Program support, not previously authorized, $1.076 million. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Earlier today, I was asking the Minister of Health and Social Services questions around the setup with the regional health and social services authorities. In this area, there's a $499,000 amount that talks about salaries and benefits for new administrative and management positions, accounting software, public administrative contracts, leasehold improvements, staff recruitment, relocation and other information provided by the Minister tells us that on an annual basis commencing in 2004-05, the total projected administrative cost for the Sahtu will be $6.1 million and these will be offset by a savings in Inuvik of $5 million resulting in a total incremental cost of a $1.1 million annually. Savings will not be realized in Inuvik in the 2003-2004 fiscal year. The Sahtu authority does not become fully operational until April 1, 2004. Until that time, Inuvik still has the responsibility for the service delivery and management. I would like to know, Mr. Chairman, in light of this information, the $5 million savings they are talking about, is that from existing positions already distributed throughout the Sahtu region?

Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, I will refer that to the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Yes, it is, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It says that three of the 12 positions for the Sahtu are being transferred from Inuvik. Is that the total number of positions that are coming out of Inuvik and there won't be any further transfers in the fiscal year or after April 1, 2004?

Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in keeping with the questions of the Member in the House earlier today, there are three admin positions and that's all that are going to be moved.

Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, in fact, after April 1, 2004, there will be no other transfer of positions out of the Inuvik Regional Health and Social Services Authority.

Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

I am assuming the Member means to the Sahtu, just to be very clear. If that's the case, then, no.

Mr. Roland, could you clarify your question?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, it identifies 12 positions and then in the further information here, it says savings will not be realized in Inuvik through this fiscal year, but as of April 1, 2004, it becomes fully operational. So I would like to know and have it confirmed that after it becomes fully operational, there will be no other positions transferred out of the Inuvik Regional Health and Social Services Authority.

Minister of Health and Social Services.

Mr. Chairman, there are no plans for any movement of staff other than those three to the Sahtu or anywhere else outside the Inuvik region that I am aware of.

Mr. Bell.

The Minister is being slightly evasive. There are some concerns over here. There is a concern that he might be being evasive. I am sorry. Mr. Chairman, the Minister earlier today had indicated that he had been working on this for some 18 months, working on the creation of this new health board for 18 months. Could the Minister confirm that this plan has been in the works for a year-and-a-half or so?

Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this process initially started back in January '02, I believe it is, when the action plan was put on the table. There was lots of preparatory work being done. We got approval-in-principle to do the work to be able to reach the point where we could go to Cabinet for a specific decision subsequent to that to go to FMB with the detail of all the work that's been done. Thank you.

Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the committee appreciates a lot of the good work that's been done and that has come out of that action plan. My concern is about the budget process here and if we have known for 18 months or two years that this was coming down the pipe, why didn't we have discussions about this when we reviewed the business plans or the mains or some discussions that there were options that were as of yet unfunded and we were trying to get money together to do these? As it happens now, we are talking about half a million to establish this board and $1 million a year extra incremental funding ongoing. This is a discussion that never happened at committee, never happened in the regular budgetary process. It's not a surprise, we've known this was coming for some time. The Minister must have been working on the costing of this for some time. Why didn't this go through the normal process? Thank you.