Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are awaiting the information with respect to the social workers, from the boards right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Chairman, in regard, once again, to recruitment and retention on page 7-11, there are a number of bursaries listed; health and social services Bursary, George Gibson Bursary. There are no details on any of the amounts per person.

I was wondering, did I overlook that or is that available somewhere? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we will provide the detail of the dollar values attached to those bursaries to the Members. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to indicate that we just got this before we started this and there is a lot of information that the department provided. So I am just trying to go through it as fast as I can.

On page 9 of 11, the Nurse Mentorship Program that there were five mentorships opportunities in 2000, and they are looking at 10 this year; two in Hay River, one Inuvik and eight Stanton. I was wondering can the Minister speak to this particular program and how do they intend to make sure that this particular opportunity and staff retention practices is expanded to other boards? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Madame Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mrs. Ballantyne is going to speak to that. Thank you.

Thank you, Madame Minister. Mrs. Ballantyne.

Thank you, Mrs. Ballantyne. Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Chairman, on page 10 of 11 when you look at question 20 "How many northern graduates are placed in permanent term positions, all in their graduation in the spring of 2000?" I note here that there is problem with Education and Culture not being able to release the names of students in health and social services programs because of confidentiality issues under access to information and privacy.

Could the Minister speak to this very fundamental issue and I know that it has come up before when I wanted to write to all the education students. It was a significant problem because of the confidentiality issue. What steps are being taken to address that process issue so that you can have this pertinent kind of information, so that we can carry through on these things and clear up this red tape so we are not making life more difficult for each other, as we try to place graduates, in fact, make recruitment and retention work. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Madame Minister

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We rely on the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to secure the permission in order to access this. So this is something that we need to work on cooperatively with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you.

Thank you, Madame Minister. The Chair recognizes Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My questions have to deal with health promotion, community wellness programs and grants for health awareness activities.

I have heard the Minister speak often about the need to get ahead of the ball and be proactive in dealing with health issues. I know our Premier has also spoken often about the need to deal proactively with health problems, rather than treating issues after the fact. I am a little surprised not to see more emphasis in this budget on health promotion. For instance, there is a slight drop in the health promotion program funding from this year to next year. I recognize it is only $18,000, but it is still a move in the wrong direction. In health awareness activities under grants and contributions, it has stayed exactly the same now for three years in a row.

In community wellness programs, again it is only a slight drop from $601,000 to $584,000, but it is $17,000 in the wrong direction. Knowing that is one of the pet areas that the Minister has spoken about, why were we not able to see more investment in the health awareness and health promotion side of this budget? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Madame Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As we have stated in response to so many things, it would always be nice to be able to do more. These numbers do not identify all of the activity in these particular areas because these are areas where there is a fair amount of federal participation as well in addressing some of these issues.

Mr. Chairman, a bit out of curiosity I thought we were on 6-10. This actually comes under 6-11, just if you wanted to continue to do things in order. Thank you.

Thank you, Madame Minister. We do not have anything to call on 6 11 so this would be the right thing. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I recognize there are other players in the field and federal monies coming into the area of health are important ones. Again I would argue that we cannot depend on the federal government for this and if in fact we do believe that it is a priority we should be investing in it.

I would ask the Minister, why? I know it is something that she has often spoken very passionately about; the need to get ahead of the ball rather than dealing solely with treatment after the fact; to try and get a head of the game, and to be proactive in the health field, and getting more of our population making healthy choices.

Why would we not demonstrate to our partners the federal government, why they should be spending more, by us putting more of an emphasis into the preventative side of our budget? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Madame Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really appreciate the Member's support. Mr. Chairman, we do recognize the members of the standing committees and other Members' support for doing more in this area and that is certainly something that we will take into consideration when we are building our business plans for next year. We have chosen to focus some of our additional resources in other areas for this particular fiscal year but the Member raises a good point about the need for additional activity in this area. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.