Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Indeed, it is a very serious one and growing larger by the day. We need to take care of it and one of the areas is whenever the agreement is renewed that would be, I think, undertaken and work with other jurisdictions to ensure that we get the proper growth rate applied instead of a fixed amount, or if it's going to be fixed it would be fixed more appropriately. As I stated, in discussions with other jurisdictions, they're feeling the pinch on the same side and having the fund shortfall from other revenues. The current cap that's in place is 2 percent per year, and that's just not acceptable in the growth rate we see in delivering the programs in the Northwest Territories. We are offsetting it from other revenue sources at this time, so that does become a problem and will be a drain on other revenue sources until we get this repaid. The goal is to continue to work with the Minister of DIAND as well as through the Minister of Health for the federal government; both those ministries to try and come up with a more satisfactory approach. I'm sure that all other jurisdictions would be in line with us as was in our last FPT meetings.

Of course, we can always go back on the history of this government -- I recall in the 12th Assembly there was a large disputed amount as well -- and go back and draw from some of that as to how that was settled at that point. So we've got a long history with this area with the federal government. So we're going to have to look at how we step forward on this case. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Braden.

Yes, it certainly is something that I think has caught the attention of some of us here today and I want to make sure that we do continue with this at committee level. My principal concern, Mr. Chairman, is that at the rate at which this is accumulating, we will not be able to sustain this. I really think it's time, it's past time, Mr. Chairman, that we actually did resolve this. I think just writing a few letters and bringing it up at a few meetings, which as the Minister has acknowledged, as I said, in the context, this is a chronic problem. But the manner in which we're dealing with it just does not seem to be getting us anywhere, so I think we're going to have to get very, very focused on this one and do it very quickly. So I'll be noting this one and carrying it into our committee's work with the department at the earliest possible opportunity, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we definitely will work with the committee on Social Programs on this area. As I stated in my discussions with other Health Ministers about this issue, knowing that they have similar concerns, maybe not to the magnitude when you look at the percentage of outstanding commitment that we have or expenditures side, still it is an area that other Ministers across Canada were aware of and were concerned with. So I think that's another avenue that we can use in trying to have the federal government step up to the plate on this. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That's all on this area here.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Thank you, committee. We're on page 6-44, work performed on behalf of others, total $17.841 million.

Thank you, committee. I'll now draw your attention back to the department summary located on page 6-7, operations expenditures summary, $277.395 million.

Thank you, committee. We'll now turn our attention to page 5-7 in volume 2, infrastructure acquisition plan. I'll just give committee a second to open that book. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I could get some details on what the Minister will describe as the consolidated primary care clinic in Yellowknife. If I could get some details on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, that work was started quite some time ago in trying to make better use of our clinics that we have across the territory, in this case in Yellowknife. This would involve four of the primary care clinics, that being the Gibson Medical Clinic, Family Medical Clinic, Frame Lake Medical Clinic and the Great Slave Medical House, and the planning would be started as to how we can work with them and make things more efficient, work more effectively for our community. Some work has already begun on the Family Medical Clinic in that area. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Is the intention of the department to continue to create sort of a lower, but certainly good quality standard of hospital services provided at these individual clinics, or is its intentional goal in the long term to migrate into one super clinic in the downtown and one out of the downtown? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to correct what I said earlier, we have four clinics delivering that side of the health care equation here in Yellowknife. We will be working with the three. Frame Lake Medical Clinic will still be standing on its own. But ultimately the goal is to make sure that we're making the best use of the facilities that we do have in providing primary care clinics to residents here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the further explanation to my first question, but then my second question which is still unanswered, which is are we still going to migrate to a super clinic downtown, one singular clinic, or is it the intention of the department to beef up these other little clinics downtown and keep them in their own autonomous sets to support the services at Stanton? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we are going to a consolidated clinic process and update how we deliver the service. But for more detail, I'll have Mr. Parker provide that information.