Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That was three questions. I wonder if I could just get my fourth one in.

Thanks for the comments from the Minister. Obviously, most of those don’t deal with dementia, but the last category is certainly the one we’re focusing on here today. The Territorial Admissions Committee makes decisions about placement of older adults – and I have no doubt that’s what the Minister was referring to there – and they make decisions to ensure they get placed where there is proper care. However, if there are facilities that are not being used, they’re in danger of making poor decisions. In fact, just such a situation exists in Fort Smith, where we have spent $6 million to open a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister, I think, is correct, according to the information I have. Stanton is the highest at 20 percent, but there are others that are high, as well, and the trend of all of them is to go up from five to 20 times the percentages over the last four years.

I’d still like clarity on what the lines of authority are for dealing with this. Is it that the Minister has no authority or thinks he has no authority? What is he doing to exert his responsibility, as the Minister, to get training programs in place that result in the sorts of progress that we want to see?

Thank you. Actually, the hospital is relatively low compared to those authorities that don’t have hospitals, but the Department of Health may not exercise individual operational control of the health authority, but perhaps they do. However, ultimately we must hold the Minister responsible for their funding and oversight. So, obviously, the substantial failures here in reducing claims experience have a negative consequence of large penalties that the GNWT must pay.

Can the Minister confirm that helping the authorities control these costs is not only in the interest of but ultimately the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Linnea Stephenson today, a Page from Weledeh.

I’d also like to recognize the work of all of our Pages and express my thanks to them. Linnea I’m sure can be found at the Snow Show at the Yellowknife Ski Club this Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In June I received a response to my written and other questions to the Ministers responsible for the WSCC and Human Resources. They revealed the extent of penalties we pay for failed safety programs and claims payments, but they also reveal core management issues that need to be addressed.

In July we paid over $500,000 in penalties for exceptional claims and safety management practices last year, with another large penalty expected this year. Looking at the departmental safety and claims records over the past four years, improvements in positive trends are evident for...

I do realize the current situation and how that works and why we’re always behind. I guess I would just encourage the Minister to – obviously prevention would be much better – stay on top of any opportunities there.

My second question is, I know it’s a learning path on how to deal with these carcasses in an effective way. People, I think, have been amazed at the degree of this infection, this epidemic, and how it’s spread over quite a large area. Although, I guess, it was pretty defined in some areas as well. But, obviously, 50 percent of the herd; that says something.

In terms of the treatment...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for that commitment. We’ve refused programs to help feed our children in schools. We’ve refused milk subsidies and so on. We really need to get going. This is serious and has direct impacts on our children and our people. People are hungry. What will the Minister do in the short term? People are starving right now, or at least undernourished and so on, according to the reports. What will he do right away?

Thanks for the comments from the Minister. I would appreciate learning if the proportion of fires that we are fighting is changing over time. I imagine that varies a little bit with how many there are, absolutely, but I would be interested in that information if possible. That’s all I had. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for those remarks. Unfortunately, this Assembly is becoming known as one that studies problems rather than deals with them. I really hope that the Minister will take the lead in working with his colleagues in addressing the situation and committing… First of all, will he commit to finding out the extent of the problem and why our food banks are failing, and people do not have food on their table despite all the programs mentioned.