Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that answer. It clears up a bit of things. You used the magic words insurance and liability so you got my ears perked on that, so I understand that and I'm glad to hear that you're looking at the flexibility.

I guess my big challenge is that even though we talk liability and insurance and all those challenges, I have a constituent that's got to go back two or three times during a two-week period, and for them to fly down to Edmonton come back, go back down, come back it just costs a whole bunch of money. I know, even though we have a deal with the airline it's still-- I know how much it costs to get out of Fort Simpson to Yellowknife. So again, I hope that there is some flexibility within our policy that when this has occurred that the constituent can potentially save money for the department and the Government. So I'm hoping that there will be some compassion in this policy and some flexibility that allows your staff to make some good decisions to save money, but I also understand that there's risk and liability to it. So thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we can all share significant horror stories around medical travel, I'm sure. I've heard lots of frustration in medical travel. People coming into Yellowknife or even down south and finding out their appointments were cancelled before they even left their home communities. You know, the same thing you're talking about, someone coming down three weeks in a row for, like, a 15-minute appointment. We need to utilize our resources better. We need to be able to use the Telehealth we have better, and these are the types of things that we're trying to address. Through the use of EMR and other things we should be able to coordinate more appointments more effectively. Get people down for two or three appointments at one time rather than having them come down for one then a week later come down for another and have them come down for another.

Once we get into a single system, we'll be able to coordinate and put in some policies and procedures to ensure that date flows a little bit better and that patient bookings are easily accessible for those that are in the circle of care so that we can make sure that we're taking maximum advantage of these trips that people are going to have to take. That's where we want to go, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Music to everybody's ears, and I thank the Minister for that answer.

That comes to the other concern or issue that when government staff are on duty travel and they have to fly back home, I know this is a finance issue but can Health and Finance get together to try to address this so that there's some flexibility that, you know, an airline ticket has already been paid, if the Health Department pays, you know, or Health-- Finance pays for per diem and accommodations and that's all the cost is, again, it's an opportunity for cost savings. So I'm asking-- I don't know if your Department of Finance I've got to ask this question on, but again, to me, it's just about making better usage of money and people's time. So is it something I have to address with you or do I have to address with Finance? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Department of Health and Social Services doesn't pay for any of the medical travel costs for GNWT employees who are travelling; that is a Department of Finance issue. As I indicated previously, the medical travel benefits that are covered for GNWT employees are covered through their insurance and they're negotiated accordingly. So we're probably best to talk to the Minister of Finance on that one. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson, anything further?

No, thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that answer and I'll put it in my questions for the Finance Minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. McNeely.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Looking at the $22.7 million in the program detail, then on page 199 it's inserted into the HSS Authority funding for the same amount of $22.7 million, is that kind of like an in and out number or in and out entry? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The $22.761 million is money that flows to the authorities for the delivery of medical travel. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. McNeely.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That figure, if it goes to the regional authorities, does it include the locum staff travel? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Minister Abernethy.

Sorry, Mr. Chair, I think I confused the issue a little bit. The $22.761 million goes to the authorities that are providing medical travel, which is Stanton, Hay River and the Tlicho Community Services Agency. Of the $22,761,000; $22,000 goes to Hay River for the administration of medical travel; $22,281,000 goes to Stanton for the administration of medical travel; and $458,000 goes to the TCSA.

As far as locums, this is not money that is used for locums. Locums are the individuals coming in to provide services like nurses. This is medical travel for individuals who have to go out for appointments, procedures in a community outside of their own, including Yellowknife or Edmonton. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Nothing further from Mr. McNeely. Do we have further comments or questions on page 199? Seeing none, we can move on to page 198, the operations expenditure summary. Comments or questions on page 198? Operations expenditure summary. I'll give committee a moment.

Seeing no comments or questions I will call this page. Supplementary health programs, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $33,484,000.

Moving on to page 200, we have a few pages of information items. Are there comments or questions on page 200, funding allocated to health and social service authorities? Seeing no comments or questions, we will move on to page 201, lease commitments. Comments or questions on page 201? Seeing none, we will move on. Page 202, work performed on behalf of others. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just reading through the pages here, I recognize that we've had some contributions from the Canadian Partnership against Cancer, and we've had, it seems to be, about three or four different contributions for different programs or initiatives. I also note that one has expired in 2015 and two-- or sorry, the three remaining are going to expire in January, February and March of 2017. Beyond this year's budget, does the department have plans to engage with the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer for future initiatives and if so, what might those be? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we've actually been able to secure money from other jurisdictions like Alberta and the federal government and the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and we've had some really good luck in doing that, and we're optimistic that we'll be able to secure money in the future.

I can't say what that money would be today because a lot of these dollars come tied with specific goals or objectives in mind from the funding organization and they change. Through our Aboriginal Health Community Wellness group we've been able to invite some fantastic proposals and take advantage of these opportunities as they've presented and we anticipate we'll continue to do so. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne.