Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Minister. You mentioned that you were aware of the some of the problems and potentials with this rollback. Did you advise the boards or what action did you take? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the boards are aware as the boards were at that time and continue to be doing the hiring for the nurses within their service area. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister says that he was aware of it. Does the Minister not have some and the department have some responsibility if they can see that there are potential problems, rather than just being aware of it? Is there not any action that they should be taking to ensure that

the departments or the health boards do something about it to alleviate it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this problem is not unique to the Northwest Territories. It is a national problem. As the nurses' association have brought up to me and confirmed at a meeting prior to Christmas, there are a lot of international demands, particularly from the United States on the nursing profession in Canada and they are offering some very lucrative packages to recruit nurses to the United States. Couple that with the fact that a lot of the Canadian jurisdictions have gone to nurse practitioner models in a lot of their community health centres, the demand for those types of individuals is very high and it is not something that could have been resolved overnight. We have to look at it from a longer term perspective, of trying to develop, first of all, a northern workforce if at all possible. I know that is not an overnight solution, but it is a long-term solution that is sustainable for us. That is where we have been trying to focus some of our efforts, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Ootes.

The Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the question is clear to me, but to try to answer it, I think the question is who prepared the Yellowknife office plan? The Department of Public Works and Services deputy minister along with the North Slave regional superintendent, Mr. Vince Dixon, are the ones who were playing the key role in preparation of the Yellowknife office plan. They have consulted with the deputy ministers of all the government departments who rely on Public Works and Services to plan and administer their office space requirements here in Yellowknife. This plan was initiated in January, 1997. There was a rationale plan that was agreed upon in July, 1997. In August, the Cabinet reviewed the proposal and approved the proposal in principle, some work was done on it and this January, 1998, the Cabinet formally approved the plan. Thank you.

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

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the plan developed there were different options that were developed. Yes, there were different documents that came around and the deputy minister of Public Works and Services, along with his colleagues the other deputy ministers, were privy to these documents and for their own internal discussions. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Ootes.

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the honourable Member knows very well what happens to documents in the government system. They are shared among the departmental staff that are affected by it and there are quite a few of these documents that may be available and they get out. The honourable Member knows that these documents get out. The intention is that it is a working document for the internal government planning for their office space. Thank you.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these were working documents and they evolve as they are developed. I do not see the reasoning why the honourable Member would like to see copies of these documents that were working documents. As the departments decide on what kind of options they are going to be taking, these documents are no longer useful and other newer ones were developed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Oral questions. Mr. Roland.