Thank you. Just my final comment. That is the point I am after. I hope the Minister will take this to his Cabinet colleagues and press on them that we spend $138 million on health care out of an $856 million budget. It comes to 16 percent. I am sure other jurisdictions may include other things in there, or not include the same things, but it is hard to imagine that it is at all comparable with Ontario spending 43 percent of its budget on health care costs.

Obviously there is a balance. As the Minister has said, if we do not deal with the front-end drivers, we will never have enough money. I would ask him to certainly not only take that message to Cabinet but take the message that we are going to have to find more money. We are a long way from the situation where we have poured so much into this that we are never going to have enough money.

I think we really need to address this problem. I know our committee will be looking to support the Minister as he goes forward to Cabinet to press this upon them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the comments from the Chair of the Social Programs Committee. He can rest assured that as we, together, work through the implementation of the action plan that we are going to be fully engaged with his committee and the Legislature, bringing forward the best possible advice and decisions in terms of doing the work that is necessary to maintain and enhance the services to the people. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, in fact we do track deaths in the Northwest Territories and their cause across the Territory. Within the department, we track, for example, cancer statistics that give us the cancer rates for some of the key cancers, such as colorectal, lung, prostate, stomach, so yes, we attempt to track this and I as well, in the last six years, have gone to far too many funerals, often for reasons that were not very clear. It is an issue that we can track. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the statistics in one way or another have been monitored for a very long time, but as the technology has improved so has the tracking of the statistics.

For example, this document I refer to that speaks to cancer statistics gives us the statistics from 1992-2000. We put out a regular health status report that give us an indication of a broad number of key indicators in terms of health.

They go back some way, but we are getting better at it as our systems improve. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would be happy to get the Member a copy of the most recent statistics we have that will show him the key cancer statistics we use. He can look at the numbers and they are between men and women. It will give you a clear idea.

To my layman's eye, looking at this, there are some increases and it looks like in many cases, we are below the national average, but our numbers are going up. They are moving up towards the national average and in a couple of key cases, I think we are in fact ahead. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I apologize for my lack of clarity. In this case, being below the national average is a good thing. Our cancer rates are less than, in many instances, the national average, but there is an indication that they are moving up and that is the concern. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Two examples that I can give the Member are lung cancer and colorectal. These are two cancers that are, in fact, past the national average in terms of they are worse. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Nitah.