Thank you, Mr. Chair. Now, I know there's many things that I'd like to speak about but I want to focus my limited time here -- it's already late -- on the midwifery program and my understanding of its potential. So my understanding is that a lot of work has actually happened over the last few years even though it seems on paper that positions have remained vacant and the potential of the program has just sort of languished. What I've heard is that actually a lot of ground work has been done to lay the framework for a territorial program. And that has been the focus is -- even though, you know, work might -- some work might need to start in Yellowknife or be based in Yellowknife -- I shouldn't say start. There's already work that's being done in the South Slave. But what I'm understanding is that Yellowknife could play a really important role in territorial-wide program.

As my fellow Members mentioned, there obviously are many births in Yellowknife so it's an important training ground, training site. And the vision would be to expand the program to many other communities outside Yellowknife but the fear is that if the YK-based portion of the program is, you know, destroyed completely, that that could actually jeopardize the program across the entire NWT.

So one idea is to -- that I heard today actually, potentially we could reduce the budget that was on the books for the last few years but keep plugging away at the groundwork for another couple years and keep laying the foundations to carry along that road towards the vision of a territory-wide midwifery program. I know that there are two midwives in training who are eager to begin work in YK once they're done school. And they're not done yet but, again, that -- the pieces were being put in place and just to sort of abandon that or -- would be a real shame at this point.

So what I would throw out there as a possibility is that we could stay the course but perhaps pull back on costs from sort of the full amount that had been allocated from the program.

What I'm wondering is if the Minister would be willing to meet with NWT Midwives Association to better understand this groundwork that has been done, the implications of just sort of cutting all of the expansion money at this point, and try to find some kind of reasonable compromise to not lose all the work that's been done up to this point. So would the Minister be willing to meet with the association and consider options?