Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services and it relates to the shortage of health care personnel, particularly the critical shortage at Stanton. Mr. Speaker, last week I received a letter telling me about Stanton workers who have had to work two 12-hour shifts back to back. This can clearly lead to fatigue and increase the chances of errors. The Minister shared the draft recruitment and retention plan with the Standing Committee on Social Programs. When will the detailed plan be rolled out to the public?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are in the process of developing the public document but first we are doing the decision paper to go to Cabinet. I am hoping to have that done within the next number of days. It had been my hope to have it done before this session concluded, but it looks like it will be done very early in November. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to a date certain that he will make sure that this plan is no longer a draft plan but is presented to the public and laid out how we are going to deal with the critical shortage of personnel?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I commit to roll this out to the public and to come back to the Standing Committee on Social Programs with a final document as soon as I have a chance and my Cabinet colleagues have had a chance to look at the paper. I anticipate it would be very early in November. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, obviously in order to deal with this critical shortage the Minister is going to have to find some month. What is the Minister doing to identify new sources of money to pay for the recruitment and retention strategy?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are doing two things. We are looking at the existing money and how it is spent and can we be more effective and efficient. I will be going back to Cabinet as well with some plans for approval possibly that will require extra funding. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Your final supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am certain that health care workers at Stanton are getting tired of hearing that we can do more with less. I am sure that we cannot, but we could do something about dealing with the conditions of employment perhaps. What is the Minister's position about a separate bargaining unit for health care workers?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a number of weeks ago we met with some of the executive from Local 11 and what we did commit to is to look at the possibility of a separate table when it comes to bargaining unit issues and bargaining issues under the Collective Agreement. At this point the position is that we are not prepared to move on a separate bargaining unit but we are looking at the possibility of the table as suggested by the president of Local 11. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Finance. A few weeks ago now in the local media, he was reported as saying or at least discussing our current year deficit in the neighbourhood of $60 million. The other day in the House, Mr. Speaker, my colleague Mr. Nitah referred to a figure that was substantially higher. In fact, added another zero. I am wondering if the Finance Minister can in fact shed some light on the situation and let us know exactly where we stand. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, yes, a few weeks ago I did mention a number that we were aiming at in the $60 million range. We have since gotten more information back from Finance Canada. I have offered to do a briefing to AOC and to do a fiscal statement later on. At this point, I can certainly say that the challenges we face are greater than what we had anticipated. We were looking at a deficit of roughly $60 million. We are now looking at something probably in the neighbourhood of $100 million, based on current information. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So when the Minister of Health talks about going to Cabinet for extra funding for health care initiatives, or extra funding for something like the social agenda, is that in fact realistic if we have something the size of $100 million deficit? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, looking at a deficit as we anticipate having this year and for the next few years, certainly puts limits on the spending and it means that we have to look at any major initiative very carefully, but it does not preclude any new spending at all. Thank you.