Kieron Testart

Thank you, much. Yeah, I think we just go back to, like it's much like the medical travel discussion we've had. Like, there's an issue here we need to solve because this is just going to end up costing the taxpayer more and more as time goes on, not less and less. And there's an additional cost to staff morale and productivity within the health care system that needs to be looked at as well. And I know the health Minister is here listening, finance Minister's here. I am confident we are going to move forward as an Assembly on this and look at health care sustainability as we move into budgets...

Okay, now I'm confused. So the Travel support program is $6 million, then. Okay, I see a nodding of heads. Yeah, nothing further. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, luckily, the night is always darkest before the dawn. So I'm hoping that we can, you know, move forward from tough times into brighter ones. But I think maybe the Minister can do the public a service as well because I think during the evac circumstances, there was a lot of discussion around like depleting the operational surplus which left the government broke, for lack of a better word, and so can we draw a distinction between the supplementary reserve and the operational surplus and why they are relevant to one another but not intrinsically linked or the same...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that the Minister of Health and Social Services' Minister's statement, Health Human Resources Recruitment and Retention, be referred to Committee of the Whole for consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One is too many. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that that's the sentiment I'm hearing from health professionals in my riding. And what they're looking for is accurate numbers and cost analysis. So in their words, we have been successful and we're seeing how we can compare if we've been successful in recruiting and training nurses. And these questions are not kind of to yeah, I guess we could put a spin on it and say, like, we're excoriating the department for relying on agency nurses and privatizing our health care system, which is probably more exciting for question period than it is for...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So how much have we paid out total of the Travel support program, not the employment disruption fund but the Travel support program, how much have we paid out to date? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, is the government compliant with its own Fiscal Responsibility Policy after sorry.

Okay, is the GNWT currently compliant with its own Fiscal Responsibility Policy after the impact of these supplementary appropriations given that the reserve is in significant deficit? Thank you.

Thank you. The media stands corrected because I think there's a news well, there was a news article recently of $5.2 million. That's what the public is and my constituents have seen and have brought it forward. So a $5.2 million expenditure is barely equivalent to 42 nursing positions at staff wages. So how many agency nurses are we getting from $5.5 million? Thank you.

Nothing further. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is this kind of a onetime funding program, or is this something we can make further application to or expand upon given our I know we're overpoliced per capita but it still seems like well, the residents that I speak to still have public safety concerns, significant ones. So this is an additional way to bolster our police services contract without expending our limited resources. It would be preferable to just paying more money. So is there more opportunity to expand this funding source so we can further expand our range of or our police presence in the community...