Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity today to speak about a matter that has received a great deal of attention of late in the media and at the Yellowknife constituency meeting held last Tuesday. Mr. Speaker, I believe it is now public knowledge that the decision has been made by the Stanton Board to scrap altogether the proposal to amalgamate the surgical and paediatric wards into one.

Based on the number of phone calls I have received on this issue from my constituents -- which included patients, doctors and nurses -- I must say, Mr. Speaker, I am relieved by this decision. At the same time, Mr. Speaker, we are all acutely aware that this does not solve the crisis caused by the lack of funding in our health care system in the long run. If anything, the latest controversy should ring a very loud bell for all of us that some decisive actions are required.

The situation at Stanton is not an isolated matter, Mr. Speaker. It is a matter that calls on us to examine our priorities for health care in our new Territory and how we are going to focus our resources and energies in the days and years to come.

I am particularly alarmed by the fact that, based on what I know, the Stanton Board may not be able to deal with the deficit situation without cutting staff or services available at the hospital, and the resources available now are already stretched to their limit. This will affect everyone in the North, Mr. Speaker, not just Yellowknifers. The fact is, Mr. Speaker, our population of 40,000 is only second to Nunavut in growth rate and the fastest growing segment of the population is our seniors, who will presumably require more services in health care.

In the broader sense of our wellness needs, Mr. Speaker, we also have a growing number of FAS-FAE children, one of the highest suicide rates in Canada and the highest drunk driving rates as well. The growth in the number of people being diagnosed with diabetes in the Northwest Territories is alarming, just to provide a few examples.

At the same time, we are experiencing extreme shortages in nurses and doctors and a great deal of medivacs to the south and within the Territories. We are having to rely on expensive services from locum doctors and other traveling health care professionals. On the other hand, Mr. Speaker, we have nine health boards making decisions about how to provide care to 40,000 people. All of these thrown together, it becomes clear that at some point we have to take steps to rationalize the health care resources we have.