Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, given that the NWT government has hired the Saskatchewan health care expert, and now I call him the health care czar, to reengineer the NWT health system and certainly given the fact that the Minister has shared with Members confidentially, of course, Mr. Speaker, the mandate of the health care czar, and the only person who can make it public is the Minister, would the Minister be willing to table that mandate letter of the public administrator before the House so Northerners can find out what's actually being directed here and if she can't table it, can she explain why transparency isn't the best approach for Northerners? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently, the -- I have the information before me, and I have -- I'm just in the process of reviewing what will be shared with the Members, and at that time I will table that in the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll take whatever we can get and certainly table it before the House would be good for everyone. Knowing that -- also, Mr. Speaker, knowing this information about what the health care czar is doing and knowing that the NWT health and social services budget isn't approved until the Assembly's budget has been approved and is long gone and the House is closed up, Mr. Speaker, for clarity would the Minister be willing to table NTHSSA's draft budget publicly before we review the department of health so we know what we're actually approving, not just the dollar amount, and we have trust and faith that new programs are being offered or we have clarity where reductions and cuts are being expected? Thank you.
Minister of Health and Social Services. It was a fine line; I was almost sending it back to the bull pen. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as NTHSSA, you know, when we look at a lot of our different departments within our ministries, NTHSSA is arm's length and, therefore, the public administrator will be working with the NTHSSA with whatever the budget is for the next coming year. And then when we do have that, that's when that will be tabled. That is the process, and you know, I know that this year it seems like there's a different approach in the process and with part of the work that we've been trying to do within, you know, making sure that we're staying within our limits and spending within our limits is looking at the NTHSSA's policy on the change that they no longer -- the deficit budgeting that went on for many, many years, and so this is what's being worked on, and it is every year tabled in the House once they have their budget. So I will follow the process that we have and, again, I will -- when I do have the information, I said it last week, I will share that with Regular Members. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Mr. Speaker, when we think of the whole budget -- and I'm not getting into the details of the budget specifically that hasn't been tabled -- it's something in the range of $700 million. We're being asked to take a lot of it at good faith, in other words. That's a lot of millions, Mr. Speaker.
So, Mr. Speaker, the Minister says the process. Well, we are in charge of the process. She is in charge of the process. So in other words, the people that can change the process are us. Mr. Speaker, the question really is designed around how can MLAs be informed as to what's actually happening behind the scenes before it's too late? Because I'm being told by NGOs that they're being told that their budgets are being cut, and the only way we can talk about it is when that budget's tabled which is sometime long after this sitting. So how can we work better together when that's all we hear we're not working together? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said, I will -- when I have the NTHSSA's budget, I will have that conversation with the Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
