The Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The letter has been received by my office. I have forwarded it to the

Housing Corporation for review and we are looking at the possibility of doing an arrangement through the community empowerment initiative to transfer as many programs as possible, similar to those we have done in other communities. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Housing Corporation has had the letter for a few days now. I would hope within the next week that we should be able to respond to the community and the MLA at that time. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I cannot say for sure whether there will be a block funding arrangement with the community. What we are doing is looking at what we can transfer to the community as we have done with other communities. We encourage other communities to pursue this. I have instructed the Housing Corporation to take these requests positively and to do them in a timely manner. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The community of Tsiigehtchic already has some housing program responsibility, which we transferred to the community on August 1, 1997. In the past two years we have been successful in transferring programs to roughly half of the communities in the Northwest Territories and, hopefully, in the next year, do several other transfers in other communities. Whatever arrangement we can make, I would like to have it finalized before springtime. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health. Mr. Speaker, my question concerns health boards. Do health boards have the ability to offer salaries and benefits exclusive of the UNW Collective Agreement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This might be better answered by the Chairperson of the Financial Management Board. They follow the guidelines of all the GNWT as part of the bargaining unit. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is my understanding also. I have heard, Mr. Speaker, indeed, some health boards have given benefits such as travel benefits and increased salary packages to nurses in certain locations to get them to stay there. Could the Minister confirm this is taking place? Thank you.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to my knowledge, it is not taking place, but obviously, if the Member has some information that I do not have and is willing to provide it to me, I can check into the particular circumstances. I can say that in some circumstances, Mr. Speaker, boards operate under contract with nursing placement agencies that provide health care professionals. They negotiate different rates with those contract agencies, Mr. Speaker, and

they have the right to do that. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, they have the right to negotiate, but they cannot negotiate above and beyond the current collective agreement. All the nurses are under the collective agreement and they are paid an amount which is spelled out under the collective agreement. A nurse in Grise Fiord would get the same amount based on her terms, tenure and experience that a similar nurse would get in Rankin Inlet as an example. Is the Minister then saying that, indeed, we do have medical professionals who are getting benefits or salaries greater than what is spelled out in the collective agreement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.