David Ramsay

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.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to speak about health care costs and the large deficits that are occurring across the various health authorities in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, I know full well that Stanton provides service and backup to other authorities. It only stands to reason that the deficit there would be the largest.

Mr. Speaker, since 2007, we have approved appropriations in this House earmarked for the deficit at Stanton to the tune of $18 million. The deficit at Stanton for ‘09-10 alone is $7 million. Mr. Speaker, at the end of this current fiscal year, in March of...

I guess that’s my point, is that if you are building up the health care infrastructure in communities like Fort Smith and Hay River, we had better have the horsepower or the manpower to back up the programs and services that residents in those communities are going to be deserving. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to spend $28 million on a facility that you can’t staff and you can’t have programs in. That’s my fear. If the Minister’s confident that spending this money on the facility in Fort Smith is the right thing to do, to me it’s still, I’m not 100 percent sold on this. They’re too close to...

That’s nice and that’s good to hear, but I’m just again trying to understand. Okay, so currently how many registered nurses and resident doctors are there in Fort Smith and in Hay River? Does the Minister have that information?

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. I’ll try to stay away from numbers, but obviously when you’re looking at transferring, say, hundreds of jobs to the Northwest Territories, you’re going to have to negotiate a number. Obviously our negotiators aren’t going to be working with the federal government on some numbers that are woefully inadequate. I’d like to ask the Premier, on the ‘A’ Base, and that’s the funding for programs, how was the proposed number substantiated in the AIP?