Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss an issue with the Hay River Community Health Board and the employees that work within our health care system. Mr. Speaker, the Hay River Community Health Board was established in 1996 under the Societies Act of the Northwest Territories. There are approximately 160 people employed at the community health board and it is one of the larger employers in Hay River.

For the last year, Mr. Speaker, the employees of the Hay River Community Health Board have lived under a tremendous amount of stress and uncertainty with regard to their future due to the actions of this government.

Mr. Speaker, in January of this year the GNWT's action plan was unveiled and one of the items stipulated in the action plan was to unify all allied health care staff throughout the North under a single employer, that being the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, in August of this year, the Minister of Health announced the cancellation of the transfer of the Hay River Community Health Board employees to the Government of the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, the reason he has given was that it was going to be too expensive to transfer the Hay River employees over to the public service, due to the provisions in their collective agreement.

Mr. Speaker, there are still a number of unresolved issues affecting health care workers in Hay River, not the least of which is the issue of wage parity. This government should do everything in its power to guarantee workers at the Hay River Community Health Board wage parity with workers under the public service without any lost jobs.

Mr. Speaker, I want to make it very clear that I believe that the money provided to ensure wage parity should not come out of the Hay River Community Health Board's operational budget. It is the very least we could do as a government for these people. why should the health care workers in Hay River be paid any less than their counterparts?

Mr. Speaker, the cancellation of the transfer has caused a lot of undue stress for the workers. The staff has been very proactive in the transfer process. I give the staff of the Hay River Community Health Board a tremendous amount of credit for their perseverance in these very trying circumstances.

The Minister himself, Mr. Speaker, stated to the employees when he met with them in September, and I quote, "All your frustration and anger that you feel and your cynicism and unhappiness in this particular instance is not without justification."

Mr. Speaker, these employees have been on an emotional roller coaster ride for the past year and they just want to know when it is going to end.