Mr. Chairman, perhaps I can deal with the second issue first. At the risk of perhaps contradicting my staff, I will deal with that later. Let me be quite clear that the department has an obligation to make recommendations to the Minister on design of services and the delivery system for the entire territories. We will continue to do that. As the Member indicates, we are best placed and are burdened with the responsibility to make recommendations on the territorial delivery system.
What we have said to the Fort Smith board is that they have a particular issue as it relates to the service to residents beyond what will become the Western Territory. They have a significant number of residents from Nunavut that they serve today, in their facility. We have suggested that it is difficult today to make a long-term commitment in terms of the source of funds and services for Nunavut residents. We will and must make recommendations and the Minister enforce final decisions, ultimately on design of the territorial system.
Perhaps I can suggest that the Member and I can meet later to get a clear view of the information that he is expecting. As I see it today, the level of concern that we have has risen as it relates to the Fort Smith board. While we initially embarked upon a fairly long-range strategic planning exercise with that board, it became apparent that they needed some much more direct support in areas of payroll, financial systems, basic administrative systems and staffing. We have suggested to them that we will first provide some supports in those areas simply to get their day-to-day operations to a point where the board itself has confidence. We have suggested to the board that I will participate directly in the recruitment of the CEO competition that is currently open. Once we have achieved that level of day-to-day stability, then we look forward to getting on with the longer range planning process with them. I will undertake to pursue directly a statement of the needs and fulfil that commitment to the Member in the next day. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.