Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, to my left is Ms. Janis Cooper, the legislative counsel for Justice; to my immediate right is the deputy minister of the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Chuck Parker; and further over is Ms. Gay Kennedy, director of policy, legislation and communications.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the whole issue of ranking of our nursing staff has come up a number of times over a number of years and involves the union, ourselves, the nursing fraternity, and we’re trying to address this. When the Government of the Northwest Territories went through a job evaluation process and ranked its employees, initially we had come to a conclusion that a nurse is a nurse is a nurse and they were all paid at one level. That was implemented and put in place. The nursing groups challenged that, appealed it. We then went through the process and accepted that we had...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to introduce Bill 7, Pharmacy Act. This bill reflects a significant number of differences from the existing Pharmacy Act to ensure the public receives quality pharmaceutical service and care, and to modernize the definition of the "practice of pharmacy."

Many stakeholders were involved in the development of this act, including the Pharmaceutical Association of the Northwest Territories, the NWT Medical Association, the Registered Nurses' Association of the NWT and Nunavut, the NWT Medical Director's Forum, and the regional health and social services...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to share news about the continued success of the training of community health representatives. Aurora College offers the Health Sciences Program which certifies new community health representatives and re-certifies existing community health representatives. The regional health and social services authorities provide financial support for this training.

During each training phase, the students interview retired community health representatives and capture the historical perspective of those who lead the way in health promotion. The students gain a great deal...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill amends the Income Tax Act to reflect and address proposed changes to the Income Tax Act (Canada) that would lower the income tax rate on large corporation dividends received by Canadians. The bill would lower the Northwest Territories income tax rate on those dividends. The bill would not come into force unless the proposed amendments to the Income Tax Act (Canada) come into force. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Frame Lake, that Bill 13, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 2006-2007, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am aware that, within the department and our hiring practices, we have tried to come up with some unique ideas or processes of coming up with nurses. Part of the problem is because there is such a large vacancy rate that occurred at one point, we had to come up with this idea. In fact, I believe before we, as we now term it "agency nurses," that was some of the practices that came in place with individuals. Of course, in a work environment, when you find that there is a large demand, there is also the other side of the equation that comes into play where they then...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the area of nurse pay or bonus systems, the government has, in the past, worked with the union and internally to come up with a system. It was put in place. It was there for a short period, trying to encourage the nurses to stay in the North. As well, part of the bonus was to reward them for their years of service. That worked for a little while, but we found as well that, in some cases, as we no sooner made the payment to some of the individuals, they left the Northwest Territories. So it didn’t quite work out how it was designed. We have tried...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we’ve been working with both departments looking at the previous work that was done and fine tuning the previous human resource survey that was done in that facility and updating it and be prepared to bring it to Members to have a look at that and then set up a procedure for moving forward. So I believe we can meet the commitment that was made by the previous Minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what we've done to date is I've just signed off a letter to the organizations, both parties, to urge them to get back to negotiations. From the side of delivery of services, we are prepared for those who are seeking support in the area of addictions help, that we would ensure that services are available to them whether in the territory or out of the territory. Thank you.