Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, there are two points I wish to bring out. One is a very important one, I think. In the community empowerment transfers including this particular department, I am not sure whether the departments are fully aware of the amount of responsibility they are putting on the communities, in particular administrative staff. I am sure the department is aware that the municipality has been experiencing difficulties in recruiting long-term SAOs because there is a lot of weight and responsibilities put on this particular individual and it seems to be growing every year depending on the aspiration of the council.

the councils. As an example, and this could reflect on what councils may be paying nurses in future or it may reflect, for instance, on what they pay SAOs and therefore, have the ability to handle the responsibilities that are being passed on. I quote from the report, Mr. Chairman, it says, "the average salary for a hamlet employee is $35,500 per year compared to territorial government salaries, $49,000 per year; compared to federal employees, NWT based, $61,600."

Therefore, this indicates that the amount of funding being transferred to hamlets to actually do their job is quite a bit lower than what this government is paying their own staff. It suggests to me that there is a possibility that the salaries will be going down for the Health and Social Service employees in the hamlets based on what they are already paying their own employees.

Furthermore, unless there are some stipulations, I believe that the funding is being transferred must be used specifically for that purpose. The councils are going to run into problems of recruitment of proper social services and health staff. I hope the Minister and the department, Mr. Chairman, will take this into consideration when negotiating the health transfers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.