Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, we are not disagreeing with the honourable Member. There are some long-term benefits of looking at that. We have set as a priority the health care professionals themselves. I would disagree with the Member's statement about there not being opportunities for nursing graduates. There was a slight problem in identifying the mentors coming out of the graduate program, but that has been resolved. We are trying to focus, primarily, on the broader staffing needs, nurses, social workers, community health representatives, alcohol and drug workers. The ones where there are opportunities in every community, that has been our main focus.

Although the honourable Member brings up a good point, it is something that we would see a bit further down the road in respect to some of the more specialized types of needs where those opportunities are not available in every community, Madam Chairperson. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, for clarification before I ask a couple of questions in this area. I want to clarify that, indeed, I am on the right page for it. I wanted to ask about pharmaceutical regulations, pharmacists positions and also questions on continuous workers in the hospital. Would it be acceptable to ask under the administration page or should I wait for another page? Could I have that page identified? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. We could respond now or on the next page. It does not matter, Madam Chairperson. I will ask Mr. Ramsden to speak to that.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I believe we have confirmed this is the page to ask the question. I am not sure exactly what the question was. My apologies. Perhaps, I could have the Member restate his question on pharmaceuticals.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I was trying to figure out if, indeed, this was the correct page to ask questions on this area. It has now been confirmed by the Minister and his staff, that it is. I will begin. Recently, I understand there was some talk a few months ago about creating a position of regional pharmacists for the Northwest Territories. The last I heard was that it had been delayed until this April. The duties of the regional pharmacist could also include the inspection of pharmacies. This is going back to some earlier questions I had about pharmacies and how drugs and so on are actually locked up and taken care of because of the recent break-in in our community.

My question would be first of all, are there any more discussions on the regional pharmacist's position? If so, are you trying to look at it for April and if not, why not? Thank you, Madam Chairperson.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. To the best of my knowledge the department, the various boards and health care associations had a fairly free ranging set of discussions around shared services. One of the areas where they began to do some very specific work was in the area of pharmaceuticals and pharmacy support. The Baffin Regional Health Board is one of the very few boards that have a pharmacist on staff and was quite helpful in supporting this work.

The working group recommended, and the recommendations were accepted by all parties, that they would establish a regional pharmacist position and that they would do it in the coming fiscal year. The regional pharmacist would work in support with the department in terms of its formularity and its pharmaceuticals program and in support of any board that did not have the resources or the demand for a full-time pharmacist. It is very much set to proceed, Madam Chairperson. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Indeed, sometime after April 1, we might have a regional pharmacist in place. That is good news. Would the department be directing the regional pharmacist when that position is in place? One of the duties is to check on the pharmacy regulations to make sure that over the counter drugs and prescription drugs are actually locked up or taken care of in a secure way? I understand the pharmaceutical storage of drugs in the Northwest Territories are governed by the Federal Drug Act. I believe that was what was said in questions in the House. Would that be one of the roles and if it has not been contemplated as one of the roles, would the department look at having that duty assigned to the regional pharmacist. Thank you, Madam Chairperson.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. It is certainly one of the responsibilities that we see being placed with the regional pharmacist. More pointedly, it would be to support current managerial staff in the boards who already undertake a fairly extensive set of narcotics and pharmaceutical audits in every one of their own facilities. There are standards that are in place that are quite tightly adhered to in terms of the monitoring of storage and use. What we are attempting to do with this regional pharmacist is to bridge the gap in boards where there are no pharmacists on staff. Of course, in the Baffin region, they already have that kind of approach. We will be able to bring a greater level of uniformity of service to each board in that regard. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Moving on to the next area, it concerns health care workers, but it might be an FMBS question because it has to do with salaries. I will ask it to the Minister and his staff to see if they are aware of it. There are several hospital workers at the hospital in Iqaluit, and at least one other hospital, who have written recently to the government because of their designation as continuous

workers and by virtue of the collective agreement negotiated between the UNW and the GNWT, they have been put on a lower salary scale than their noncontinuous counterparts and are not paid for essential services during the December holiday period. Over the last two years of this collective agreement, they have lost about $2,000 in salary. Because of the lower hourly rate, it also affects their earnings in after hours work, overtime, call back and in their pensions. Has the concern come forward to the Minister and his staff and have they contacted FMBS or other departments to see, indeed, what can be done to help our health care workers? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, this is the first I have become aware of it. Certainly, I can gain the information from Mr. Picco and speak to the chairman of the Financial Management Board Secretariat on it. It is an issue that is wrapped up with the collective bargaining process that ongoing. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Mr. Roland has brought it up before in question with FMBS in the House. That was in the new collective agreement to try to address anomalies within the contract. What I am trying to point out here is that, indeed, because of the contract that was in place, people feel discriminated against because of the way they were placed in those positions. Although, the collective agreement would be negotiated new and would start off new on April 1st, hopefully with the new agreement 1998, still does not help them where they have lost over $2,000 in salary and pensionable earnings. This was the concern. I will forward a copy of this letter that I have from those employees on to the Minister and your staff for further clarification. Thank you, Madam Chairperson.