Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my Member's statement, it is imperative that we Northerners get our fair share of the pie when it comes to distribution of federal health care funding. Many examples of inadequacies in health care service come to light and we only have to look at our own communities to see evidence of this. I continue to hear examples from Hay River residents on what I consider primary care services. For example, Mr. Speaker, Hay River is without a physiotherapist and Hay River residents are still having to travel to Yellowknife to be treated by a physiotherapist. Would the Minister please state what his department is doing to assist the Hay River Community Health Board to successfully recruit a physiotherapist, so that the residents of Hay River can be adequately served? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the sad reality is that Hay River, as well as some other communities, is competing in a very tight job market for physiotherapists. There was at one point in the recent past a possible applicant, I understand, who chose not to take the job. So we are looking, along with Fort Smith, for physiotherapists. Mr. Speaker, the reality is we are competing across Canada and in North America in a very difficult and scarce market. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in October, I also asked the Minister if he would be willing to have a physiotherapist transferred to Hay River in the interim while one could be found for Hay River. The Minister stated, that it would be an issue that he would be prepared to bring to the table to discuss with other Members of the Joint Leadership Council, which is all of the board chairs, himself and the deputy minister. Well, it's now February, and we are still without a physiotherapist. So I would like to ask the Minister if he has indeed brought this issue to the Joint Leadership Council and what the outcome was. I certainly haven't heard anything yet. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue has been discussed with the department and we are in a situation of having to rob Peter to pay Paul, as it were. At this point, we haven't come up with a way to take resources from one area of an under-resourced system to move into another area. So we continue to work with the authorities and the department on the recruitment side to see if we can fill that position.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, whenever a Hay River resident has to travel to Yellowknife for physiotherapy, you are required to pay a co-payment of $250 if they are not covered by another form of insurance. This is very much a hardship for a number of people. We talk at length as legislators that we don't want to see a two-tiered system for health care, but I am seeing one at work right here in our government, those that have insurance and those that don't. To me, that's two-tier. Would the Minister please indicate what his department is currently doing to address the issue of medical co-payments further to his answer in this House to my question of October 21, 2002, asking for the co-payment to be waived, whereby he stated that: "We have a review of a supplementary health program currently underway." Exactly where is this, Mr. Speaker?

It's such a good question that I am going to have to disallow it because it's not on the same subject that he started off with. He started off with physiotherapy, if I recall correctly, and moved on to something else. However, if you are indicating that this is on the same topic, Mr. Delorey, I will allow the Minister to respond to it. Mr. Delorey, clarify, please.

Mr. Speaker, my approach to this is they are very much related because, for physiotherapy services to be accessed, patients have to come to Yellowknife and they have to pay a $250 co-payment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. You clarified that for the Chair. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we currently have a draft paper on the supplementary health benefits issue and they reviewed it. We have passed that onto the Social Programs committee and we will await their feedback in terms of their thoughts. This is an issue. Mr. Delorey is correct, there are gaps in the current system. Those with third-party coverage have the benefit of medical payments and there is a very clear section of our segment of society that doesn't have that benefit of medical payments and it's not only co-payments. It's something we are struggling with and it has implications far beyond the co-payment issue.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister please advise why this department calls the $250 that an uninsured person has to pay for a flight to Yellowknife to seek treatment a co-payment? Why do they call it a co-payment? In my view, there is no co-payment. A flight from Hay River to Yellowknife costs $250 and the patient has to pay $250, so where is the co-payment in this?

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the general rule is it is a co-payment. I appreciate Mr. Delorey's point that it's very expensive, comparatively speaking, to fly between Hay River and Yellowknife...

---Interjection

...on a comparative basis, but the intent is to acknowledge that this is partial assistance and a personal contribution to what are normally very expensive flights.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a fairly lengthy legal opinion on several key issues that are related to the subject, but taking your advice from the previous Assembly, I will quickly try to summarize by saying that we have collaborated with the Saskatchewan justice ministry to take a joint position to the federal Justice Minister. At this point, we are still in the process of trying to put a formal letter together to the justice department since this very sensitive issue is...We want to take a joint approach Canada-wide. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.