Bob Bromley

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the discussion that‘s just been had and I‘d like to just make a couple of comments and ask a question. First of all, I appreciate the deputy minister‘s recognition of the safety issue and his mention that really the best thing is to get people off the road, like, right away from that. There‘s no safe place to cross, Ms. Bisaro and the Minister are right, but there‘s also no safe place to walk on that highway and there are no options, so people have to and they are doing that. So it‘s a very unsafe situation. I know the deputy minister and Minister realize...

Thanks, Madam Chair, and thanks to the deputy minister for that. I’m wondering: is there an evaluation program in place for that and can the Minister commit to getting committee an update on that? I believe the deputy minister said it had been in place for five years. It seems due for a good review.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just one question on this page. I note a reduction of about 35 percent in facilities budget between the previous couple of years and this year. I’m just wondering if there’s a ready explanation for that decrease. Thank you.

Just to complete that, when can we expect that to be added in? Do we have a date on that? And, for that matter, do we have an amount on that yet?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to all my colleagues for their comments. I appreciate that the Minister is very active on this file. I won’t attempt to comment on this voluminous statement. I will look forward to studying that and getting on top of all those things. I speak very slowly, Mr. Speaker.

---Laughter

I do note the Minister is taking this very seriously. I guess the one point I would make is that this was brought to me by the staff. I don’t want to miss out on stressing the vulnerability that patients have to this violence and the need to recognize them in particular.

I think the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. WHEREAS all workers in the Northwest Territories deserve a safe workplace that is free from the threat of physical assault;

AND WHEREAS non-violent crisis intervention is not adequate or appropriate protection of staff and patients in the face of violent physical attack;

AND WHEREAS contracted security personnel and other staff at Stanton Territorial Hospital and territorial health care facilities are not trained to protect employees, patients, themselves or others from violent people;

AND WHEREAS staff at territorial health care facilities are currently at high risk of...

Those remarks don’t fit with any of my experience whatsoever.

Thank you to the Minister for his response. I’m sure he’s hearing from MLAs who have constituents with ideas to contribute.

Medical travel insurance for people travelling outside the Territories has been rightly suggested for NWT residents who travel. The issue of SFA, Student Financial Assistance, sponsoring students possibly needing such extra coverage, which could possibly include medical travel support for parents when appropriate, seems to me a special case that could be covered under a group insurance plan included in SFA for sponsored students.

As the Minister responsible for social...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Minister mentioned the transfer of the NGO Stabilization Fund being proposed. Is that relevant to the directorate, or perhaps I could have some advice on what page that would appear.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement today on the subject of medical travel for the parents of children who are attending school in southern Canada and diagnosed with serious illnesses. So, for the Minister of Health and Social Services, these youth obviously need a parent with them at this stressful time and normally would be escorted by a parent to their treatments if the child’s travel originated in the NWT. There’s a clear policy gap here. I understand that there’s a review of the medical escort policy underway.

Can the Minister tell me who is conducting...