Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can't recall the exact number that it would have cost to bring Hay River into the public service in 2005. Anecdotally, I have heard numbers of $2 million, $3 million, $4 million, $5 million to bring them into the Superann as a pension. But now, we believe that number to be significantly higher. We are working with Superann. We are working with our partners to try to quantify what the exact cost to bring them into the GNWT's pension would be.
We are still doing work that is going to be necessary once negotiations begin with the UNW and the Hay River Authority to bring their employees into the public service. We obviously want to see this happen. We believe that to have a truly unified health care system in the Northwest Territories, Hay River needs to be in. I have talked to people in Hay River including staff. They want to be in, but we are currently doing several negotiations, collective bargaining, both in the GNWT, in Hay River, NWTTA, a number of negotiations. The individuals who are going to help us with the negotiations and bring Hay River into the public services, it's all the same people, so we need to finish some of this additional, this upfront work, two collective agreements, and then we'll be in a better position to figure out what the timeline will be to bring them in.
We have to figure out the money. If it's $23 million, we're going to have to figure out where those dollars are going to come from. It will be a one-time cost to bring them in, but you're right. The Member is right. I mean, we've spent a million to a million and a half a year since 2005. It's costing us money not to bring them in.