Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the only thing we can envision happening is the possibility of some additional upgraded facilities that would be able to accommodate and enhance some of the specialist services that might be coming in to service the region. Thank you.

Will there be a need to increase, in a significant fashion, the operating budget for this new facility as opposed to the old unit?

No, Mr. Chairman. The intent is not to. In fact, if there were to be some savings, for whatever reasons, possibly as a result of having a more energy-efficient building. The expectation is that those savings would be put back into some of the programs of course and for us, from a GNWT funding perspective, to be generally cost neutral. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I realize this cost was located in Iqaluit and primarily will service the Baffin. Are there any plans to extend the service to cover any other areas

or any other regions in the east?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. No, not at this time. It has been clear. From my understanding, the people in the Keewatin and people in the Kitikmeot want to have services as close to home if at all possible, and if not, to base it on their historic service areas where they receive their services, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The fact that we will spend approximately $45 million on this new facility for the Baffin and approximately $7 million or $8 million in the other regions in east, how do you rationalize that expenditure given the fact that the population is somewhat greater in the Baffin but not to the point where you can quadruple your expenditures or your cost? Have you looked at this? My concern is not so much for the Baffin. All the power to them. I am more concerned about the Keewatin and, of course, our neighbours in the Kitikmeot.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I look forward to a motion recommending maybe a fairer reallocation of this $44 million, to other areas of Nunavut, but having said that, Mr. Chairman, this just basically was a holding figure that had been put in the budget and carried forward from past budgets. The facility in Iqaluit, we are looking primarily at a $25 million figure as a base for the new facility. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I do not know if I can support to have the funds reduced for the Baffin, but I could certainly support having the funds increased for the Keewatin and the Kitikmeot in relationship to our smaller cottage hospitals we are proposing. My last question is, and Mr. Picco brought this up before and I do not think we got an answer on it, we are curious as to the name. Is it true that it is going to be named the Edward Waldo Picco Memorial Hospital? Also, what colour will the hospital be? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do not have the answers for that right now, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think we had enough levity on this project. Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Chairman, my question concerns the program cost schedule. This was an agreement signed by the federal government with the territorial government back in 1988. Because 85 percent of the population of the Baffin region is aboriginal, then the federal government would pick up 85 percent of the renovation or replacement cost. The cost to this government, as we can see in the budget, is only $200,000 in the project itself. I understand the P3 initiative would be the one that would be used for this and the Inuvik facility. This has to be clarified and on the record.

Following up on that, Mr. Chairman, my question to the Minister is, some type of confirmation on the negotiations that are ongoing and have been occurring for quite a lengthy time with our partner, the federal government. How much money would the federal government be contributing to the Inuvik and the Iqaluit facilities? We have not pegged that down in any substantive terms yet. Mr. St. Germaine is there, who seems to be the lead negotiator for our Department of Health and Mr. Ramsden. I would like to find out what the federal contribution to this project is and again, it is 85 percent covered by the federal government on the renovation and replacement originally. Of course, the reason for this is if we find out what the federal contributions are which is a grant, then we can subtract that from any type of leveraging we would have to do under the Private/Public Partnership arrangement and thus, lowering the exposure of lease payments as that type of financing. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, once again, for the honourable Member's benefit, in the 1988 health transfer agreement, there was an agreement for renovation, I say again, renovation of the Iqaluit Hospital, not a new facility. We have made a commitment though, to work toward a new hospital and that is what we continue to work on. I am happy to update the Member on some of the negotiations because after he had raised the issue in the House last week, I spoke to Mr. Warren St. Germaine, who is our lead official in our negotiations. There has been an agreement in principle reached and is at the Department of Justice for their review of wording and the parameters around that agreement.

Again, I am not at liberty to disclose the amount at this time until we can initial off on it, but we think it is adequate. Of course, there are a few outstanding issues that I had indicated. Mr. Ross Leader, who is the Health Canada lead negotiator is coming into town, I understand, this Friday. They are going to be sitting down and once again trying to resolve any outstanding issues, so we will be able to sign off on this, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, that is good news, we have reached some conclusion and closure on the negotiations and we have an AIP in place which needs to be checked by the Justice Department. I wonder if the Minister, once that has been done, would be able to maybe meet with the Baffin Caucus, so we are aware of the date, timing of the agreement and the dollars available? I have had calls on it, and I am sure some of my colleagues probably have also. With that, I thank the Minister, Mr. St. Germaine and Mr. Ramsden for their work on this file. Thank you.