Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are now some two-and-a-half months into the fiscal year and, from what the Minister says, no board has an approved budget. We need to approve this amount in order for them to work to finalize the budgets. Are we working to a fairly firm timetable as to when the boards will have budgets that are finalized? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, the department is working full-steam on this thing. It is difficult to predict when they would be able to have the exercise completed for all boards, but I would hope that happens within the next couple of months.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a concern, because I know the Stanton Board pretty well went through a full fiscal year without ever having their budget approved by the Department of Health and Social Services. It is difficult to find people to work on these boards as it is, but if you task them to do a job where there is no way to bring it to resolution because they cannot get a final budget approved, and they do not know whether or not the activities they propose in terms of cost reduction or new programs are approved because budgets are not approved throughout the course of a full year, it makes it very difficult for them to do their jobs.

I think we owe the people who work on the boards and the public a commitment to finalize the budgets for all of the health boards in the Northwest Territories in a reasonable period of time. What I am looking for is a commitment that we will not go for even six months without having some finality to the program. We are already two and a half months into the fiscal year. We already know that none of the boards have approved budgets. I think that is too late. I think the process should have been started much sooner so that boards could know exactly what they had to work with during the course of the year.

Now that we have gone this far, is there a commitment from the government that we will ensure that adequate resources are brought to bear to make firm the commitment that certainly by September at the very latest, all boards will have approved budgets?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Handley.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, we want to have the budgets finalized as quickly as possible as well, but there is no point in rushing forward and finalizing budgets that are not based on good information, otherwise we are right back in trouble again. We need to have good information.

I understand the department has been basically pulling out all the stops in getting on with this exercise. We want them to do that. We asked them to do that. I would hope that within the next two months, we can see that completed, but I cannot give assurance that we will arrive there. While this money probably covers 98 percent of what is needed by the boards, there are still going to be details and issues that have to be worked out. I think we are a lot better off as a result of this exercise than we have been in the past.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will pursue this during oral questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Primary and acute care programs, not previously authorized, $7,282,974.

We will go on to children's programs, not previously authorized, $1,221,000. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to ask a question about how well-defined the plans are now. I know that members in the standing committee received a bit of a briefing in January that outlined some of the broad brush strokes these programs might encompass. At that time, we were promised a detailed briefing on the program before the end of that fiscal year, but it did not come to pass. I am interested in knowing, since we are approving monies here, how well defined are the programs in advance of having been even discussed with the standing committee?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, the information I have is that these programs are well-defined, generally completed and the department is ready to get on with the implementation of them.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think all Members have indicated a significant amount of support for early childhood development programs, but I am surprised to hear that the programs have been extremely well-developed when the government had offered to brief Members in advance of moving on them. It now appears that we have not been involved in the setting of priorities or having any sort of discussion about the programs themselves.

If I could ask the Minister what happened that the process seems to have not been followed as we were told it would be, coming back to Members for further discussion?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Handley.

My understanding is that the department is and has been trying to get a meeting with the committee. This is largely a timing problem, in that in order to get it into the supps, we had to have it done for today. We are probably moving ahead more quickly with the requests for approval than the briefing with the committee.

It is a timing issue. The department wants to meet with the committee, but has not been able to set that up. I assume they are ready to give a briefing at any time the committee can make the time available.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, I want to reinforce that I think all Members are in support of this moving ahead, but I am disappointed that we have not had more of an opportunity to provide advice on the development of these programs.

The Minister will know, as he heard a number of us speak earlier this week when we were talking about the energy strategy, of our concerns that a program that was developed very quickly and without a lot of consultation may have had some flaws in it.

That is our concern. Without that adequate consultation taking place, without the discussion around the table that we had expected that we would hear on this, we may be missing the boat in some way, shape or form that we could better have dealt with if we had a better consultative process.

My point is that we have to move forward with this. It is too important to stall. I am going to support this expenditure, but I am certainly looking for a commitment from this government that when we are told there will be a consultative process, they in fact will follow through with that and make sure it does not become a time issue, that we set things up so that there is a process. Members are involved in the consultation and then we can all be confident in the role of the program, that we are not going to find problems in it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Handley.

Thank you. The Member's advice is heard and I am sure the department will be ready to brief the committee as soon as possible.

I might point out that this is a three-year commitment, a three-year program, so I hope as we move along over the three years, there will be many opportunities to refine and re-refine the various activities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Children's programs, not previously authorized, $1,221,000. Mr. Krutko.