Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would expect that the medical internist would not require a full-time surgical unit. The internal medicine deals with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, liver, kidney diseases, cancer and so on. I expect that while a surgical unit complements it nicely, I do not think one is 100 percent dependant on the other. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My question was not whether it needed to be there 100 percent of the time, but I guess I am really trying to find out, since we do not know yet when or if the surgical ward is going to open, is this position not a position that would have need of a surgical ward in order to fully perform the function of their job?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I do not think that not having a surgical ward would mean we should not have an internal medicine specialist. While a surgical ward would be useful, it is not absolutely essential. I notice that part of the ongoing annual operating costs includes travel to other centres, for example, Hay River, Fort Smith and Inuvik as well. We do not have surgical wards in all of those. I think while a surgical ward and internal medical specialists complement each other very well, one is not a requirement for the other. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Are there surgical wards in operation at other places like Inuvik?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mrs. Groenewegen.

I know that there is not in Hay River, not in Fort Smith, and whether they perform surgery in Inuvik, I do not know.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was just trying to find out whether or not there was any tie at all to the surgical ward. I know we are hoping to find out in the near future whether or not the surgical ward will be reopening, and I wanted to know whether or not this position was somewhat tied to it. I guess we will have to accept the Minister's statement that in fact it is not.

One other issue I would like to question while I still have the floor is that I notice we have some forced growth funding here for the boards. Specifically, there is $915,000 for the Stanton Regional Health Board. My question is, since we are providing this extra funding, does this deal with the deficit or shortfall that Stanton had in the past, or is this to deal with this year's shortfall? What specifically does this $915,000 address?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Voytilla.

Thank you, Mr. Voytilla. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I notice that in the description above, it says that these funds for the other boards relate to base funding shortfalls from 1997-1998 to 2001-2002. From what Mr. Voytilla has said, did I hear him incorrectly that none of this $915,000 applies back to 1997-1998, 1998-1999 or 1999-2000? That all of this $915,000 is for this current fiscal year for Stanton? Can I just get some clarification on that, please?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Voytilla.

Thank you, Mr. Voytilla. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Voytilla's characterization of $2.5 million as a small percentage is small comfort to those who may be faced with reduced hours in the emergency ward, for instance, or whatever else it may take for Stanton to deal with that. I think there is going to be some concern about how that $2.5 million is dealt with.

However, I noticed that for the last two years, the deficit has been $1.2 or $1.3 million. Is this $915,000 then sufficient to address what would otherwise be their deficit for this year? Or is this in fact a short fall again, so they will still have a deficit over and above this $915,000?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Voytilla.

Thank you, Mr. Voytilla. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So I guess the bottom line is that we could be seeing supplementary appropriation coming through for the board because, unless they found some way to eliminate an awful large expenditure, it looks like we are talking $200,000 to $300,000 based on the last couple of years, at least. It must be cut out or else they are going to go further in debt. They could be facing some problems.

Is it a similar situation for the other boards? When I look at this $3.9 million, are we in some cases going to be talking about situations there where perhaps the boards are not getting enough to meet the needs for this year, unless they have an approved deficit recovery plan? If so, when can we expect to hear about those deficit recovery plans and the impacts they will have on service levels across the Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Voytilla.