. Speaker, how do we as elected leaders in this Assembly guarantee and provide the level of comfort and care that our

constituents need and deserve. This unfortunate situation would not exist nor be tolerated by our southern neighbours elsewhere in Canada. Where do we go from here, Mr. Speaker. I would suggest that before we can correct or diagnose the problem, we must know what caused it. To ensure that once corrected, it does not occur again. We need an independent public inquiry in order to accomplish this. In the meantime, we must address what we can, such as, the shortage of nursing staff, a plan that once the nurses are hired to retain them, keep them in place. We must review their benefits package to see if it is fair and reasonable. We must take steps immediately to replace the chairperson and the CEO with qualified professionals with input from the KIA, MLAs and hamlet councils, and further, Mr. Speaker, we must re-enter negotiations with the Northern Medical Unit to establish an interim contract with the University of Manitoba to provide these services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause