Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will attempt to briefly outline what the process is. Health boards are responsible to come up with budgets which are then submitted to the Department of Health and Social Services on an annual basis. Health and Social Services then combine these requirements and goes forward with business plans and budgets accordingly. When it comes to the end of a fiscal year and it appears that there is going to be an operating deficit, there is a policy of surplus retention and deficit recovery.

When a Health and Social Services board can then work with the department and indicate that there were unavoidable, un-projected forced growth issues, then it is possible for a submission to be made to the Cabinet and FMB to accommodate those shortfalls. However, there is also a requirement for the health boards to work with us to help find and identify efficiencies that we may be able to realize cost savings from.

These options for cost savings would then be submitted again to the Financial Management Board for consideration. So it is possible for the board to discuss those kinds of options with the public and MLAs. What is not possible to do is to commit the Cabinet to a position with responses to those initiatives prior to Financial Management Board approval.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you. I do appreciate the information. I am sure it is of value for the public to know that there is a process. I would like to ask at least of the status of that plan. When can we anticipate response to this plan? Thank you. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for Health, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Stanton Board Deficit Recovery Plan is still in progress. It has not been finally determined yet. There are certain components of it that may be ready for consideration by FMB within the next few weeks. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Health, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in a general overall effort on behalf of the people of the North, the department does have several recruitment and retention initiatives underway. As far as the specifics of the closures of the facilities and the shortage of health professionals over this past summer, those staffing positions and decisions about those positions are made by the respective boards. In this case, the Inuvik Health and Social Services Board. What the department can do is work with boards when there is an acute shortage and help to alleviate that situation, but ultimately the department is there more in a support and backup role to the boards as they make those decisions and attempt to fill those positions.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the problems seem to be around the area of the retention and retaining of nurses. I know this department has spent quite a few dollars in that area. I would like to ask the Minister exactly how many nurses have been retained through this practice? Do we have some sort of a bank of nurses that we are able to use when we find ourselves with shortages in our communities?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. I thought I heard a couple of questions in there. If the Minister can respond to either one of those two. Minister Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The second part of Mr. Krutko's question or the second question is how can we access some nurses when we have short-term shortages when there are retention problems and we need to fill in on an temporary basis.

First of all, the nurses work for the health boards. So the nurses in question would be the employees of the Inuvik Regional Health and Social Services Board, but there are contracting companies and agencies that nurses can be hired through on a contract basis. That is one area which alleviates the shortage.

Those are short-term solutions and it really is the goal of the department and the boards to find long-term solutions to the recruitment and retention challenges. Certainly, this is not a problem that is specific to the Northwest Territories. As we meet with health Ministers across the country, we find out that this health care professionals shortage is something which is nation wide. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Groenewegen. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell me exactly how much money has been spent to date in this effort and how many nurses have we retained through that practice?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Health, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have numbers as to how much we have spent overall on recruitment and retention efforts. It is considerable. We have various programs. We have the nursing market supplement that we put in place a couple of years ago to specifically address the issue of retaining RNs. At that time, the amount that was budgeted to address the recruitment and retention issues was $3 million that was committed by the government, but there is quite a wide variety. I would not have a total amount of money of what we spent. I could provide the Member with the vacancies which currently exist of health care professionals at this time.

It is difficult to quantify exactly the results of the recruitment and retention efforts because sometimes there is attrition and turnover of staff that is not specifically related to our efforts. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to have that information. I believe it is important. If we are spending $3 million, exactly what are we getting for that $3 million in the way of actually getting bodies in those positions where we do have shortages? I would like to have that information. Hopefully it is tabled in this House so that other Members can have a copy of it as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Health, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we do keep up-to-date records of exactly where the vacancies do exist, in what region, and what kinds of health care professional positions are vacant. I would be happy to provide that to the Member or table it in the House. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Mr. Lafferty, I am afraid I am going to have to ask you to get to the question. You have already touched on two different subjects. So please ask the first question.