Thank you, Madam Chair. There are the two program areas. There's the program administered for DIAND for services to Indian and Inuit people for hospital and medical services and, as well, there's the non-insured health benefits. The DIAND programs are currently in arrears almost $23 million going back to 1999. We, as well, are negotiating with them on money that we are confident we're going to get, but is tied up into cash flow issues, which is about $19.2 million. Then we have about $4.7 million that we're currently negotiating with Health Canada on with non-insured health benefits. There are some very fundamental issues involved in this, as well. We signed an agreement under some duress. In 1988 we signed an agreement, there was a cap put on of two percent per year. We can demonstrate very clearly that our costs are growing at an average of about seven to nine percent a year. So you don't have to be a math wizard to realize very clearly that we're building up a debt. Last year alone it will be about $8.5 million that we've paid out over and above what we're funded. The one bit of good news is that Health Canada has agreed to increase the base for non-insured health benefits by about $2 million from $5.9 million to $7.9 million.

The problematic area for us is DIAND. I met with the Honourable Ethel Blondin-Andrew yesterday to talk to her about the situation. I know the Premier has raised this issue at the tables that he is at with the First Ministers, as has the Minister of Finance. Bureaucratically, we will be told on the DIAND program side that we're not going to get any of that money back, that we signed a deal and that's it, too bad. But like many things in our business, I don't think we can afford to just accept that answer. Not when we're $8.5 million out of pocket last year, a cumulative total of $22.9 million to date out of pocket. Clearly the intent of this program is not to beggar the Government of the Northwest Territories. We're working, supposed to be collaboratively with the federal government, to administer a program that should be cost neutral to us as a government and it isn't. So we can't afford at this point to give up any ground in the negotiations. Clearly, the two percent ceiling is not acceptable and it's an issue that is getting a lot of interest. I've met with Minister Pettigrew as well. The level of frustration is so high the Premier has gone public, as have I, that if at some point this is not resolved, we can't go broke delivering programs for the federal government. The federal government is going to have to look at stepping in.

So to make a long answer short, I don't think we can afford to give up on anything at this point. Thank you.