Glen Abernethy

That is going to have to be a decision of the future Assembly and the future government. What I do know is that, through the transition document, there have been some suggestions on how we roll forward or, rather, the future government rolls forward with their budgeting process. I anticipate that this will be an area of discussion. We are hoping to have the information necessary so that there can be an informed discussion in run-up to that budget process.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The intent of this study is to determine whether or not we have adequate resources in this area, including homecare workers, home support workers, homecare nurses, and other things to help support, not just seniors and people who are looking to age in place, but all people of the Northwest Territories who receive homecare services. It's not always seniors; there are many people that can receive those services. That is the intent: to give us an indication of where we are and whether we are adequately resourced to meet the needs of our residents.

Prior to the last election, the Seniors' Society did put out some information on the creation offer a seniors' advocate. The continuing care action plan or the "what we heard" document is more than just seniors, as I have indicated. It's special care homes; it's all these situations where somebody might have to live within an institution. There is no reference to an advocate in there, but once again, that is something that the next Assembly will have to discuss as they are reviewing the LP and trying to figure out how to move this initiative forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is currently a legislative gap for residential community care services in the Northwest Territories. That includes long-term care facilities that are run by not-for-profit organizations, supported living facilities, as well as group homes. It is more than just long-term care facilities that we are talking about now. The "What We Heard" document is what we heard from a wide range of stakeholders throughout the Northwest Territories.

The next step is to develop an LP. These are the dying days of this Legislative Assembly, so I have asked the department to put...

Canadian patent medicine prices are among the highest in the world, here in Canada. In fact, I think we're the third highest, behind Switzerland and the United States. That's not something I think Canadians should be super proud of. On August 9th, Health Canada did announce, as the Member said, amendments to the Patented Medicine Regulations. The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board is reviewing and examining the newly released amendments to the Patented Medicine Regulations and will identify any changes that may warrant an adjustment to its proposed guidelines framework and further considers...

The national Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare Report actually did include some recommendations as to what measures that the federal government should take with respect to a formulary. This advice, obviously, is going to be considered by the Government of Canada on how best to implement national pharmacare. If it does move ahead, and if there is a national formulary list, the NWT will have an option to maintain a regional supplementary formulary to address any of the specific needs that exist.

However, it is my understanding that, if we do have a secondary...

As the Member for Yellowknife Centre has already pointed out, we do have a significantly large action plan with 70 items, and our staff have been quite busy. As a result, we have not done that additional research on a child advocate at this point. However, I would like to note that I was a member of the committee that did a review of the implementation of child and family services in the 16th Assembly, and, at that time, I and my colleagues had an opportunity to go and meet with child advocates from other jurisdictions and learn about the roles that they provide. A child advocate tends to be...

When we came forward with Building Stronger Families, we were hoping to change from an apprehension-based system to a prevention-based system. Building Stronger Families is still the right way to go, but what we realized and what we heard from the Auditor General is we did not have enough feet on the street to make this a reality, and we were overburdening a number of our people, and, as a result, they were not doing the record-keeping that was necessary to ensure that we were monitoring its success and/or failures. We have increased the number of positions in the last budget by 21.

As I said...

I don't know who the next Minister of Health and Social Services will be, but I do know the work we are doing to support Liard and Nahanni Butte is incredibly important work and is consistent with the mandate of the Department of Health and Social Services, which is to provide care as close to home as possible and to make sure our residents are receiving access to the best care possible. I believe our work with Fort Nelson is consistent with that. I am optimistic and hopeful that the next Minister will continue to see the value that this relationship will bring, and that he or she will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The territorial authority has been working with the healthcare services in Fort Nelson to develop an agreement on how people from Fort Liard, as well as Nahanni Butte, will receive services in Fort Nelson.

Unfortunately, the MOU hasn't been completed at this time, but we are working on it. The agreement will define the process for how NWT residents are referred to health services in Fort Nelson and how they can actually be referred back to the health and social services system here in the Northwest Territories.

Senior staff from the authority in the Deh Cho region will...