Julie Green

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for the comment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NTHSSA has a MOU with the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority to provide physician services. And that MOU is now under review to determine what the best way forward is. So it's unclear to me that not having this MOU or not having some kind of formal arrangement would serve Hay River any better than it's being served now.

In terms of bringing the Hay River authority into the NTHSSA, that was last looked at seriously in 2015. A lot has changed since then, but there hasn't been any additional work done on the cost of bringing the health authority...

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we budget for the full complement of doctors because if we are not spending them on resident doctors then we're spending them on locums, or we're spending it the money on overtime for resident doctors or callbacks and those kind of employment situations. So not having doctors doesn't save us money. Thank you.

Yes, thank you. I expect it to be signed this summer.

Yes, thank you. We haven't considered doing that because it would mean that fewer people would qualify for the program or have fewer hours. So we set a number of clients that we would focus in each focus on in each community, and that's what informed the funding pot for this year and the carryover for next year.

Yes, thank you. For the last fiscal year, the deficit was $33.7 million for a total of $189.7 million. So we don't have a firm figure for this year. But given the pattern of the last few years, I'm anticipating it'll be in the same ballpark.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I would say that if there are youth who have questions in this line, they could start with the child and youth care counsellor in their school to get some direction about what's available to them, or failing that, a social worker that is available to them through Yellowknife Health and Social Services or through the regional health and social services authority. So I'm not sure that putting a whole bunch of stuff online is going to make a lot of clarity. I think it may result in more result in more questions. And I think that the social workers and...

We're going to look that up. But the number I remember off the top of my head is $8.5 million.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, as I mentioned earlier, there is a review of medical travel ongoing now, and the per diems are one of the areas that will be reexamined. In terms of bringing additional children to with the family when they are coming in for the birth of a child, I would recommend that the family contact child and family services and explore a voluntary services agreement to pay for the cost of the additional children coming in to Yellowknife. I realize that the Member is now going to say that's not culturally safe and people don't want anything to do with child...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the questions. There has not been a specific quality review of locums versus resident doctors. I'd like to say that they all have to obtain the same kind of licensing. So locums are not second best to resident doctors; they have the same qualifications. We have recently, as you may know, embarked on primary healthcare reform which has healthcare delivered in teams. And one of the reasons for this reform is to provide continuity of care to residents. So while you may not be seeing the same doctor each time, you may be familiar with other...