Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad the Member asked the question. Contrary to what has been suggested previously in the House, I as a Member, I as the Minister and the department both take this issue incredibly seriously. Within the department of Health and Social Services, our chief clinical advisor is actively involved in putting together a working group and committee, formed consisting of physicians and other health care practitioners, pharmacists and government personnel, to discuss and come up with solutions around the prescription drug abuse issue. Also, the department is working to set...

There are a few more details. I have the specifics, which I can read off to the Member if he would like so that it’s on public record, or I can share it with committee, whichever the Member prefers.

Mr. Speaker, the Member is asking me for my opinion. I am happy to give it, but at the same time, I work with my colleagues in the other departments and as Minister responsible for the social envelope, I will continue to do that. We will analyze the questions that the Member is asking and we will come back to the Member with a unified response. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Madam Chair, our goal is always to complete the projects in the year in which they are budgeted for, to spend the dollars in the year that they are approved and supported by the Legislative Assembly. Ultimately, we would like to have no carry-over and that’s our goal.

My apologies, Mr. Chair. I missed her question. If she can repeat it, that would be great.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can’t talk to the details about the NWT Housing Corp’s programs, but I would encourage the Member to follow up with the appropriate Minister.

What I can say is that I listened intently to the Member’s opening comments and Member’s statement. The issues he is bringing up are consistent with issues that he brought up during the winter session about conflicts in departments and having barriers to providing quality services to our residents. At that time I did get a copy of the Member’s statement with a list of samples and examples of areas where he felt, and others have...

Thank you, Madam Chair. We haven’t set a target like 5, 10, 15 percent, but our goal is always to do better and to get that percentage as low as we can. Ultimately, it would be great to get to a point where all the capital we budget for is completed in the year in which it’s budgeted, but there are always extenuating circumstances that may limit that or interfere with that. Our goal is to get it as low as possible and spend the money in the year that it’s allocated.

Getting and liking the response are two different things. The Member did get a response. It was full; it was comprehensive. It has the data he asked for. As I’ve indicated, the departments and the authorities do take this issue seriously and we are working with the authorities to come up with methods to address this particular concern and control the spread of these bugs throughout the system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Chair, we will include that information in the information I’ve already committed to providing the committee.

Thank you, Madam Chair. With the new capital process that came in process, it came live in the 16th Legislative Assembly. We are further down the line as far as understanding the costs of all projects. We have also been working really hard to actually make sure that projects are moving along in the timeline that was originally scheduled. There are always some unforeseen barriers or challenges, but for the most part, we are becoming more efficient at planning and having concrete numbers so that we’re able to get more of the projects done on time and as designed and intended.