Bill Braden

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for the Minister of Health and Social Services on the issue of the removal of the TTC facility for behaviourally disturbed youngsters to Hay River. Madam Speaker, as my colleagues have already indicated and we’ve done so over the last few days here, the increasing information and substantiation that we are getting for the consequences that there will be for the children, for their families and for a wider range of services and frontline social agencies here in the city. There are at least four or five that have been brought to my...

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. During the First and Second World Wars a group of very dedicated American field service people volunteered as ambulance brigades overseas. At the end of the Second World War, they decided that the cause of peace and world harmony would be very well served if they paid attention to the families of the young people that they met while in Europe and created exchanges for them with their own families in America.

Shortly after the Second World War, I think 10 countries participated in an international exchange organization that has now grown to encompass, I believe, 54...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A lot of ink and time has been devoted to the issue here. It was, I think, a very useful and decisive move that the pipeline group, lead by Imperial Oil, took the decision to declare not a halt, but a major slow down to all their work, and the message in that was that it signalled that they did not have the confidence to proceed at the same rapid pace as they have had related to political and regulatory problems.

It seems that in the month or five weeks since they took that move, a lot has happened. Indeed, it focussed our minds. We got Ottawa, as the Premier said, to...

Madam Speaker, the first principle, huge principle, of this Assembly, not just the Department of Health and Social Services or any department, all of our attention should be focussed on people first. In this particular situation, Madam Speaker, I am not convinced that we are going to be honouring this principle. Will the Minister rescind this decision until a business plan is placed before us and the people of this community to prove that indeed we are going to be making this move and still honour the principles and the mandate that we have to supply this service? Will the Minister back off...

Madam Speaker, in relation to the comments about the ability of Hay River to provide the services, I am getting some very strong messages, very solid information, that indicates there would be a real ripple effect, not only for the Territorial Treatment Centre, but a number of other related services in my community in Yellowknife. So I want to ask the Minister again to justify why this decision has been made. According to media reports, the requests aren’t before this House yet, but some $3 million will be sought to pay for these changes. Why are we being asked to accept this proposal now...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. In the last few days the issue of the government’s decision to move the Territorial Treatment Centre from Yellowknife has captured a lot of attention and certainly a lot of it is centred on Members of this Assembly and where we’re going with this very sudden decision by the government to relocate something that has a very significant part of this community’s and this region’s service to children with severe behavioural disabilities.

Madam Speaker, on Friday I was comforted to hear the Minister of Health and Social Services tell us in relation to a discussion about...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to stand and speak in support of this bill, and very sincerely in support of this bill. Over my past experience as an MLA, the need for this kind of legislation has been brought to my attention in at least a couple of situations. Some of them, Madam Speaker, have been very painful or protracted situations that families have felt because family members have been incapacitated through illness or injury. The existence of this kind of legislation may have, and in these cases would very likely have, resulted in a much less painful and difficult situation for...

Madam Speaker, one of the things I will be looking for to test the Minister’s rationale and his explanation can be found in a policy document, Health and Social Services establishment policy, which was last revised in May of 1999. This policy lists seven principles, Madam Speaker, the seventh of which says, “All activities of the health and social services system should support an approach that places the needs of people first.” Will the Minister be able to bring us a rationale that is going to support this principle, this people-first principle? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for the Minister of Health and Social Services on the issue of the announced transfer and the decision to move the TTC, the treatment centre for behaviourally disabled youngsters, from Yellowknife to Hay River. The Minister said on Friday, in relation to another issue, that it makes sense to have the services as close to the people as possible. At the risk of taking his message or his intent out of context, I really do believe that in this case there is a very strong similarity. Madam Speaker, 75 percent of the young residents...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Ministers’ statements 1-15(4), 3-15(4), 4-15(4) and 5-15(4) be moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration. Thank you, Madam Speaker.