Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, residents of the Northwest Territories need to be in the territory for six months plus a day, which works out to about 183 days. But over the last number of years, a large number of jurisdictions within Canada have been decreasing that time period to about 153 days, so they only have to be in their province for 153 days to be eligible for a health care card. Those jurisdictions are British Columbia, Manitoba, Alberta and Ontario.
We have done some analysis based on questions that have been asked in this House and questions that have been asked by seniors, and as a result, I have actually directed the department to follow suit. To that end, the department is actually preparing some revised guidelines that will change the requirement for people to be present in the Northwest Territories for 153 rather than 183 days to be eligible for the NWT health care card.