Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Mr. Speaker, I do not think that I need to put it on record. I think it has already been said that for most people who are using that hospital or the staff that are working on it, whether they are nurses or doctors or anyone else, most people agree that amalgamating those units is not a good idea. A way has to be found to open that.

The date is starting to come very closely, it is March 4th or something, that they are working towards. However, I do not think it is just about hiring. I do not think we can hire the nurses on this. We have benefit packages that are attractive enough to hire them. We have had a retention and recruitment section working hard to hire these nurses, without any success. So I think that people have to be assured that there are extra steps being taken to attract the nurses, maybe at a similar rate that we did with doctors. It cannot be done just by trying, without having the packages. Would the Minister consider something like that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have not had any indication from the people who are recruiting for the Stanton Hospital that there has been a problem with the compensation packages.

There is a national and international shortage of nurses at this time and, certainly, we have taken unusual measures in order to retain and recruit registered nurses in the past. We have had the nurses market supplement which this government had committed to and we are looking at extending that as well, to ensure that what we have to offer nurses is competitive.

However, we still are faced with a shortage. We have some long range plans in place to address those shortages, but I have seen the advertisements that have gone out and, like I said, it is my understanding that the Stanton Board is doing everything that they can.

The nurses are part of a collective agreement with a lot of other professions and it is difficult to isolate them, in terms of pay and benefits, when they are part of an overall unionized, collective unit.

So the only thing extraordinary that we have done is the nursing market supplement and, again, I can only assure that we are doing our best to work with the boards to identify people to fill these positions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Chair would like to caution Members about long preamble for supplementary questions. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Final supplementary. The Minister, in her answer, indicated an existence of some sort of a long-range plan to recruit nurses. As well, she mentioned a nursing market supplement. Can I ask the Minister to table this document in this House, please?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The Honourable Minister for Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of our long-term plans for recruiting nurses is to train Northerners to fill these positions. That will not be an immediate solution to the problem and I will be making a Minister's statement during this session on our nursing program, which is very successful.

As far as the details of the nurses market supplement, I could make the details of that particular incentive available to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member from Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The question was pretty straight-forward. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I believe the question was what are we doing to get more revenues, more dollars from the federal government.

We are continuing to meet with, as I mentioned earlier, the Prime Minister, the Minister of DIAND, the Minister of Finance. We are continuing to advance our Non-Renewable Resource Development Strategy and that one, as I said, we are talking and meeting again with Minister Paul Martin on March 4th.

So that one, we are continuing to push ahead. We believe the Non-Renewable Resource Strategy is a good strategy and I think the responses we have had from the federal government have been generally supportive of it. However, we have not found the way yet of being able to advance it, in terms of commitments for more than small amounts of money.

On the other side, we are also working, through my department, on an economic development agreement. The Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development continues to take the lead on that one and we are still hoping to have an economic development agreement soon.

As well, we continue to talk with the Department of Finance to ensure that we are getting a fair return through the Formula Financing Agreement and that one, again, we will be continuing to advance. We have to keep in mind on that side, though, that the federal Minister of Finance has taken a position that he will not make major changes on the agreement until it is renegotiated in 2004.

Those will be the main initiatives. In addition to that, other departments that continue to look at funding for areas, such as transportation, for health and in other areas. So we have a number of initiatives all going all the time to ensure that we are getting maximum benefit through funding from the federal government.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope it does not come down to the point where we have to become outrageous in order to get the attention of the federal government.

As the Member has pointed out, I heard it this morning as well, that the federal government is doing very well in terms of their overall surpluses. So I hope that helps us.

I think we need to discuss this whole issue more. We have had a strategy, mainly through the Non-Renewable Resource Development Strategy, and as well as an EDA that we are working with.

I think the main thing that we have done differently than previous governments is, through the Intergovernmental Forum, we are trying to work in partnership with the aboriginal leaders as well, to have them onside.

We are also working, and I continue to work every opportunity I have, with business to get them onside. However, I believe, as the Member suggests, it may be necessary to look at other ways of getting attention to the opportunities that are here. Tomorrow when I give my budget address, I intend to highlight that point as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you. I would just caution Members again to ask one question and limit it to one question when you direct it to Ministers and stick to the same topic. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have to continue to work with the federal government. I do not see any other way. The difficulty for us and the one hurtle we have not been able to get over yet has been to get the federal government's attention and agreement that it is worthwhile to make investments in our people, our infrastructure, our businesses now. That certainly is a frustration after working hard on it for a year to not be able to say that yes, we have them completely onside.

We need to do that though in partnership with the aboriginal leaders. We need them onside as well. I hope we make a lot more progress through the Intergovernmental Forum. There is certainly concern if we continue to see non-renewable resources extracted and very little benefit coming to the Northwest Territories. I think a lot of people are asking that same question of why are we doing this if we are not getting a fair return on the royalties and other benefits from it? I think the aboriginal leaders are probably asking the same question. I certainly have the same question in my mind.

I think we need to talk in this House. We need to look at alternatives before we, as the Member says, all en masse go to Ottawa or some other activity that might be considered to be outrageous. If there is any advice, I am open to it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we put together our strategy last year, the first step was to meet with the Minister of DIAND as the lead Minister for the North, meet with the Prime Minister, with the Minister of Finance. All of them said that they understood our situation and asked us to put together our strategy. What do we need in order to have good, sound investments in the North?

We put together the Non-Renewable Resource Strategy. We have been explaining that in both the political level and also at the bureaucratic level, to ensure that people understand that. We have taken it to the aboriginal leaders on two occasions, once with the Intergovernmental Forum and once with the Aboriginal Summit.

I believe most aboriginal leaders are generally onside. They may not agree with us on every piece of it, but generally speaking, they are in agreement with what we are trying to do.

I think we are making some progress on this. We have to be very careful as a government that we do not alienate our partners in it, particularly the aboriginal leaders but also the industry side.

Is the federal government working with us? I think they are. I think we need to get their attention and understanding of what is happening in the North. As I mentioned earlier, Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance is coming to Yellowknife on March 4th. I am meeting with him here. I hope to again have him in Yellowknife to get a better understanding of the opportunities that exist here. Thank you.