Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would hope that the Minister would know exactly what that number is and be prepared to tell all of us in the public why we should support a policy that costs an extra $33 million. Will the Minister undertake to do just that?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Public Works and Services, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand the question to be whether Public Works will review what we are saving in regard to the BIP on this particular project. Public Works will be reviewing the bids when we receive them because we are going with no BIP on this, so we will know what the potential savings would have been.

In any case, as I have said before in this House, it is hard to compare the two, unless you have both. We have not been receiving both in the past on this project. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today goes to the Minister responsible for the public service, the Honourable Joe Handley. My question has to do with the concerns of health care workers in the North who have been expressing their frustration with the lack of packages, or competitiveness in their packages, which is causing a shortage of employees. They are having to work in an environment where they have to work hundreds of hours of overtime because there is just not enough staff in their working environment to fill their position.

Mr. Speaker, I talked to someone at the hospital yesterday who said that there has been overtime in her paycheque since December. She has had to work overtime in every single pay period. There is a massive critical shortage. What is the Minister prepared to do about addressing this issue? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, there is a tentative agreement between the government and the UNW that is just in the process of being ratified. Now, where various groups may have concerns about the provisions for their particular occupation or their group, that is not a matter I can really comment on. I should not be saying anything until this is ratified with the UNW because they are part of the UNW. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the ratification process going on, except that we only have about three more question periods for us to ask these questions, so I feel it is imperative on behalf of my constituents that I address these issues.

Mr. Speaker, I respect the ratification process. I want to focus the questions on the reality of the shortage of health care workers within our government. They are government employees. A lot of them will tell you that it is not really about money. It is about working conditions and other factors. What has he done as the Minister for the public service to address this issue? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, our government is very much aware of the critical shortage of all occupations in the health field, right from doctors to nurses to health support workers. We have been very actively trying to recruit people. In some situations, we have paid allowances to get people here. Through the Maximizing Northern Employment Strategy, we have increased the amount of training that is being done through education.

Our approach has been to not just focus on trying to get people from the south, but training people ourselves from the North who can take up the occupations. It is not going to be a quick, short turn-around on this, Mr. Speaker. I do sympathize with the situation the health care workers face. I am sure the hospitals are doing everything they can to fill those positions, but the reality is there is a shortage right across the country.

However, as quickly as we can, we want to move toward having more home-grown people in our health fields. In the meantime, we will recruit as actively as we can and train people as quickly as we can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not believe any of the programs that he has mentioned, such as Maximizing Northern Employment, really address the critical shortage of health care workers. I do not think that is the same thing. I do not want to rain on the parade of some of the good work that the government has done, but I am still interested in hearing from the Minister what has he done and what is he prepared to do to address the critical shortage of health care workers, other than just saying that it is happening everywhere in the world and we just have to live with it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I do not know there is a lot that we can do that would give a quick response to this. Recruitment certainly is the key, and through the Department of Health and Social Services, our government is doing everything it can to recruit and fill those positions. That is the key.

I think Ms. Lee is right. The problem is shortage of people and too many workers having to do overtime that they would prefer not to do. In some cases, they do overtime and then go right into a regular shift. That is not a good situation. We recognize that. Recruitment has to be the short term, but we are competing with other provinces.

In the longer term, as I mentioned, Mr. Speaker, we are doing a number of initiatives and trying to attract Northerners into the health professions. If any of the Members have good ideas of things we can do that would make us even more attractive, then we will do it, but there are limitations on this and there is a lot of competition for people in this area. We recognize that it is a serious situation. I have no other ideas as to how we might be able to alleviate the situation in the short term. It is very difficult. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am sure that the health care workers who are listening to us are not going to appreciate that was the second Minister in this government who has said there is not a lot we can do, that we just have to keep it at status quo. We just have to do more, Mr. Speaker. If he is looking for creative ideas, I do believe that health care workers have presented to him a petition, which is one way of dealing with it. What is his response to that petition? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, yes, last week I did meet with a number of the health care workers, five people, to be exact. The main proposal they put forward to me was that they wanted to have their own bargaining unit. They saw this as a way of being able to have different benefits and salary packages and so on. I pointed out to them that I do not think that will work, because under the Canadian Human Rights Act, we would still be the employer and we cannot use creation of bargaining units as a way of paying one group of people more money than another one. I told them I would consider that and I am considering it, but I do not think the proposal they gave me would resolve this in the short term. We just could not do any more through that particular alternative. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. I believe the question was directed to the honourable Premier, who can designate any other Minister he wishes. Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Public Works and Services will take the question. Thank you.