Premier Dennis Fentie hopes to renew a multimillion-dollar deal with the federal government to top up funding for the Yukon's health budget when Canada's provincial, territorial and federal finance ministers meet in Whitehorse Dec. 17 and 18.

Fentie, who is also Finance minister, said the territorial health transfer agreement, signed between Ottawa and the three territories, is necessary to give northerners "comparable levels of services for comparable levels of taxation.”

In 2005, the federal government committed a total of $150 million over five years to be shared among the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut and next year that commitment expires.

"We would certainly accept a renewal of the existing fund but nothing precludes the federal government from coming up with another arrangement,” Fentie told the Star.

From the $150 million, the Yukon's share was $30 million, somewhat less than its sister territories due to those regions' transportation challenges.

Unlike the Yukon, many communities in the N.W.T. are not connected by road and an emergency trip there or in Nunavut's Arctic archipelago, usually means an expensive medevac.

While comprising less than three per cent of Yukon's $229-million health budget for this fiscal year, Fentie called the $6 million-a-year funding crucial to defray the cost of shuttling patients from outlying communities to Whitehorse or South of 60.

"What it does is cut down the cost of travel, allowing us to invest our fiscal resources into other areas,” said Fentie.