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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in respect to the original agreement that covered the individuals impacted between January, 1986 and June, 1990, that agreement between the federal government and all jurisdictions remains intact. As some Members may have seen through media reports, the Government of Ontario and the Government of Quebec have pledged additional dollars to compensate individuals who were outside of that window period. There was a meeting of Ministers of Health subsequent to that, which did not open up the package per se. What was agreed upon was that some working groups made up of officials from jurisdictions would sit down to try to work out some of the options that could be looked at and report back to the Ministers in approximately, I believe, three weeks from now. Mr. Speaker, thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister earlier mentioned, some of the provincial jurisdictions have, indeed, tried to add extra monies to the pot for the Hepatitis C victims. What is the position of the Government of the Northwest Territories in regard to the original agreement and to any extra compensation that would be available for the Hepatitis C suffers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, along with other jurisdictions, the Northwest Territories supports the original agreement that was made in respect to any additional potential compensation that is going to be developed in conjunction with the working group in identifying what some of those options may be before we would formalize a position. However, the Northwest Territories on a national scale is a small part of the whole Hepatitis C issue. Although, we do have individuals who are impacted, our objective is to try to reach a national consensus that we can provide to all individuals who are impacted, Mr. Speaker, thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that. The Minister mentioned earlier that the Northwest Territorial jurisdiction on a national scene is a small player or the impact is less with our sufferers. We still have people who are impacted by the Hepatitis C situation through no fault of their own, Mr. Speaker. I wonder how many individuals are we talking about in the Northwest Territories and what type of financial compensation or financial qualifications that will occur for the territorial government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories has approximately 14 individuals, I understand, who are impacted in that window period. Financial compensation per se has not been clearly defined yet, in that there is a global allocation that has been identified and agreed upon, but the details of how the payments will be made, and in what forum is going to depend a lot on the working groups that are sitting down now making the outline of the details of that financial package that may be offered to these individuals. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is the Northwest Territories represented at the working groups who are looking at the compensation packages for Hepatitis C? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not know if we have an actual representative on it, but certainly we are privy to the information that comes forward, but I will check into that and advise the Member. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Roland.

Thank you. The Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board, Mr. Todd. Two questions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think I have said on a number of occasions that, at least in our opinion, there is absolutely no down risk, if you want, to any of the UNW members now employees. My understanding is that there will be a 2 percent increase in 1998-99 to the base salary. There will be an additional 2 percent increase to the employees in 1999-2000 to the base salary.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Mr. Todd.

Well, Mr. Speaker, I will double check with my Deputy Minister, Mr. Voytilla, but my understanding of it in the notes I have is there is a 2 percent increase to the base in 1998-99 and a 2 percent increase in the base in 1999-2000, but just to get real clarity on this, because as I said the other day there was a fairly long complicated response, I will get clarity from my deputy at the break and have an opportunity to talk to my colleague. I believe it is to the base salary and there should be no changes. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Krutko.