Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to wish my wife and everyone else a happy Valentine's Day for tomorrow. I would like to raise a concern we may experience in Rae-Edzo. This concern not only affects Rae-Edzo, but rather, all health boards across the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, I am referring to the increasing need for qualified

nursing staff. In Rae-Edzo, we have a health centre with seven nursing staff. However, by mid-March this could be down to four. It is very difficult to hire staff. Advertisements placed in southern and northern papers have no effect. I understand the reasons for leaving are high rent costs, poor accommodations, very expensive travel, heavy workloads, under staffing, high community expectations, no continuing education opportunities, salary scales and benefit packages are no longer competitive to the rest of Canada.

It seems that the people we train in the north are more valuable to the rest of Canada than they are to their own homeland. These graduates in the north can now go south and get the same jobs as they would have up here with lighter workloads, no on-call time, much cheaper cost of living and the same or more salary. In Rae-Edzo, we are trying to provide a desirable place to live and work. We can however only do so much. We need assistance from the Department of Health and Social Services to attract these very important individuals to our communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.