Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I still have a few follow-up questions on Bill 44 and the Hay River Health Authority, how it’s being implemented. The first question that I have is: Is it the department’s intent to move forward on Bill 44 with or without the Hay River authority becoming GNWT employees?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A while back the Minister was in Hay River and he committed to getting a cost associated to the pensions. Has the Minister come up with any of those numbers yet? It’s been some time.

My next question is: Would the staff’s seniority benefits be protected in this merger to go into the GNWT?

My next question is: What assurance does the Minister have and what consultation will the Minister do with the Hay River Health Authority seeing as they’re a special entity in the process of this new act?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow up, I have questions for the Minister of Health. My first question is: How is the GNWT planning to bring the Hay River Health Authority into the GNWT, especially in light of them creating a one health board system?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last Thursday we returned home to a constituency meeting, and one of the overwhelming issues was Bill 44, An Act to Amend the Health and Social Services Administration Act, that was brought before this House.

This act will create one territorial board, and that’s probably a fine concept, Mr. Speaker. That’s if we were comparing apples to apples. But the Hay River Health Authority staff are not GNWT employees, so this bill stirred a lot of those staff up.

They have a great deal of concern about how they will be rolled into the GNWT system, how they will be able to keep their seniority. We have people who are two or three years away from retiring and now they’re questioning, when this authority is created and they’re merged into it, are they going to be able to roll their pensions forward, will they be able to roll forward their sick days. This is a great deal of experience and a lot of people who are committed to our community.

We have had this issue for a long time. Over a decade ago they looked at this health authority, they looked at the cost of taking in the pensions, they looked at that and the government at that time said no, we can’t afford it. But this issue is back on the table; it’s not a new issue. We need to give comfort to those staff of the Hay River Health Authority that their seniority and experience will be respected in this new process and how it will roll out, how things will be changed, how the new health authority will affect them.

Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister of Health later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question about the remand, and it used to be in Hay River and Hay River has always been a minimum security, so I’m not sure, has there been a change in policy? Has there been a change in the facility? Has their requirement for infrastructure for that facility to have remand in Hay River, to get that back in the community, get back to that in the South Slave to relieve some of that pressure in Yellowknife? Thank you.

My next question is to deal with remand and dealing with inmates, our accused people of the public, and they’re holding in facilities and the Minister just indicated that it’s busy in Yellowknife.

Why do we not have remand in Hay River? Why are we not taking some of that court pressure off in Yellowknife in the Hay River area for South Slave residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

With the deputy judge stepping away from Hay River, was that on choice or was it the department’s move, and what is the hiring policy? Are we hiring somebody to fill that position? Can the Minister give me some more information on that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.