Thank you, Minister, and perhaps for the whole committee. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think it is important that we do get that information, because I believe there is a major increase in the collective bargaining, especially for those in health authorities, especially in Inuvik and whatnot where there has been an increase in the collective bargaining agreement, in regards to trying to find ways of dealing with the challenge of vacancies and trying to get more doctors and professions into those areas of the Territories by way of different types of bonuses or pay levels and whatnot to attract more professions in those areas. It would be interesting to see with the new collective bargaining agreement exactly has it really achieved the results we are hoping to achieve by ensuring we get more professions in those parts of the Territories where we are having challenges by filling these vacancies. I look forward to getting that information.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. There was no question there. Committee, we are on page 8-11, information item, active positions - health and social services authorities. Agreed?

We are on page 8-12, 8-13, activity summary, directorate, operations expenditure summary, $5.957 million.

Comments from committee. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a couple of questions here. The first one relates to, again, the Foundation for Change document proposal and the changes that are being worked through. About a year ago, we dealt with a very difficult issue of board reform. I am just wondering if the Minister has any idea at this point how the Foundation for Change planning will impact or will

coordinate with any possible changes in terms of board reform. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lee.

Mr. Chairman, I don’t think we are doing board reform initiative in Foundation for Change, but, obviously, that initiative was introduced. It is being put back and it is being revised. But within the health care system we recognize the governance and accountability framework is important. I want to ask the deputy minister to explain a bit about the work that we are doing in that regard.

Ms. Meade.

Thank you, Ms. Meade. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks to the deputy minister for that information. That’s very challenging. The whole issue is challenging, but it’s good to hear that there’s lots of work happening.

My other question has to do with the legislation and when we went through the business plans, the proposed schedule for legislation the department is considering doing in the next fiscal year is quite ambitious. I was impressed with the number of bills which presumably want to be amended and/or new bills coming forward. My question, I guess, is whether or not the department thinks they are going to be able to get them all done. Are all of these changes, all of these amendments, all of these new acts, are they vital? I guess I am somewhat suspicious that we may be doing legislation at the risk of the front-line provision of services for both health and social services. So just a general comment in terms of the legislation that is proposed and is it all really necessary and are you going to get it all done. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don’t have the list of legislation that the Member is looking at, but in general I can tell you that the resources for doing legislation is so scarce, not just in the department but with the Justice lawyers, that we wouldn’t be doing anything unless we need to. Sometimes things come up and I can also tell you that those lists have been on the books for a long time. They are making their way up and a lot of work would have been done, not just in this Assembly but in previous Assemblies as well. So I think there’s a constant scrutiny to see what is a priority because there are such scarce resources and time. Thank you.

Point taken. I understand totally. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Next I have Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In regards to the Minister’s authority to manage health board authorities, there has been situations with the Stanton board in the past because of the financial situation they found themselves in, the Minister intervened by abolishing the board and putting forward a manager of some sort to manage the affairs of the health authority.

I am wondering with regard to the situation you mentioned about the reforms you are looking at bringing forward. I think at any agency, board or even NGO is responsible for the accountability of the public funds we give them and I think there has to be stringent requirements that we see the accountability for those public funds. More importantly, to ensure the public purse is being expended the way it should be and it’s not been wasted on things that it shouldn’t be expended on. So I would just like to know, with regard to this reform process you’re talking about and ministerial authorities, is there anything there that will give us the comfort that that we’d like to see by government

expenditures. When we transfer funds to organizations, regardless of whether it’s NGOs, health boards or whatnot, that the accountability is upfront in ensuring we do see the documentation that is required. I’d like to ask the Minister when you talk about financial services and accountability and management services, budgetary accountability and management services, for me that’s an area that has been lacking in some health authorities. The majority of health authorities in the Territories have been managing their affairs aboveboard, but there have been a few authorities that have been running deficits year after year after year and not fulfilling their financial obligations. So I would just like to know how far are we willing to go in regards to that directorate.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Much of what the deputy minister said in terms of the work we are doing on the governance model and role clarity, that does deal with the thing that the MLA Krutko just brought up. We are working to strengthen accountability in service delivery and financial accountability plus I’m just saying this in my own language here, but it’s written in a more fancy way in the book... We are working for service accountability, financial accountability and coordination accountability.

Right now, the way our authorities are set up, they are quite independent. They get bulk funding of their money and they are quite free to do a lot of things and we do not have control over that. Now, at the same time, I think we should know, to be fair to the authorities, they are doing what they are tasked to do. They are doing everything in a way they are supposed to be doing it. The onus is on us to make some changes to make sure that there is a more across-the-system look at how we can use our resources better, how we can help each other in providing necessary services, how we help each other inside in the back offices so we reduce the overhead costs, so that our health care resources are spent at the frontline in the communities in the service delivery, that there’s not a whole lot of duplication. All these are not built in right now, so we are working on what the Member said we should be and just to say the authorities have to be part of this, they are the ones who are delivering the services and we don’t want to have to... We can’t be imposing this on them. We have to buy into this new arrangement and so it’s an ongoing process to get them to agree with us on how we go forward and that’s part of the Foundation for Change. Thank you.

With regard to the Foundation for Change, how soon do you see it conclude and ready for implementation so that the authorities will have some, I don’t want to say marching orders, but

a process that is clear and transparent and spelled out with regard to what their obligations are and also what we expect of them for service delivery and accountability?

The Foundation for Change is a three-year plan. It goes from 2009-12. There is a lot of stuff in there that we are going to move as the money... It’s the changes we could make and supports and funding we can find. Specifically to the accountability framework with regard to the governance and more accountability we can build into the authorities, we are hoping to have those agreements finalized by the end of this fiscal year, not by March 2010, but March 2011 or before that. We are going to be reviewing our contribution agreements and relationship agreements, so we can build in more accountability, but that should happen sooner. So our plan has different phases of implementation plan depending on what the issue is. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Lee. Committee, we are on page 8-18. Mr. Krutko.