Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, for this current fiscal year that we are still in, there will be four new telehealth sites up and running; Holman, Deline, Hay River and Fort Simpson, which will bring the total to seven plus. For the reasons we discussed with the committee, in terms of the capital planning process, telehealth did not make the cut.

This coming year, we have the enhancements for the current services, which is to look at the equipment and services that are there for current programs. The following year, we plan to address once again the increased and continued expansion of the telehealth sites.

I share the Member's commitment that this is a very valuable way to do business and to deliver service and we have to possibly do more to address it more effectively than how we are making the case with the rest of government that this is definitely a service of benefit.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to that point, how able or how capable are we of actually expanding it? Are there some other barriers to getting this into more communities from a technological point of view? Is there enough infrastructure, in terms of wires and circuits and capacity, to be able to make this doable? Do other departments or perhaps industry have a role to play in making this possible? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is our assessment that the technology is there for the communities, for the basic service. We just have to ensure that the communities that the service is put into have the infrastructure on the ground as well to make use of the service.

We are going to be looking at, as time goes on, some bandwidth issues that have to be addressed, but very clearly one of the fundamental inhibitors right now is the money.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One other area that I would like to explore again relates to the committee report, the section called Edmonton nurses. Not so much the nurse situation there, but it is the broader area of how the Alberta system is looking at its overall process.

In the last three weeks, I think there was the Mazankowski report on how Alberta should go about reshaping or reprofiling its health care system. I wanted to ask the Minister, given our heavy reliance on the Alberta care system, what kind of impact or implications does or could the Mazinkowski report have for the quality of service that we get and the cost? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as I have indicated in some interviews with the press, we are watching very closely. We have a historic long-term relationship with the Capital Health Authority. We are renegotiating the contract, which has not been looked at since 1996. The Mazinkowski report makes some very specific recommendations such as de-listing some services.

Given the fact that the contract has not been looked at since 1996 and the possible impacts of some of the recommendations of the Mazinkowski report, we anticipate that there will be no real loss in quality but almost invariably, given just the time alone, that there are going to be cost increases. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Does the department expect that those increases in cost could come into effect as soon as the upcoming fiscal year? Are we going to be looking at more appropriations to handle any increases? Should we be anticipating that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The current contract expires at the end of March, so we do have some time pressures. There will be no break in service, but very clearly, the new contract will be coming into effect effective April 1st.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is going into the realm of speculation here, but given that we are expecting increases in costs, there may be -- I guess to whatever extent, we are going to be facing a bigger bill from Alberta. Is the department going to be looking, at the same time, at the value of trying to bring some of those services into the NWT rather than paying Alberta to provide them, if it is going to be costing that much more? Are we going to be looking at equal value, if not savings, of perhaps bringing some of those things here into the NWT? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As we look at trying to do the restructuring and realizing the better efficiencies in the system, it is only good sense that we are going to be looking at wherever we think there are possible efficiencies to be realized.

The area of southern services, be it for medical services or southern placements, are always under review. If there are clients capable of being repatriated, we want to be looking at how we do that. If there are services that can be demonstrated or that we can deliver more effectively in the North, we are going to look at that, but it is a very expensive business and it is very highly specialized. The more complex the medical situation, the more complex the procedures and equipment required. We are a jurisdiction of 42,000. We are cognizant of that, but our key goal is to make sure we have access to those services for our residents. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in the area of the Department of Health and Social Services, the Minister stated that there is going to be an increase of 9.4 percent, or $17 million, in Health and Social Services, and goes on to state in a number of areas where there is going to be some new investments. I would like to get some information in these areas. One of the areas that the Minister has touched on is improving child protection/family support services through an additional ten child protection workers and enhanced training. I would like to know if the department has considered the impact that this potentially can have. Usually when you have more staff to be able to look after the issues, you are going to also have, for example, more child apprehensions. Is that something that is taken into consideration? You will see an increased cost to those child apprehensions as well.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We very clearly have our fundamental issue of the protection of children, but the Member raises a good point. As you will no doubt note, I made a reference as well to foster care rates. We are trying to determine what in fact caused that.

There is the Child Welfare League Report that clearly identified that there was a shortfall of social workers and child protection workers, and we are just continuing the process trying to address that particular issue. Will there be cost due to increased apprehensions? That is definitely within the realm of possibility, and we are trying to determine what in fact has caused the spike in foster care, for example. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In that area, one of the concerns that comes up is the plan of care committees that become established and that families are to work with department social workers to ensure that they are meeting the needs of their children. When they agree and sign these plan of care agreements, the department has put some resources to ensuring the family is able to deal with some of the situations they find themselves in. Not one where, in some cases, for one reason or another, that it almost becomes adversarial, where the child, as it is clearly stated, child protection worker is almost going against parents instead of keeping families together. We are seeing families being pulled apart. Now, there are legitimate reasons why this occurs from time to time, but hopefully, we will see families being pulled together instead of pulled apart as we get more staff being able to deal with them. Hopefully, with these new workers and existing ones, we will be able to deal with families as families, not as separate individuals.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Miltenberger.