Thank you, Minister Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Minister's nickname must be Scrooge, especially come Christmastime if anybody plans to leave the government.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister stated that it can be confusing, that in fact the money that is deducted off an employee's payroll is their money, they've earned it on their salary. So can't he look at some other way of doing it? We've managed to do it prorated for holiday pay. We don't keep that money away from individuals or is that the case, too? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The Minister responsible for the FMB, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, this agreement, as I said, is an agreement with the union. Everybody gets a full pay cheque over the Christmas period. The person who starts in November doesn't only get one-twelfth of their pay cheque during these Donnie Days at Christmastime, they get a full pay cheque. When we negotiated the collective agreement back in '96, in agreement with the union, part of this compensation package for union employees would include this provision. So it's an agreement with the union. I can't change any particular piece of that collective agreement without the union agreeing to it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Mr. Speaker, the recent years have shown that the turnover rate of our government employees can go up as high as 20 percent. So with that amount when you take that deduction off those people, is all the money put back into the upcoming months? We know that once an individual leaves, the government doesn't fill that position the very next day. So what are you doing with that money? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the FMB, Mr. Handley.

We use money in government to meet our obligations under the collective agreement as well as other program and services costs. So we meet the obligations as laid out in the collective agreement. We don't take that money and set it aside in a pool someplace to be used by other employees for the Donnie Days they have off at Christmastime. Mr. Speaker, again I just want to repeat this is in the collective agreement. The unions agreed with us that it was the fairest way to treat our public service members as a whole. While some individuals feel they've been wronged by this, I am sure the ones that join the government late in the year appreciate that they get an added benefit. So it's part of a whole compensation package. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think I will have to pull our Hansard from today to find out because the Minister said when one employee leaves, before that, they take that money and use it for another employee, but he just told me they don't use it for other employees. So what is it? Mr. Speaker, there is up to a 20 percent turnaround. What kind of money would that lead up to and is it all going back to other employees? We know that in all of our communities, jobs lie empty for quite some time, so what is he doing with that money? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the FMB, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is we meet all of our payroll obligations. Someone may leave, for example, at a higher salary than we fill the position with. So we will have some savings in there. We may be paying one person $80,000 and the next guy who comes in with no experience gets $70,000. We don't put that money into some special account somewhere. We meet our obligations. If a department has a surplus at the end of the year, those surpluses come back into the consolidated revenue fund. The obligation we have as a government is to meet our obligations through the collective agreement. We don't set this money aside into some secret fund as the Member seems to think we might be doing. We don't do that. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the first places I travelled to when I first became Minister was Hay River and confirmed the need for that project. It is in the capital plan. It's slated to go and it's been funded. Very clearly it's been supported every step of the way and that's why it's still there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that commitment from the Minister and part of the reason why I was becoming a little bit concerned was because of some other comments that had been made by the Minister. He's talking about Fort Smith and Hay River and saying the projects are very similar and if the committee doesn't want them, that's fine. As I pointed out yesterday, there was no issue raised by the committee with the Hay River facility, so I would like the Minister to confirm for us today in the House that there is no linkage between the capital renovations in Hay River and Fort Smith. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what the Member means by linkage. They are both health and social services facilities, they are both capital projects scheduled to be done. They are both in their mid-life renovations and they are both in these main estimates in different years. Is one dependent upon the other? No. But they are definitely within the mandate of this department and are being brought forward as such. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With respect, Mr. Speaker, to the committee's concerns about the substantiation and some of the information that the committee was seeking about Fort Smith renovation, I certainly did get the impression from the Minister's remarks that somehow these two projects were related, interrelated, and if the committee couldn't support Fort Smith that they shouldn't support Hay River either. I would just like to ask again if there are difficulties with getting the renovations for Fort Smith, as that substantiation and explanation comes forward, I would like to know for sure that that is not going to negatively impact on the renovations for the Hay River hospital. Thank you.