Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I won't take too much time. There is just one more point that I wanted to ask for some clarification from the Minister on. I think most Members on this side of the House have felt that this past budget was fairly thin on initiatives and money for the social agenda. We have been urging the government to put its money where its mouth is, so to speak, Mr. Chairman. I am not sure that we see the kind of spending, the kind of effort in this area that we wanted to see. Our committee has asked the Minister for some response to some of these questions in the area of the social agenda. I was a little intrigued by a recent response from the Minister in speaking to the social agenda when he talks about the Intergovernmental Forum and the fact that he's using that vehicle to contact leadership to invite them to identify representatives to participate in an implementation group that just in general does some things, but is in the area of the social agenda. This tripartite negotiation process, to this point in my mind, has had a dual mandate of dealing with devolution and resource revenue sharing. If this is indeed expanding the mandate of the IGF to include the social agenda, that's certainly something that needs some discussion.

As you know, Mr. Chairman, the Regular Members are represented in that process. We have a Member who sits in on IGF meetings as an observer and our indication from the last meeting was that there was a message that was quite clearly articulated from the Minister of DIAND, Minister Nault, that he wasn't prepared to entertain an expansion and a broadening of the IGF mandate. In fact, I think he felt that this would this would muddy the waters and wanted to keep things focused on devolution and resource revenue sharing. So I am interested to see that it seems that the Minister of Heath and Social Services is intending to broaden the mandate of that body and I am wondering if he could shed some light on this and clarify it. Maybe I am misreading the response that he's given.

Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Member is correct. Minister Nault was quite clear and emphatic about where he thought the social agenda fit or didn't fit. However, it is a body that brings together the three areas of government, the territorial, federal and aboriginal governments. It is more a case of going back now that some time has elapsed and there has been a response at least by the GNWT to the social agenda to go back to this body and get a direction, tell us if it's not the IGF, what's the best way to move this ahead and not just tell us to find a different forum, this isn't it. It just gives us an opportunity when all three groups are in the room to get some of their time, to get that sense of direction. It's not the intent to ignore the concern expressed by Minister Nault and come back and once again try to expand the mandate. It's just going to be the vehicle to give us the next step, if this is going to be more than a GNWT initiative, if it's going to be truly territorial that includes the federal and Aboriginal governments, as well as the GNWT. If the message is we are not interested and it's a GNWT initiative, then that in itself will be a very clear direction to us. It's our hope that we can somehow get a greater level of engagement from both the federal government and the aboriginal governments on that particular initiative through that step. Thank you.

Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would certainly agree that the federal government has a role to play and the Aboriginal governments and leadership obviously have a role to play in the social agenda. It makes sense for them to be involved, but I think we've heard the message that the Minister of DIAND does not believe the IGF is the proper forum for this. If we agree that it is important to have involvement from all three levels of government, does the Minister still believe that this IGF vehicle is the vehicle and is the place for the social agenda to find a home for now, or is it his sense that the minds of the federal government at least have been made up and we are just hoping for them to buy into some other process outside of this and trying to use this to force them to do that? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the intent is not to find a home, however temporary, for the social agenda. In fact, the social agenda has a home right now. That's with the GNWT being the government that's driving this particular initiative at this point. What we would like is a clear sense of direction and level of commitment from both the federal and aboriginal governments to allow us to plan how we are going to move ahead. If this is going to be a one-government initiative, then it's going to be a whole different focus and kettle of fish than if the three governments come to the table in one way or another and start addressing some of the recommendations that were in the social agenda. Thank you.

General comments. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have more questions I want to ask about the $250 co-payment. The Minister has indicated several things in his replies to various questions regarding that issue. One of the things he mentioned is that he is going to bring some options forward to the Standing Committee on Social Programs, but this has been going on for quite awhile. I would like to know more about the timeline. When exactly is the Minister planning on putting it to the Social Programs committee? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we have been in discussions with the Social Programs committee and we are just waiting to plan to meet, because they have a lot on their agenda, to look at the work that's been done to date by the department on the supplementary health review to try to map out the best way to proceed. I am looking to do that in the not-too-distant future. We are also prepared to try to move as quickly as is deemed to be appropriate so we can deal with the broad issue and the concern being this is not a tinkering exercise. These programs are long overdue for review and the work we do has to make sense and it has to fit. We have to be able to come up with a package that's costed and then go back to Cabinet as well and hopefully get the resources if they are necessary to proceed. So this is a fairly complicated issue as people will see when they read the work that's been done to date. There are some questions to be answered, so that's the timeline. If we can get something done by June or no later than September, I would be more than willing to aim for those dates. Thank you.

Ms. Lee.

That's very parliamentary language, I must say. Holy moly, or something like that. Mr. Chairman, I think the Minister knows he has very receptive members on the Social Programs committee and I am sure they could make room on their agenda to address this issue as soon as he could wind up somebody to walk down the hall and deliver the document to the committee. In all seriousness, Mr. Chairman, I don't think a June or September deadline is one that the Minister should be working toward. I have communicated a couple of issues on the supplementary health benefits to the Minister and he's been indicating to me for months now, I think as far back as when he became Minister, about this review, so I am dying of waiting here breathlessly. I would suggest that the co-payment issue should be separated from the supplementary health benefits if that's what's causing the delay here. The phrases such as the not-too-distant future or whenever it's deemed appropriate or if there are resources called for, those things are the phrases that alarm the minds of astute parliamentarians, I would say. The fact of the matter is, Mr. Chairman, the people who are calling me are having to fork this money out today, right now, out of their living expenses. So I don't think we have a whole lot of time to waste and there are no indications that I have seen so far that say this is going to be resolved. I don't know what sort of options the Minister is going to put forward. Now while we are waiting for them, I wonder if the Minister could indicate whether or not in his package he would have resolved some of the issues he was talking about like the one about he can't be giving rebates to some people whose insurance money is coming from somewhere else, those sorts of major issues. Are we to expect that those would have been resolved by the time they come to the committee? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The supplementary health benefits issue,

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Those issues and others will be addressed as we come up with a final product with this review. We currently have some irritants like the $250 co-payment, but we also have an outdated patchwork quilt of services where there are lots of inconsistencies and gaps and it's based in many cases on ethnicity and not necessarily on need. It's not targeted. There are no clear programs, for example, for children regardless of who they are. So as a system, we have to look at those issues; some fundamental questions about what the focus should be in critical program areas to provide the best support possible for all territorial residents. I appreciate the urgency and the irritation of the Member that we just can't stand up and say the $250 is gone and we will worry about it later. That may politically take the heat off of us, but in the longer term, we have to consider that in addition to all these other factors to come up with a broad plan that makes sense, that is affordable and that addresses the needs that have been identified. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't think I got anything in that answer at all. Mr. Chairman, I just lost my train of thought here. When you ask him questions about these things, he knows already what he needs to know. He knows the issues. He could tell you all about these issues, so let the documents see the light of the day. If there are resources involved, let us look at it. If he gets the support of the committee, he can take it to FMB. We can't be forever saying does it say this, does it say that, do you deal with that? If it is as complicated and multi-layered, let us look at it. I don't understand. That answer keeps coming back. We are in the last leg of this Assembly. Anything that is going to see the light of the day has to come in at this time, in the next few weeks, next few days, not in June, not in September. That's just saying he's not going to do anything about it at all. That's just not acceptable, Mr. Chairman. I hope that he will bring that document forward, whatever he has working and that it be debated and considered and discussed and have some decisions made. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I agree that to do nothing is not acceptable, but I can tell the Member that the department and authorities have been working very, very diligently for the last 14 months or so on a whole host of areas including this one. We are just waiting for the Social Programs committee to indicate when we can get together so we can have a fundamental discussion to see if we are even on the right track in their opinion and proceed down the track to coming up with something we can put forward to see the light of day.

Ms. Lee.

In defense of the Social Programs committee, we should put him up on the stand to see who's telling the truth here, because the information I have is that Social Programs doesn't have that. How does the Minister even know what they think if he hasn't even brought it to them? This is just getting psychotic. Mr. Chairman, I would really urge the Minister to just put the document before us so we can consider it and debate it and make decisions on it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Minister, is there a chance we can get a copy of the documentation so maybe we would have a chance to look at it in case we have questions? Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it's my recollection, even though I am going on 52, which may be flawed, is that that document was given to committee. However, we would be happy to take the draft out of the briefing book to give the Chair of Social Programs another copy, but Mr. Chairman I am attempting to be as discreet and diplomatic about this as possible and I know the Social Programs committee is busy. We keep giving them lots of stuff looking for a response. Mr. Chairman, part of it I take the blame for. Maybe we have not been as clear as we could have been, but I have another copy here that I would be glad to hand off. It's got draft stamped all over it and it's what we hope will allow us to move forward. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. I think the Members will find it interesting reading. General comments. Mr. Dent.