Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we do have the ability to have during negotiations discussions with the federal government on NIHB and its coverage, and we are planning, we are going to be going into negotiations soon where we will certainly make some points about some specific things that are covered that confuse us a little, and we will certainly raise those issues. We don’t just mirror NIHB for Metis health benefits. We also mirror NIHB for extended health benefits. It we get into a position where we start changing the benefits that we provide to some people in the Northwest Territories...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Normally, because it was O and M dollars, it would lapse, but given that these dollars are going to be used for a technical or a project infrastructuretype thing, we’re looking to have those dollars rolled over into capital, and then we can roll them over into the year or to the next year so that we can continue to work with Alberta.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as I indicated, the way that the mains are presented are to line up with how we are required and needed to report for CIHI for tracking data, so we’re to create a logical system. I hear the Member that there’s some confusion about how it is between the business plan and the mains. We will work to make sure that everything’s lined up. Midwifery services under CIHI falls under nursing services recognizing that midwifery services aren’t exactly nursing services but that’s where CIHI has put them, so that’s why they’re identified in that particular section. We will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the hiring decisions for summer students, as with all positions, actually lies with the department. With respect to summer student hiring, the role for the Department of Human Resources is to facilitate the database. We actually facilitate the database, make it available to students, encourage students to get registered. When a department indicates that they have a desire for some summer students, they will let us know the skill set they’re looking for, we search our database, we provide those resumes to the individual departments so that they can actually...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the savings in this area are as a result of some reductions to the PDI Fund that we provide to our staff. We still have the fund but we have reduced it slightly.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I’m pretty sure that the situation the Member is describing didn’t happen while I was here because I certainly don’t remember it. It must have been a long time ago that it actually happened. The piece that I said after the mic went off was: Anything we do still has to be within standards, so it has to meet certain criteria. We’re open to that. I’m happy to have discussions with the communities, with the regions. I’ll be travelling with the Member to visit his communities at some point. I’m sure we’ll have an opportunity to have that discussion and hear what the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we do have a historical relationship pre-division where the residents of the Kitikmeot did come to Yellowknife for services, they were providing things like CT scans and some of the specialty clinics. That relationship has carried on. We have a relationship with Alberta, for services that aren’t provided in the Northwest Territories, we go to Alberta. For Nunavut, for services that aren’t provided in Nunavut, they come to us, and if we don’t provide them they also go to Edmonton or Alberta.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I anticipate to give the MLAs a heads up hopefully by the end of this week, and after that, we will notify the successful candidates, two, three weeks.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m happy to answer the question now or we can wait till page 195 where that actually falls. It’s up to you.

The Hay River employees are actually outside of the public service. They have their own human resource manual, they have their own collective agreement, they have their own pension plan. They aren’t part of Superann because they are outside of the public service. Every year the employees pay into their pension, but the pension also pays out people who have retired. In order to ensure that they are fluid, that they are a viable pension plan, they end up having to come back and ask for additional money every year, and this has gone on for a long time. I remember back in 2005 when I was working...