Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, just a couple of points. When the federal government devolved health to the territorial government and we are expected to pay that out of the....

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.

Thank you, Madame Minister. Just a reminder that you go through your Chair with your comments. There has been some rebuttal going back and forth between individuals and the Minister and it is not being picked up. Please go through the Chair. Next on my list I have Mr. Lafferty and then Ms. Lee. Mr. Lafferty.

Madam Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I agree with Mr. Lafferty that there could be a lot of information that could be gleamed from people who have serviced and have worked for a board and are leaving for various and sundry reasons. The issue is whether it is boards who are responsible for conducting those exit interviews and obtaining that information.

We can certainly remind them of the value of that information and talk with them about it. However, they are in fact the employees of the boards. They are not our employees. It would be difficult for us to conduct those kinds of interviews. Thank you.

Mr. Lafferty.

The Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Chairman the department has agreed to fund a survey which would be conducted by the NWT Registered Nurses Association and the Association of Social Workers of Northern Canada to conduct surveys. The kind of information that they would collect would include information about why people might have a level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their employment. So there is a survey which is being funded by the department which is ongoing. It will completed and the information ready by March 15th, 2001. So we could look forward to the kind of information that might be contained in that report which might shed some light on the high turnover rates.

Mr. Lafferty.

Madam Minister.

Mr. Chairman, I am going to ask Ms. Ballantyne to provide some detail on some of things that are ongoing right now within the department that could help with that kind of information. Thank you.

The deputy minister, Ms. Ballantyne.

Mr. Lafferty.

Madam Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman we do not always have knowledge of where people might be after they have left. So it might be difficult to track down people who have worked for the boards over a period of time like that.

Perhaps ones who left more recently would be easier to communicate with. However, ones who have been gone for a while, it might be difficult to undertake that. Certainly we are very interested in knowing why people leave. It is something in the review of the recruitment and retention policy that could be reinforced with the boards, the value of that kind of information in helping us to assess what we can do to enhance the retention of nurses. Thank you.

Mr. Lafferty.