David Ramsay

Maybe if the Minister could, I’m just having trouble understanding which of those two facilities is going to be considered the regional health care centre in the South Slave. Is it going to be Fort Smith or is it going to be Hay River?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to weigh in, I guess, on the fact that the Stanton Master Development Plan is not included in the capital plan again this year, to my great disappointment. That was an item that appeared in the capital plan for a number of years running. It was taken out for whatever reason that was given at the time. I think it was to study things a little bit further, analyze this or look at that. Some excuse was given why that was taken out. The bottom line is that decisions are being made on a day-to-day basis, operational decisions at that hospital, which is the...

Mr. Speaker, much of the deficit at Stanton and across the various health authorities relates back to poor billing practices and an inability for the government to collect on accounts receivable. I’d like to ask the Minister if she could provide the House with current numbers on accounts receivable or for Stanton Territorial Health Authority and the system in its entirety. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. It gets back to my Member’s statement from earlier today and one I made last week pertaining to deficits being run up at the various health authorities across the Northwest Territories.

In the past three years, the Minister said she has been in her position as Minister of Health and Social Services and brought in new management teams and a new DM. She has also brought in deficit-fighting plans that never seem to see the light of day and aren’t being implemented whatsoever. I would like to ask the...

I want to relate this back to us spending millions and millions of capital dollars. Is it the department’s intention, if we are going to build up these facilities in close proximity to each other, are we going to have a resident doctor or doctors in Fort Smith and Hay River? Is that the intended purposes here? If that’s not the case, then maybe we need to rethink some things here.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just getting back to the discussion we had earlier on whether or not either one of the Fort Smith or Hay River centres is going to be deemed to be the regional centre. It was a bit confusing for me. Are there not requirements like staffing and programming levels in a community that would suggest you spend $28 million there? If that is the case, maybe the Minister has stats or figures on what the staffing level is at the facility in Hay River and the one at Fort Smith.

I’m just wondering -- I was listening to the Minister’s response -- what region does she consider Fort Smith to be in. If they’re building up or maintaining the same level of service as the facility in Hay River, they’re in the same region the last time I looked at a map. They’re pretty close together. About an hour and a half to two hours on the highway. Is the intention of the facility in Fort Smith to service any communities in northern Alberta? What are we doing there?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that. I guess I haven’t been here as long as I have been, seven years. I’m very sceptical when it comes to any Minister of Health and Social Services standing up in this House saying that anything is going to happen. I’ve heard it from former Ministers, I’ve heard it from this Minister. The bottom line, Mr. Speaker, is nothing has happened and I know the Minister has embarked on this Foundation for Change and I wish her well in that and I hope that does answer some questions, but I believe wholeheartedly that it’s a system-wide fix that we need...

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure where the Minister is getting that information. That is not the same information that was provided to Regular Members. Perhaps she is doing some creative subtraction when she is trying to arrive at that number. Where exactly is she getting those numbers that she is providing the House with? Thank you.

In an effort to kind of clear things up, the Premier was the former Finance Minister in the last government and much has been made of the deal in ‘07 and the new one that is before us, the AIP. Can the Premier just elaborate a little bit on why the deal in 2007 was not signed and was not ratified? Thank you.