Glen Abernethy

Mr. Speaker, it sure sounded like that is what she said on this side of the House. If Hansard proves that she didn’t in fact say that it is going to be a tax on the sick and the elderly, I do apologize for that. But I didn’t hear a response to my question. Basically, if you look at the list of conditions that are covered under the extended benefits, it covers pretty much every condition. I think the only one that I could figure out that is missing on here is high cholesterol, so these low income families that she is talking about, if they want coverage for drugs, they can get it. They can get...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize a constituent of the Great Slave riding, Ms. Lena Pedersen, who is also a member of the Elders Parliament and a former Member of this House.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on April 7, 2010, I attended a presentation veiled as public consultation conducted by the Department of Health and Social Services on the upcoming changes to their extended health benefits.

Based on the Minister’s response to questions asked in this House and in response to the motion passed in this House of March 2009, the Minister indicated that the department would be going back to the beginning on the proposed changes, that the department would openly consult stakeholders and conduct research into options presented by these groups, that the Minister...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

The Minister seems to remember the parts of the motion and the debate that support her case. What she’s not talking about here is that we are also asking for alternatives and options. I don’t see alternatives and options. Yes, they’ve done a lot of research, I’ve got to tell you. The product they are providing to us now has way more research. It’s a lot of research, it’s good information, it explains a lot to defend the model that they want to put forward. Where are the alternatives? Where are the options? Those options would have come from the stakeholders that she promised that she would...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is right; this is about what is fair, this is about what is right, this is about what is just. I also can’t agree that the intent behind what we are doing here is sound. We want to support the low income families, the low income earners who don’t currently have insurance now. The problem is how this Minister and this department happened to be going about the process.

The Minister said we need to have a debate about substance. Yes, please, let’s have a debate about substance. The problem is it would be difficult to have a debate about substance when the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again no references to alternatives and options, the thing that is important to make a healthy, rational and reasonable decision. Since I can’t get an answer there, I’m going to ask a different question.

In my Member’s statement from the quote that I read, the individual said the process that we’re going through now does not allow the GNWT to change its policy to accommodate the discussions and recommendations arrived at as a result of these consultations with the affected people and stakeholders prior to the stated implementation date. We’ve said since she...

Mr. Speaker, it is nice that they are asking us questions for a change. Technically, I can’t say what I have wrong with the substance, because in order to make a fair and accurate assessment of whether this program that they are proposing is a right one, we need options to consider. We need alternatives to consider. Research should have been done on this. When we did the motion, Mr. Speaker, the motion included a discussion around the department going out and meeting with the potentially affected stakeholders to get that information, get those options and they were going to research it. The...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Public discussions started on Monday with respect to the proposed Supplemental Health Program that the Department of Health and Social Services would like to implement. As predicted, residents are very concerned with the approach that the department is taking.

I would like to share with you one e-mail that a constituent, Cornelius Van Dyke recently sent to the Minister of Health and Social Services. Mr. Van Dyke has agreed to let me read it here today.

Minister Lee, I had an opportunity to hear a representative from your department discuss this government’s plans for the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Premier once again for all that information. I couldn’t agree more. That’s all good information and that’s where the Taltson expansion could benefit us regardless of the route. If they go around the east, we get the same result as if we go across the islands. It’s a little bit more money. We hit the diamond mines, we hit Avalon, we open up the North Slave Geological Province; everything that he just said happens regardless of whether we take either one of those routes. The difference is with the across-the-islands route someday we’re going to be close...