David Ramsay

Do these CHRs at the community level have any training to look at the safe installation of car seats for children?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7, oral questions.

Unanimous consent granted.

Mr. Speaker, I can probably think of a number of things in the past year where the department has wasted $30,000 at the drop of a hat. I’ve discussed some of those issues with the Minister previously. What I’d like to get a better understanding of is, if we leave this up to the department…. We all know how slow government moves. The program might not ever happen. This is something that can happen, and it can have positive results for parents across the territory.

I want to ask the Minister — this has been in place for a year: why haven’t they funded a program like this to ensure the safe...

Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. It gets back to my Member’s statement, where I was speaking of children and children being our greatest resource.

We need to ensure, as a government, that we give parents the tools that are necessary to select and install car seats properly. As I mentioned in my statement, the number one cause of death among children in this country is car accidents. The safety of our children in this territory should be the priority of the government.

I would like to begin by asking the Minister: why is there not one site in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s one thing to be handing out car seats to people; it’s another thing to make sure that they’re installed properly and functioning properly and that the children are being transported in a safe fashion.

I don’t think the Minister answered, and I’ll ask it again. Have the CHRs themselves received training in the safe installation of car seats for children in the Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues, for your indulgence this afternoon. I just had a couple of other questions I need to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services.

I know she spoke earlier of the CHRs providing this necessary service at the community level. I want to ask the Minister what level of training and expertise the CHRs have in inspecting the installation of car seats for children. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, by the time the department’s done with this in house thing, I’m sure it’s going to be more than $30,000, and that’s the issue that I take.

Yes, I’d like to see it done. I think they can do it with $30,000; I don’t think the department can do it with $30,000. Once they spend a year studying it and they hire two staff to look at it, it’s going to be much more than $30,000.

The big difference with this is that these people who are trained are going to go back into the communities. I’m wondering how the Minister can say that her in house solution is going to train people to go back out...

Mr. Speaker, if it’s such a priority of the Minister’s department, I’m wondering why they keep putting off the funding to get the training. It’s not just in Yellowknife. The training would take place in Yellowknife and Inuvik with community based individuals so they could go back to the community and spread that knowledge to communities across the Northwest Territories. Trainers are hard to find, and that’s been identified. They have a trainer who’s set and ready to go to provide these courses: two in Yellowknife and one in Inuvik.

I’d like to ask the Minister if she will assure this House and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since last November when my son was born, my wife and I have had to install, take out and reinstall car seats to safely transport our son. Like other parents, we read the instructions and do the best we can to install the car seat. Currently in the Northwest Territories there is nowhere a parent can go to have a car seat inspected to see if it has been recalled or properly installed.

This is a concern, because car crashes are the number one cause of death for children from birth to 14 years. In a recent report submitted to the federal Health Minister, Tony Clement, Dr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, am going to support the bill. I want to thank Ms. Bisaro for bringing it forward and Ms. Trudel, who through her hard work and determination has pushed this thing forward.

It’s legislation that is commonplace in other jurisdictions across this country. It’s something that I think the Northwest Territories, in passing legislation like this, will be getting with the times.

I feel that far too much food is wasted. As my colleague Mr. Bromley alluded to, it costs a tremendous amount of money to ship food to the Northwest Territories in the first place, and what food...