Bob Bromley

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to follow up a little bit on active positions versus inactive positions and how that might affect active positions. It’s my understanding that departments can shift positions from inactive to active status, unfunded inactive to active and funded and vice versa.

Can the Minister tell me, has that been done with any of the positions listed on this page for this fiscal year, and is there a plan to do that at all during the fiscal year that’s not described here? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks for that update and I’ll look forward to approving those dollars when we get to Justice.

We’ve always heard how this has to be an integrated program between Health and Social Services and Justice, so I would hope and assume that both Ministers will be at that briefing on the 24th. That’s departing from the budget here. I’ll just throw that out as a comment. Thank you. That’s all I have, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for that explanation. Just in terms of our work with the authorities to come up with a new line of authority and clarity and continuity in the delivery of our health systems across the NWT, where are we at in that? I know we’ve talked about that for many years. Is that something that the Minister has been talking to health authorities about and is there any kind of a time frame in front of us on how we might proceed there? Thank you.

The result is that those in transitional housing have to choose to be homeless and put themselves in very risky situations in order to get on the public housing list.

The Housing Corporation has a new program to assist with rental payments, which is great, but I was surprised to learn that clients that pay $1,400 per month to live in the YWCA’s rental units are not eligible. It is hardly surprising that people end up leaving the territory.

Again, why is the Housing Corporation setting up barriers to people who are trying to transition to a better life?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to follow up a little bit on the mental health and addictions, obviously a big priority for us and I know it’s a priority for the Minister. Specifically with respect to the wellness court efforts, I think I’ve said before that I think this is possibly the best single effort or opportunity we have to make progress in the mental health areas. So I’m wondering if the Minister can point out what expenditures here, what dollars here are going towards ensuring the mental health services are there for the mental health court time,

I might point out that we’ve been...

Thanks to the Minister for that additional information. We’ve heard from departmental staff that 85 percent of children under the age of five have cavities in five teeth, very serious dental issues. I got the sense that the Minister is happy to put his additional efforts into planning and that that’s just a situation we have to live with.

Is that the position of the Minister, that he’s willing to accept that statistic and go with the resources we have and hope that we can get resources in the future? Eighty-five percent of Aboriginal children under the age of five. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. That’s my understanding too. The clients that are accepted into transitional housing are generally not well off financially. They may have even been homeless in the recent past.

Given that situation, where does the Minister think that these people are going to transition to after just a few months? Mahsi.

To me, again, that was the biggest recommendation that came out of all the work on this in the 16th Assembly, so I’m surprised that it’s not higher on the agenda here, because I don’t think there’s much cost to that but the benefits are potentially substantial. I appreciate the Minister committing himself to look into it and I hope that it gets some action as well as looking into it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d like to speak just briefly to population health and particularly oral health. I understand that there’s $366,000, three positions with GNWT focused on that and I appreciate that. Is the dental surgery facility still operational in Hay River? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize a couple of Weledeh constituents, Chief Ernest Betsina and Mary Rose Sundberg. I’d also like to recognize and thank all of the folks that are working on the language groups. That’s very important work that they’re doing and I very much appreciate that. Mahsi.