Thanks, Mr. Chair. Is there anywhere that the public or Regular MLAs can go to see waiting times? I know the information is tracked somehow, but is it actually publicly reported in any way? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

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

Mr. Chair, right now, the answer is no, but I, like the Member, believe it's important for people to know, and the department is working to getting to the point where we can report on some wait times. It is not here today, but it is work that is being done. I want to see it. The Member wants to see it. I think I've been asked in the House over the last couple of days a number of questions on wait times. People want to see it, so I will be directing the department to find a way to make that information public. Having said that, these investments we're making today will help us reduce the wait times, but we won't see them reduced until we bring people in and get them trained and start the work. We should start to see some improvements now, as a result of the Beaufort Delta investments, and we will see more improvements once we get Yellowknife staffed up. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. What has become clear over the last little while and I think it's something we may not have recognized had we not moved to a single authority is there really isn't a solid definition of how people determine wait lists across the Northwest Territories. Now, in moving forward, the department is working closely with the authority to come up with some solid definition on how to define wait times. That work is underway. Once that work is concluded, we'll be in a better position to figure out how to report in a consistent manner wait times for all of the different services that we provide. Then and only then we'll probably be in a position to figure out how to get it out into the public. I anticipate we will be able to get the work done around trying to figure out what a usable definition of wait times and how to assess it is, and, from there, we'll make the second step. I'm cautious to commit to a time at this point because there is a significant amount of work being done by these people in other areas, but the department is committed to getting it done, and we'll certainly keep committee up to date as we make progress.

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

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Sorry. I don't want to flog a dead horse here, but could the Minister make a commitment to, I don't know, report to the standing committee maybe on a quarterly basis where the work stands, just so committee and Regular MLAs know the progress that's being made and when, say, a launch date might be scheduled? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm not going to make that commitment, but what I will commit to is having the department sit down and quantify what it thinks it will take as far as timelines to determine and work with the authority to define how wait lists will be determined and, from there, how long it will take to find a mechanism to reasonably and responsibly make that information public on a regular basis. I will commit to having the department do the analysis on how long they think that will take, and share that with committee.

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

Thanks. I appreciate the commitment made by the Minister, and I will look forward to getting that information. Thank you.

Thank you. Any further questions from committee? Seeing none, I'll call the page. Health and Social Services, diagnostic and therapeutic services, operations expenditure summary, 2019-2020 main estimates, $28,280,000. Does committee agree?

Agreed. Thank you. Next, we have nursing inpatient services, operations expenditure summary, $35,900,000, from pages 187 to 189. Any questions? Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Our friends advised that this is where midwifery services are to be found. There are additional resources in here. Maybe if you could have somebody remind me of that and with a brief description of what the resources are going to be used towards? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are a number of increases in this area. It's not all midwifery services. Some of it is some additional positions in intensive care, long-term care, and medical-surgical nursing to help implement Stanton and a few other things. There is $373,000 in here for midwifery program expansion, to help us move forward with the territorial midwifery program. It's a couple of different midwifery positions in Yellowknife and Hay River. Maybe I will go to the deputy minister, who can go through in greater detail exactly where those investments are to help us move forward with the territorial midwifery program.

Before we do that, just one quick note. When we made those changes around CFS that we talked about earlier, there was a half-time position which was a midwifery consultant that was vacant, that we took those dollars to roll into the CFS position. That's not in this area. That position was actually in the admin section, which was the first page we reviewed today. That reduction occurred there. It's not actually part of the midwifery program. It was a consultant position, half-time, vacant. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Cooper. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. The deputy minister writes a pretty good Minister's statement there. That is excellent. All good news.

More seriously, though, it would be helpful to get this out, because I think it is a good news story, and the Minister knows that I have been bugging him about this for at least three years, as long as I have been here. It is a good news story, and I do appreciate the work of the department and his staff to move this forward.

This is a great investment of money and will have long-term payoffs, all the way down to those kids who will become productive adults in our society. I appreciate the Minister and his work on this, and I thank him very much. Thanks.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was waiting, and I am still waiting for the "but." However, I appreciate the Member's comments.

This really goes to the question that the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh asked earlier about early childhood development and the types of things that we are doing. This is one of those areas where, with the pre- and the postnatal services that these people provide, what we can do at a territorial level can really, I think, make some profound benefits and impacts on residents across the territory.

We look forward to seeing this roll out over a number of years and become a strong program, even though, frankly, we are better than some at this point, but there is a lot of room for improvements.