Thank you. I will go to the Member from YK North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister just clarify the contract that has now been finalized, is it just for one year at a time; is it a multi-year contract? Can the Minister clarify the -- yeah, the length of the contract. Thank you.

Thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Mr. Chair, thank you. The operations contract with the Yellowknife Women's Society is effective from November the 7th, 2025, through to March 31st, 2027. There is an option to extend for an additional year. Thank you.

Thank you. I will go back to the Member from YK North.

Okay, no further questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Are there any further questions? Seeing none, no further questions.

Department of the Executive and Indigenous Affairs, governance and services integration, not previously authorized, $472,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. The Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, total department not previously authorized, $1,005,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. Please turn to page 7 and 8 for the Department of Health and Social Services.

Department of Health and Social Services, operations expenditures, administrative support services, not previously authorized, $367,000. Are there any questions? Thank you. I am going to go to the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will probably have the same question for the next few functions under health and social services. But can the Minister provide substantiation for the item that is to provide funding for stabilizing primary care services? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I am going to go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Certainly happy to describe this a little bit further, this particular item for stabilizing primary care services. Mr. Chair -- sorry, and I just want to make sure there's -- this is under the $88,000 or under the next item? Okay, sorry? Sorry, Mr. Chair. Let me just pull up a different item then, and perhaps it may well be that the deputy minister has this in front of him. I have the wrong note open. I am mindful of time and get it out quickly.

Mr. Chair, there is an overall effort within these items to ensure that there's an adjustment to support ongoing community health nurses and nurse practitioner positions, ultimately to a total of 22 additional positions being funded, so. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I will go to the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, no, I guess I am especially interested in the $88,000 for administrative and support services when it's continually raised in the House that, you know, health staff, health practitioners, of all modalities, find the administrative burden to be quite high. It takes away from actually helping patients. So I am curious how this $88,000 is being spent; is it on a PY, is it -- where is it located, etcetera. Thank you.

Thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, Mr. Chair, I apologize for the confusion on that one. So the amount of dollars are split. The effort to stabilize primary care services broadly does see funding split between some of the different functions within health and social services precisely for the reason that the Member is mentioning, that there are administrative and support services that do need to take place and so some funding will be directed in that regard, and some will be directed more into the programs and services which would relate back to adding additional positions. So some of the administrative supports would include, you know, things such as even just the TSC chargebacks that are associated with a position, and that's where -- under administrative and support services falls under that.

With respect to the comments, though, around trying to ensure more broadly administrative support within health and social services, Mr. Chair, I would suggest that this one is really targeted more at ensuring that there's adequate supports in terms of the healthcare providers. I can provide, I believe, a full breakdown of where those positions are proposed to be located, if that is interest, but I will go back to the Member just to make sure I am on the right track. Thank you.

Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you. Are there any further questions from Members? I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On this item, I just wanted clarification on the item pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance MOU. And I understand that that is offset by a federal contribution but I wonder if the Minister can explain what the $83,000 is for and just give some context to what is this MOU with the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This funding supports the continuation of a position for a senior project manager for pharmaceutical management, and that supports the Northwest Territories' continued involvement in national drug price negotiations and associated work, which does bring some access to lower drug cost opportunities and procurement opportunities on a national scale, as well as providing and ensuring that there's consistency in drug coverage across our jurisdiction and across the rest of -- in the alliance and in connection to the rest of Canada. Thank you, Mr. Chair.