Is that the right word? Yes, when we took health, Mr. Chairman, in 1988 when the federal government devolved that authority and that responsibility to the Government of the Northwest Territories, this particular responsibility for NIHB was not included in that.
It is distinctively a contract as opposed to a devolved authority and responsibility. Since the federal government retains responsibility for that program, we should not have to subsidize that program by $1 million per year out of the other money that they give us for other things.
That is $1 million that we could be spending in our system on other things because that should be recoverable from them because they are responsible for that.
So I think that it is very important that we do not let them off the hook on that and hold them to that obligation, because the $1 million, although it may be for a good cause, if it is legitimately their responsibility, then I think we need to make that argument.
If there was a breakdown in the negotiations with Health Canada to address the problems that we have with delivering a program, we would undertake to immediately contact the aboriginal organizations who represent the beneficiaries of this program and discuss with them how this might be delivered.
However, again as I sit in the House today, there would be no change to the types of services and products which are covered. There would be no change to the entitlements of the people who receive the service. It would simply be a matter of someone else doing it and we would ensure, I should say, that if someone else were taking it over, that there would be no disruption in that service to the constituents.
The plan, Mr. Chairman -- pending the results of some of the other discrepancies in the funding -- is to continue to deliver this program and see how it goes over the next fiscal year with the additional administrative support, which Health Canada has agreed is a legitimate cost associated with the program. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.