Yellowknife (June 18/03) - There is renewed hope that an agreement can be reached in the contract dispute between physician specialists and the government.

"There's a great optimism on our part and an increased willingness on the part of the government to negotiate," said Dr. Ken Seethram, NWT Medical Association president.

On Friday, the government agreed to examine a new proposal submitted by specialists in the hope of ending the stalemate. Previously, the government had said it was not willing to budge from its last offer.

"It's a good sign," said Range Lake MLA Sandy Lee. "After all, if you don't talk, there's no way to reach an agreement."

Lee said it was particularly important for the government to resume negotiations because its contingency plan for a strike is "not sustainable."

"Right now, the plan calls for care to be re-evaluated every two weeks and you can't manage a medical system on a week to week basis," said Lee.

Talks broke off after the specialists passed on the government's offer to seek binding arbitration.

The situation became more contentious when Seethram wrote a letter to the Alberta Medical Association urging potential replacement specialists to boycott the territory in the event of a strike.

NWT Health Minister Michael Miltenberger said the letter "put the Medical Association in a very bad light" but Seethram defended the action.

"I think that having a system that is chronically understaffed is worse for patients (than the consequences of the letter)," said Seethram.

Twelve of the territories' 15 specialists are set to resign if they don't have a new contract by July first.

They are asking for a 57 per cent raise over two years while the government countered with an offer of 27 per cent.