Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Wednesday, October 25th, 2006, I will move that Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don’t think it’s accurate to say that as a government we’ve left the Sahtu out to dry. In fact, over the last few years this government has substantially invested in the Sahtu and its people. For example, with the health board, with the education board, human resources centre established there and hopefully, in fact, within a year a new office space to help that situation out. So we’ve invested in there and are doing the best we can with the available resources. Within FMBS itself, as I stated, we don’t have the available dollars to expand beyond the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not a trained doctor and I don't understand that profession well enough, and I'm sure the Member across will be in the same category. I'm willing to sit down, work with the Member on this and go and do some historical data, go through the process that we've used to date. At this point that's what I will commit to, is to sit down with the Member, review this file. But beyond that, again, we're relying on the professional expertise of the caretakers out there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, throughout Canada, the issue of wait times has been important; in fact, to the level where it's being addressed nationally through the federal government and provinces and territories to deal with that issue of wait times within the field of health and social services. In this particular case, we have worked with other jurisdictions, other doctors, and many referrals to try and come up with a solution here. Unfortunately, we haven't been able and we're waiting for the next opportunity. Again, if the services are available within our jurisdiction, that's...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe the plans are almost completed as we go through this process, but, as I stated earlier, I need to meet with the departments and get some indication as to where they are with the work. At that point, we would be prepared to sit down with Members. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m not aware of any changes to the premiums, but I will look into that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. WCB is directly involved with this process. They go through their own process of taking this into account. In fact, the majority of information provided to us is as a result of WCB’s work they provided to us because they recognize the act in place and follow that process through. So they have developed it. They have taken it into account and put it into their doubtful accounts, but because of our act, the way it’s written, have provided us with that information. In a sense, it’s a final clearance. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in checking into this and having the department contact the administration for the public service health care plan, we've not come up with any satisfactory responses in that area. We have notified them that we are not happy with the changes that were made and would prefer to have it as it was, and at this time we've been informed they're not willing to go back to it. It references the drug identification numbers, I believe, as a way of how they work it through their programs and have payments put out and established, and it's on that basis what we're...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, presently the way the Financial Administration Act is worded, it does identify that all write-offs have to flow through this process. It is something that we’ve recognized as an issue. In the re-workings of coming forward with a new FAA, that will be taken into account. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of working in a consensus-style government, yes, we are prepared. I believe we can have something to committee probably within the next month. Thank you.