Bill Braden

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am going to briefly set the context of our committee, Madam Chair. Before I get into that, I would like to recognize in the gallery today our Chief Electoral Officer, Mr. Glen McLean.

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Madam Chair, the Rules and Procedures committee accepted on behalf of the Legislative Assembly, the report of the Chief Electoral Officer earlier last year. Accordingly, we took the report to the public for a response. Two public hearings were held and the views of Members were sought into four recommendations that were put forward. There were some very constructive ones on...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I do want to express my appreciation and support and the justification that my colleagues have given for backing this on behalf of injured workers in their constituencies who they know of. Mr. Hawkins indicated that our phones are indeed ready to be answered. I must admit I am feeling a little shy, Mr. Speaker, because I don’t have boxes and boxes of files that I will be able to put at the disposal of the Auditor General, because so many of those workers over the years have had to leave the NWT and are living in other parts of Canada because they simply...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS the Ministers responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut appointed a Workers' Compensation Board Legislative Review Panel in 2001 to consult with stakeholders and make recommendations to the Ministers for changes to the acts;

AND WHEREAS the panel, upon completion of its work, prepared a report in December 2001 entitled "Act Now" which expressed concern that the workers' compensation system has become adversarial and recommended, based on input from both workers and employers, that an independent review of WCB...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In this area and in a couple of other programs in pages yet to come I see a very welcome expenditure here for homelessness and people encountering potentially emergency situations and we are putting assets at the disposal of communities large and small. By my math, there is somewhere in the neighbourhood of $376,000 spread amongst a couple of different departments. Mr. Chairman, while I see this, as I said, as a very welcome response and recognition to a situation out there on our streets, I’m wondering if this is potentially the beginning of creating another realm in...

Mr. Speaker, a few minutes ago…oh, yes. I believe we still have some people in the gallery today. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize a constituent, a tireless volunteer and a candidate for royalty in the upcoming Caribou Carnival, Ms. Mildred Wilke. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Further on that page, Madam Chair, were increases for compensation after we re-evaluated nursing and health care profession jobs to the tune of about $1.6 million. I’m wondering if this process has essentially now been concluded, Mr. Chairman, and are there any other residuals we might anticipate as a result of this re-evaluation. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Minister also agreed that we’ve entered into a new agreement now with the Capital Health Authority at a 4.8 percent rate increase. What kind of term is there on this agreement, Madam Chair?

Thank you. Yes. Well, let’s see if we can…okay. Madam Chair, we spent, according to the supplementary here, about 33 percent more than forecast with the Capital Health Authority of Alberta due to increased utilization and an increase in rates. This is a considerable jump from forecast. The information says that the approved budget was $12 million, the total projected costs for this year are $16 million, so we have a shortfall of $4 million. I’m wondering if the Minister could give a bit of detail on the increased utilization, as well as the jump in rates. Thank you very much.

Sorry, Madam Chair. I was following the pages here and didn’t quite get the break. I wanted to see if I could inquire into the additional costs for provision of hospital services from Alberta. This would be on page 10, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to confirm that this request is essentially a response of overwhelming popularity to try and keep the winter road open for as long as we can. In other words, Mr. Chairman, this is not driven by an unusually long spell of bad weather when the road was closed, a lot of overflow or something that cuts into the already planned item, we are just extending it because people like the road connecting. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.