Thank you. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Dent.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Erasmus.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department is actively involved with that group as well as the professional associations, the medical association that we have on behalf of the physicians, the registered nurses' association on behalf of the nursing profession and the NWT Health Care Association. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister explain how and when this steering group got started and particularly if it was before the Keewatin health issue arose?

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it began, I believe, in 1996 as a broader human resource planning group which kicked out under way. Some of the things that were to be discussed is the preferred model of primary care delivery because a lot of our communities do not have physicians. A lot of communities are being serviced by nurse practitioners. There were some discussions about what roles those two groups would play. The aspect of the social workers not being represented by an organization or association was another issue. Things progressed but not at a rapid pace. What happened in 1997, as you know, there were some issues brought forward in respect to physician shortages throughout the territories, I believe raised by the Medical Association which flagged the issue of the need to maybe have some concentration on that area. It became apparent that some of the nursing positions are becoming vacant and not being filled on a permanent basis, but more on a contractual basis, so that again, brought up the need of that issue. There were different components that became accelerated as a result of circumstances that caused us to deal with the situation in a more timely fashion. I believe a lot of that took place, the actual acceleration of some of the work of these on a specific nursing position and social worker planning part, sometime late 1997 or early fall of 1997, around that time, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Minister is in a position to do so, would he elaborate on some of the aspects in this plan?

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we know, the plan is almost finalized and ready for review. Obviously, there is some pay and benefit issues that might be a part of it. I am not at liberty to discuss that right now. I think some of the broader aspects of it are some of the professional development and professional support that the associations are requesting and specifically, the development of a potential pool of resources to be available in a central location to be able to provide relief when individuals are required to go out for training, for professional development, for holidays or in the circumstances where maybe a community is overwhelmed because of an outbreak of a certain condition that cause their staff to be working long and stressful hours. It is the development of some resources to support those types of needs is one big aspect of that in respect to professional development and ongoing needs. Thank you.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, could the Minister indicate approximately when the retention and recruitment plan for physicians, nurses and social workers will be out for the MLAs to have a look at?

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am hoping by the middle or late next week that I will have an opportunity to review the plan. Depending on the financial aspect of it, if there are some certain requirements that have to be put forward and requested from the Financial Management Board, I would have to go through the Financial Management Board at some time to get approval on the financial aspects of that. Following that, then I would be prepared to table that in this Assembly. I am hoping by the week of the 16th, sometime during that week. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Ng. A year ago, the health boards took over responsibilities for their staff for the recruitment and paying of them. At the same time, their wages along with all government employees at that time were rolled back in an effort to help out the deficit reduction plan. My question to the Minister is, did the department have any consideration at that time that the potential of cut backs would have the detrimental affect that it has had on the recruitment of staff and retention of staff? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we were aware that the nursing profession was under stress in respect to recruitment efforts of other jurisdictions, in respect to recruitment from Health and Welfare Canada who still provide the health care delivery for aboriginal peoples on reserves and who offered quite lucrative housing and vacation travel packages for their employees, Mr. Speaker. That was an ongoing concern and an ongoing impediment to some of the recruitment of nurses in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.