Glen Abernethy

No, Mr. Chair. No, I'm just kidding. Yes, this is the section, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, and we're looking forward to rolling this out. I mean, we know there are going to be a few challenges along the way, but we heard from the kids. We heard from the kids, and they indicated this is an important tool and resource they need. I'm happy to see the support we have from committee, and I'm happy to continue to push this forward over the next four years, this year starting in the Deh Cho. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in the department, we have a number of different functions, including our policy division. We've got nursing consultants. We've got the chief public health officer. We have a number of responsibilities that are responsible for developing policy related to particular activities, such as nursing or midwifery and those types of things. When operationalized, those are operationalized through the Territorial Health and Social Services Authority and our two other partner boards. The quality assurance that I have been referencing is quality assurance at the authority...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the RFP is just recently out; I shared it with the Member. We're trying to provide a day program for those, basically, in most need in the Yellowknife area. It's certainly not a broad-ranging program or a program for all residents of the Yellowknife area. It will be for certain individuals and, honestly, I can't remember what we put out as a term on that. So I will have to get back with that information. I'm blanking completely. So I apologize.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If the Member is talking about the community mental health and addictions, there has actually been an increase from 2016-2017 into 2017-2018 and again into 2018-2019 for this area. What I think I am hearing from the Member, I think we are working to make improvements in that area through the next section of this budget where we are including the community youth counsellor positions throughout the Northwest Territories. I apologize. We have to make decisions, and we are focusing on Tlicho and Deh Cho as a starting point. We will be rolling through the Territories over the...

The Member did bring this to my attention, and I directed the department to do the work. They did the work. We are rewriting the policies and procedures manuals, fixing the unit itself so that it can get best value for money and so that the staff are adequately resourced to provide the services that they want. There are 79 public guardianships. There are 85 private guardianships. There is a caseload of new applications.

We are working on these, trying to reduce those numbers to provide the support we need to the residents. I am confident that we are building the case we need to seek additional...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, anything I say at this point will likely prove to not be true, so I'm not going to go out on a limb and say what it will. I can tell you what the ranges have been. In 2015, there was a significant amount of work done on this. At that time, I think it was around $500 million to bring it into the public service. At that time, the government of the day chose not to. Since we have begun moving to a single authority early, mid-way through the last Assembly, we did some initial work. It looked like it could be around $20 million.

I couldn't tell you what that number...

183.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we share the Member's concerns. We feel that these positions are similar to positions that already exist, the adult mental health and addictions, so much of the criteria, the knowledge, skills, and ability to do the jobs is similar. So we are hoping that, given that there are some reasonable comparators, that the evaluations proceed quickly.

Having said that, ultimately at the end of the day they have a tool that they use to evaluate and the evaluators will assess accordingly, but I do share the Member's concerns. We are doing everything we can in the department...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, with me today is Jeannie Mathison on my right, who is the director of Finance, and Mr. Bruce Cooper, for his first time at this table, is our new deputy minister of Health and Social Services.