Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I'll certainly share that information with the Minister of Finance. As a note, we are looking at exactly the same document. We just have the information that there has been a slight change, and that has been brought to your attention. I take the Member's point and we'll endeavour to make sure that happens. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the work we anticipate is going to take a bit of time. It's going to be done by a private contractor. We really have to dig in right at the base community level. At this point, it's not expected that work will be done in time for business planning, but it will be available for future decision-making in the Assembly. I will say that we do appreciate that, in the last budget round, we did have some additional money put into this area and we were able to hire and create some homecare and home support positions throughout the Northwest Territories in the areas...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the action plan isn't completed, so we didn't bring it through the business planning process. We do have money in the budget for existing services, and should the action plan direct us to make modifications or improvements, and work to get best value for money, we are prepared to move how the money is spent which I think is the appropriate thing to do of all things. We need to review and make sure we are getting back value for money. If we are not, we need to modify it. At this point, there is no new money in this initiative for that action plan, which has not...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is right. A true diagnosis of FASD does require the mother to acknowledge that she has been drinking. Sometime, that is not forthcoming, but we will work with pregnant mothers to educate them on the harms and the risks of drinking while intoxicated. We're certainly going to be expanding this conversation to include the risks of smoking cannabis while pregnant, because both alcohol and cannabis do have detrimental impact on the developing brain.

Our nurses and our doctors who are providing pre-natal care are aware of the information. They have...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, through the deputy, I have asked the deputy to have our chief health information officer reach out to the Information and Privacy Commissioner to get some ideas from her on what areas we might be able to amend or tweak in order to provide some of that clarity. I am not 100 per cent convinced that it requires legislative change. We might be able to do the same things through a plain-language-type document or other means. We are exploring those right now to see what is the most expeditious and simple for our residents to make sure that they have an understanding...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we have moved forward with a number of programs. The program that I mentioned earlier today in questions from the Member from the Deh Cho, one that was just released recently. During business planning, I did make a commitment to have the department look at the older program Don't Be a Butthead to see what opportunities exist. It retired a number of years ago. At that time, we heard that many of the students were not connecting with it the same as they did when it initially came out. It might have been a timing thing. It might have been it just grew a little...

Yes, Mr. Chair. In future printings, it will reflect the numbers the Member has identified.

Mr. Chair, I understand that some of the bilateral money has actually been included in here, so it is shown right on this page. I apologize for the misunderstanding.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I apologize. That document was discussed at that meeting. It was a public meeting. There is no reason the committee cannot have it. It is clear you do not have it. I thought it was taken care of, but clearly, it was not, so I will make that happen. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Over the years, there have been many different approaches to encourage people not to smoke here in the Northwest Territories.

One of the things that has been done is we've obviously been working with communities. We feel that communities are really one of the appropriate places to be leading some of this work, and many of the communities have included this type of initiative under their community wellness plans, but the Member is right and committee is right. We need to continue push as a department as well. The department, to that end, has recently launched the Let's Clear the Air campaign...