I agree with what the Member is saying. We need to bring the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority into the territorial authority so we can provide comprehensive, seamless services to residents of Hay River, Enterprise, K'atlodeeche, and the surrounding areas. We need to be able to know that our residents, regardless of where they are coming from, whether it's from the Deh Cho or other regions, are receiving seamless services through a territorially funded health system.
We have been working with the Department of Finance to begin the discussions about what the ultimate costs will be for the pension transfer. We need to have that information before we can take our next steps, which would include negotiations and discussions with the Union of Northern Workers, because the employees in Hay River, although they are new NWT employees, they are under a separate collective agreement completely.
There is a lot of work that needs to be done. It is a mandate of this Assembly. I continue to push it at the Cabinet table, recognizing that there are significant long-term benefits of doing this from a client perspective, but, also, from a financial perspective, we wouldn't necessarily have to come forward every year with a top-up for the existing pension. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.