Lost 10 seconds for station identification. We are back on the air. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are proceeding with the broad review of supplementary health benefits, but as I indicated previously, we have taken out the medical co-payment issue on an interim basis to come forward with what we hope will be a good remedy while we conclude the supplementary health benefits review. That document will be on my desk this week. Hopefully I will be in a position to bring this forward so that it can be reviewed by the Members before this House rises.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am encouraged by the answer of the Minister and I am hoping that we indeed see that document before the end of the session. We have heard today and we all know about the situation at Stanton Territorial Health Authority and the possibility of Stanton Territorial Health Authority being short some specialists in the future. I am wondering if the Minister has a contingency plan to deal with the medical benefits in the North. Will the residents of Yellowknife, or all non-insured residents of Yellowknife, have to deal with this co-payment should they have to go elsewhere for health treatment in the short-term period while being a shortage? Will everybody have to deal with this medical co-payment or are they setting up a different plan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is our intention to have prior to July 1st a contingency plan that will speak to the issue of the co-payments and the services that are required by those people that do not have third party coverage so they are not needlessly disadvantaged as we carry forward and finalize the discussions with the specialists and the government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs and I have had quite a few constituents contact me in the last couple of weeks with respect to the new proposed sport and recreation board. There is a report that was provided to the Governance and Economic Development committee and there are recommendations contained in that report which would see the formation and appointment of a new board. What is the status of this? Is it a done deal? Is it going to happen? I would like to ask the Minister that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Minister Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department up to May 25th of this past month was proceeding with plans to put in place the board. As a matter of fact, the interim coordinating team was identified and did have a first meeting on May 14th with a future meeting planned for June. It was that particular team that would put together the plans as to where the board would go from that point on and at what pace we would establish this particular board. An audit was in coordination and we had cooperation up to then from Sport North and all the members we were aware of at that time, anyway, were in favour of putting forward the board, although there was some dissatisfaction expressed over the past year by some territorial sports organizations with the formation of the board. The majority of the sports organizations and recreational groups in the territory did support the formation of the board and as far as we know still support the formation of the board. But as Members know, Mr. Speaker, on May 25th, Sport North came out with a motion indicating that they were not satisfied with the establishment of the board and they would like more information before making a decision as to whether to continue to support the formation of this territorial sports board. The department has not received anything official from that particular meeting in regards to whether or not we would ask to meet with the Sport North officials. My department's officials are available to meet with Sport North officials, but we are waiting for them to contact us officially. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it does seem that there is quite a bit of unhappiness about the establishment of this new board within the Sport North organization and with some of the territorial sport organizations as well. One of their concerns is that this forms another level of administration which is going to eat up dollars that could go directly to supporting young people in recreation and sport activities. Could the Minister just kind of briefly outline for me what was the impetus behind the establishment of this board? It is quite a significant overhaul of how money is distributed and how sport and recreation is overseen. It is quite a change and I am just wondering, what was the driving force or the impetus for this change? Where did it come from? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Minister Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just a little bit of background on that. The driving force, the reason there is to form a territorial sports board was as a result of meetings that were held between all the sports organizations and recreation organizations in the territory over the last couple of years. It was as a result of some dissatisfaction expressed by community leaders, some Legislative Assembly Members, in particular from small communities as to the ability for people in the small communities to take advantage of the sports activities on a larger scale. In other words, smaller communities felt that they did not have the same opportunities as larger centres to take part in either territorial sports activities or national or international activities. Therefore, they were suggesting that there should be a different make-up of the Sport North board. They figured it was a little bit too heavy in favour of the larger centres. Those were some of the concerns expressed by local community leaders as well as Legislative Assembly Members. Now, as a result of this, the previous Minister set up this information gathering effort to see whether or not there were grounds to actually proceed with some form of new sport and recreation board. It was well recognized that in order to do this you would have to take some of the authority away from the Sport North, because they have the authority right now to distribute lottery funding, subject, of course, to the Minister's approval. It has been basically run this way for the last 25 years or so. Sport North has been basically the one that has been distributing the funding, based on guidelines.

This type of situation that is raising some concerns with Sport North members as to whether or not...

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr. Minister. That answers the question. I just want to remind the House that a long, long answer is probably best to send the whole policy over to the other side. Short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the point that the Minister raised on the consultation that took place in the meetings over the past two years and also the information gathering, it's interesting because those are two of the points raised in a motion that was passed by Sport North on May 25th. They felt there was not enough consultation and that in fact information that would have articulated what people's concerns are would have been and could have been better addressed. So it seems like there's a miscommunication here. Is the Minister willing to take any initiative to contact them? I know part of their motion indicated that they would provide relevant data to MLAs, Minister and partners and the public in every forum possible. They obviously haven't found a forum yet to get this information to you. Would you take the initiative to have your people talk to their people and try to get this resolved? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my department has already indicated to Sport North officials that we're willing to meet with them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen. That was final. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question again is to the Minister of Health and Social Services, and it's in regard to the contingency plan that he's laid out for us. The Minister has been assuring us that the level of services in the hospital will be maintained by the use of locums in the short-term, and in the long run he's hoping to be able to replace, if there are any vacancies because of the specialists' walkout, with new ones. But, Mr. Speaker, we are aware that there are at least seven vacant specialist positions at Stanton Hospital, and four of them have been vacant for up to two years. So I'd like to know on what basis the Minister thinks that if these specialists walk out on July 1st he'll be able to find new ones to replace them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's not hypothetical, it's a somewhat premature question. We've been working to try to conclude successful agreements with specialists. We have put together a contingency plan and that is being worked on daily as we speak, to make sure that we provide as complete coverage as possible.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister is speaking out of both sides of his mouth. On the one hand he says he's offered a final offer and the doctors have rejected it, and when he's asked hard questions about his dealing with the contingency plan he says there might not be a need for it. Mr. Speaker, he has not answered my question. It is general knowledge that locums often cost more money, and chances are he's not going to be able to find new specialists unless he offers more money than what he's offering now. So I'd like to know how does his cost and benefit analysis figure out here. Why is he willing to spend more money on locums, more money for new specialists but not willing to settle a contract with the existing specialists? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.