Thank you, Mr. Chair. Once again, no new programs were added to Hay River as a result of the construction of the new health centre, but as a result of the bigger footprint, the new codes that we're trying to meet, it did result in some additional positions. The building is also much larger than it was, larger physio, larger TO, more equipped surgical rooms which means we have the opportunity to have some individuals come down to Hay River from time to time to provide services that may not currently be delivered there. We're not there yet, but that opportunity is certainly presenting itself to us. As far as residents from Fort Res, why they would have to come to Yellowknife as opposed to going to Hay River, CT scan, certain other diagnostic procedures that aren't in the capacity of the new building. Certain specialists that come up from the south. They might only be able to come to Yellowknife if they're coming from route two or three, all sorts of reasons why people might still have to come to Yellowknife. But there's a lot of reasons for them to go to Hay River as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Nothing further from Mr. Beaulieu? Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess I have to get back on the midwifery train again. My colleague had asked some questions about midwifery services for people in the Dehcho, families in the Dehcho. I think I heard the Minister say that medical travel would get families to Yellowknife but not to Hay River, where midwifery services are available. I'm not sure I heard the Minister right, but can I confirm that, number one? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.

Thank you. Medical travel is used to get the person to the closest point of where the service can be provided. So, for example, if somebody in Yellowknife was having a baby, we provide obstetrics services in Yellowknife, fully comprehensive state-of-the-art obstetrics services in Yellowknife. Therefore, we wouldn't be using medical travel to transport somebody to another community where the service is actually available, when birthing services are available in Yellowknife.

I do take the Member's point that, in something like a location like Simpson, you know, the cost of going to Simpson is probably no different than the cost of going to Yellowknife. So we've already committed that we're going to develop a territorial model which will address this question. But, in the meantime, I will have the department do a quick analysis on how we can actually facilitate for other communities that may want to have birthing services and/or utilize some of the birthing services in that community, recognizing that, if those services exist in the community where you live, medical travel wouldn't make sense. But for Simpson, maybe Providence, maybe it does. Let me get the department to do some analysis on that. There might be some short-term opportunities here until we can actually finalize the development of a Territorial Midwifery Action Plan. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think we might be getting confused in terms of geography here, but I think the Minister meant that, if families in the Dehcho, like from Simpson or Jean Marie River or Kakisa, wanted to go to Hay River for midwifery services, they would look into this and have that medical travel cover that rather than sending families to Yellowknife, where the service isn't even available. So I think that's what he was getting at, and I just wanted to confirm that because I think there was some confusion about geography. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.

I'll commit to looking into that as the Member has described. I will point out one challenge, that the midwifery budget and the number of positions allocated to Hay River were based on the average birth rate in Hay River, and, by having other communities, like Fort Simpson, Fort Providence, the Deh Cho, also adding to that birthing number, it changes the make-up of the requirement and it could actually rapidly overburden the existing midwifery complement in Hay River.

But I hear Mr. Thompson's point; I hear your point, and I see Mr. Nadli nodding. So I hear you, and I'll look into that. I'd be cautious, though. We don't want to set up a situation where we'll set Hay River up to fail by having them overburdened. But, ultimately, I mean, I believe in midwifery services, and we want to do what we can to support. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly, nothing further? Are there any further comments or questions on page 195? Seeing none, I will call the page again.

Nursing in-patient services, operations expenditure summary, total activity, $35,939,000. Agreed?

We will now move on to supplementary health programs. The operations expenditure summary is on page 198, but we'll defer that until we look at the detail starting on page 199. Comments or questions on page 199? I'll give committee a moment. Mr. O'Reilly.

Mr. Chair, I don't know where this is in the budget, but I think I saw somewhere that the NIHB program is being reviewed. Is this where I should be asking questions about that? Thanks, Mr. Chair -- or where I can ask questions about it? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As always, I am happy to answer any question anytime. That particular question should probably be asked on page 202 - 204. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

[Microphone turned off] ...for the tip from the Minister, and I can wait and ask NIHB questions there. I did have questions about extended health benefits, as well. Presumably, I can ask them here. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Mr. Chair, I'm glad we have such a cooperative Minister. I've heard, I guess, that there's going to be some sort of extended review of health benefits. You know, when we look at the costs of these, obviously our mains are not covering all of the costs. We have to go for supplementary appropriations. Can the Minister tell us if there are plans to review extended health benefits and how that might roll out? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we have no defined plans at this point in time, but we do know that the cost of extended health benefits, our budget is certainly not meeting our need. The costs are increasing rapidly in this area. We've got, by way of example, an aging population, more and more people being eligible for extended health benefits. The cost is going up.

We're going to have to have the conversation at some point on how we're going to address that shortfall. We've made some indication to the Seniors' Society that we probably want to have some conversation. We don't know what the solutions are at this point, but, you know, we're going to have to have that conversation. We're going to have to have it in this room. We're going to have to have it in committee room. We're going to have to have it in public. I can't say what that looks like at this point. We haven't made that. We haven't done that work on it yet. We do recognize that these costs are growing a lot faster than we anticipated and they're exceeding our budget pretty much every year and growing rapidly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.