Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am referring to the dentists and to elaborate on my question, as far as the qualifications, what criteria is used, number of years of experience, and so on, when hiring these dentists for the Keewatin communities?

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The services for the dentists are provided by a contractor, Nunavut Dental Services out of Iqaluit, and in order for a dentist to be accredited to have the qualifications to operate, they have to pass the national examination and be registered as a licensed dentist in order to provide services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in reference to the dentist for Arviat and Baker Lake, can the Minister tell me where this dentist will be headquartered at? Thank you.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The intent is that they will be in Baker Lake and in Arviat and provide services based from those communities to other communities within the Keewatin region in addition to the dentist that is based in Rankin Inlet. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and they refer back to my earlier Member's statement. Mr. Speaker, the current offer on the table by this government for our medical professionals, I wonder, has the Department of Health reviewed the package, the rates on the table for our medical professionals to actually see if they are, in fact, equal to or better than southern industry norms? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the honourable Member knows, the Department of Health and Social Services is not responsible for the collective agreement process which falls under the Financial Management Board Secretariat. In respect to the pay equity issue, and how the rates of pay came about, there was input from all departments with respect to the roles and responsibilities of staff as they developed the pay equity scheme with Hay and Associates. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not asking about pay equity. The Minister knows I am not asking about pay equity. The Minister said the FMB, and he is on the FMB, which consists of all Cabinet Ministers. My question to the Minister was, the rates of pay that are there for nurses and other medical professionals. The Minister was on the radio last week talking about the problems we have retaining nurses and so on, and so forth, and other medical professionals. I am asking him, if indeed, his Department of Health and the FMB, of which he is a Member of, actually had input on the wages that are being offered to our nurses to hopefully retain them? That is my question. It has nothing to do with pay equity. Thank you.

Mr. Ng.

Mr. Speaker. First of all, I said it was the Financial Management Board Secretariat, the staff within the government that looks after the collective agreement, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Finance.

With respect to the collective agreements and the bargaining process, we do not have input into that directly. That is under the Financial Management Board Secretariat. That is the point I was trying to get across to the honourable Member, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand the process for collective bargaining. I am asking, and maybe I will make it more clear, Mr. Speaker, maybe if the Department of Health says, look, we have a problem here with doctors and nurses in retaining these people. We have a problem retaining because our wages are not equal to southern norms. Would Mr. Ng then say to the FMBS, to Minister Todd and say, can you put something in a package so we can retain these people, instead of going back and saying it is the health board's problem? The health board cannot do anything with the collective agreement. That is the government. I am asking him, did he or his department have any input into the package that was presented to our employees? Thank you.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have some input into that whole process. My honourable colleagues on the Financial Management Board are certainly aware of some of the difficulties, particularly in the area of recruitment and retention of health care professionals, which has become more and more apparent. In fact, there is some effort being made right now in trying to resolve part of that issue outside of the pay and benefits aspect of supporting our professionals, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Mr. Speaker, could the Minister elaborate on what he is doing or what the government is doing outside of this pay and benefit thing we are trying to do for people, instead of leaving us out in the dark? Thank you.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the honourable Member may recall, there was a Recruitment and Retention Plan tabled in this House in February that outlined specific supports for our health care professionals. What we are doing now, Mr. Speaker, is attaching, going forward with the submission for some financial support to implement some of those aspects of that Recruitment and Retention Plan to support our health care professionals, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

--Applause

Thank you. Oral questions. Again, I must remind the Members that you have a preamble, then your question and three supplementaries. I keep hearing Members repeating their preambles. I will cut off the persons that continue to do that and request they ask their supplementary questions. Mr. Ootes.