David Ramsay

Did the Department of Human Resources give any advice or recommendations to Cabinet prior to Cabinet making the staffing reductions? Mr. Chairman, I think that’s the crux of my question.

Mr. Speaker, I want to continue in my line of questioning for the Minister of Health and Social Services. It gets back to the $11.5 million accrued deficit that is currently at play at Stanton Territorial Hospital. I find it very disturbing to hear the Minister’s comments that FMBS has been stepping in to assume responsibility for paying the payroll at Stanton.

Mr. Speaker, this $11.5 million doesn’t accrue overnight. It builds up over years. I’m wondering: what has the Minister done and what has the government done to address the deficit at Stanton Territorial Hospital?

If the department is responsible for the legislation and the policies and procedures that govern Human Resources, you know, as a corporate entity, the GNWT, then it would just make sense to me that, you know, whether it’s a stamp of approval or not, the proposed staffing reductions see the experts at Human Resources to make sure they pass some kind of test, whether they pass the procedures and policies that are in place — or the government just rushes out and does what they want.

Again, I think what’s happening, Mr. Chairman, is I’m getting a picture that this reduction exercise wasn’t well...

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank the Minister for letting everybody know that I attended that committee briefing. Thank you.

I also wanted to ask the Minister — and she mentioned it. Between a year and a half and two years ago, when it appeared through a supplementary appropriation, and today, what is causing the cost overruns and the accrued deficit in our health authorities? The Minister should know what is causing that, and we should be able to address it, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Chairman, some of the stories that Members have heard — and, again, we waited three weeks to actually get any information from the government in terms of the positions that were being impacted. I'm just wondering how that could happen. How could it take three weeks for the government to let Members know which positions were being impacted?

Some of the stories that Members have heard from constituents, where they're put into a situation where it's every man for himself or every woman for herself. There are three positions left in a shop and there are four people there, so somebody…. It's...

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, when I talked of the accrued deficit that’s building up at Stanton Territorial Hospital. It’s nearing 11 and a half million dollars. I mentioned earlier that it was just two and a half years ago that Members of this House approved millions of dollars to help address the deficit situation at Stanton through supplementary appropriation.

I’d like to ask the Minister, first of all, what is the government’s plan to address the 11 and a half million dollar...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In relation to the issues in the North Slave campgrounds, I wanted to ask a final question on the reservation system and how it is that the public has to pay to reserve a campsite. I can understand that they pay and they get that offset against their actual camping fees, but from what I see and from what I hear from my constituents, somebody is taking that money, and it’s not going in to offset the camping fees. So I think that’s a cost the department should be incurring.

I’d like to ask the Minister: is there any appetite to phase that type of reservation system out so...

I don’t know if the territorial election had much to do with the operational requirements inside a department — that should be a day-to-day operational thing. And they should be covered off by somebody whether there are changes to personnel or not. What I’d like to ask the Minister is: what is the game plan going forward in terms of consulting the campers in the North Slave region? Has he got a plan for this summer?

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to use my Member's statement today to discuss recent events and decisions made in regard to park operations here in the North Slave region.

Three weeks before the parks and campgrounds were set to open on May 15,, it appeared that ITI was going to implement a new set of rules for seasonal campsites. The allotment was going to change at both Prelude Lake and Reid Lake. The available duration was set to change, as was the pricing.

All of these proposed changes were developed in isolation by ITI. There was no public consultation. There was no consultation with Regular Members...

Mr. Speaker, I want to applaud my colleagues for standing up here today and discussing the principles of this appropriation bill that’s before us. At second reading, I think it’s important that we do that. It’s important that we let the government once again know what our feelings are on the proposed appropriation bill.

Mr. Speaker, I’ve said it before, and I’m going to say a few things here again today that Members have heard me say: this is not our plan. It’s not our budget.

If I can, we’ll go back to just after the election in October when 19 Members recently elected got together to develop a...