Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last week following my return to Yellowknife and to the legislature, the Secretary to Cabinet, Liz Snider, had the first face-to-face meeting with the Clerk of the Privy Council Alex Himelfarb in Ottawa and had the first discussion with the federal official at that time. There is an agreement that, by the end of March, we will know the details of the process that will be used to address the fiscal challenge that the North faces as acknowledged by the federal government and how that's going to be done. Keeping in mind that we have formula financing negotiations coming up, there's an agreement to meet again in about two weeks, on March 10th. They have confirmed the substance of the meeting that we had with the Prime Minister, because there were none of our officials present at that time, just political people; the first face-to-face was held to confirm what was discussed there. That the $60 million is, at this time, understood to be available over five years in the three territories but, the discussion is still open to possibly three years. It is a full amount but it could be topped off in the coming year pending the discussions that we are going to engage in. The Prime Minister has committed to being kept informed of the discussions and that we will be meeting again in the next two weeks. The Minster of Finance, Mr. Handley, is also engaging in the discussions because of the tie-in to formula financing negotiations. Thank you.
Stephen Kakfwi on Question 123-14(6): Territorial Health Care Funding
In the Legislative Assembly on February 28th, 2003. See this statement in context.
Return To Question 123-14(6): Territorial Health Care Funding
Question 123-14(6): Territorial Health Care Funding
Item 6: Oral Questions
February 27th, 2003
Page 413
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