Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table a petition today signed by 319 citizens of Hay River and 104 citizens of Fort Smith. The petition is that all seniors be eligible for supplementary health care benefits regardless of income. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. The Minister has clearly said this is not about cost savings and the numbers that she had put forward with an escalation value on them, and yet why are we mixing this up with core health services? I get the impression that Members on this side of the House are trying to lobby Members on this side, somehow leading to believe that there’s some question between our ability to deliver core health services to Colville Lake or any of these other communities where, you know, they need nurses and front-line workers, are trying to connect this to the supplementary health benefits. It is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to sort of change the tack of the questions here a little bit for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, we have a process issue here. If the policy to change the supplementary health benefits was adopted in the previous government, and if it is now being implemented in this government, what opportunity do we have to represent the views and concerns of our constituents to stop this from being implemented in its current format?

Mr. Speaker, we have about another five days of this Legislature sitting, this is due to be implemented before we come...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Minister would have me to believe that this is just a coincidence that we are going to be reducing the support that we provide to our seniors while at the same time looking for a way to help those other lower income Northerners to receive benefits. So it’s just a kind of coincidence that this all happened at the same time and the two are not related at all. If you listen to the Minister, that’s what she is trying to portray.

Mr. Speaker, I am all for helping those people who have no other insurance and need help. I am all for that. But surely this government could...

Mr. Speaker, I could swear that I have heard the Minister say repeatedly that this overhaul of extended health care benefits does not have anything to do with cost saving, it does not have to do with money. I think we’ve all heard her say that. Okay. Yet, now in the purpose of the overhaul she’s saying that it is about money, because it’s about the sustainability of the program. I’d like to ask the Minister, in her point number one, when she refers to the group of citizens who are excluded who need support, who need help with their costs, what kind of thought in putting together the proposed...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to talk today about the ever becoming more famous Supplementary Health Benefits Policy of this government. Mr. Speaker, we have to start at the beginning and say, why change the policy? Some are saying because it was a decision of a previous government the policy was changed. Now we are just on the implementation end of that so we have to proceed with it. That is what they told us about the Deh Cho Bridge too. It wasn’t a very good reason.

Mr. Speaker, I think we need to look at this very carefully and very critically. What this debate on the supplementary...

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

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister states the obvious. The costs of health care are going up proportionately across the board. So why would we want to take supplementary health benefits and make that the target and say that’s not priority of this government? It’s going up across the board, whether you’re talking about front-line services, supplementary health benefits, pharmaceuticals, diagnostic procedures, new medical science, it’s going up, that’s the way it is. We can’t really stop that train. People are living longer, thankfully, and there are more ways to be treated in the medical...

Thank you. Okay, and thank you for those numbers. That’s the first time I’ve personally heard those numbers. Mr. Speaker, do those numbers take into account the opportunities that we have discussed here for people who are in the $50,000 or lower to opt out of third-party insurance programs? Does that take that into consideration? Because it’s fine to say, well, we’ll look at that after the fact, but I would suggest that’s like looking at it after, you know, closing the door after the horses are out of the barn here. These are the kinds of things that need to be considered before, before you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to seek unanimous consent to return to item 8 today on the Order Paper, oral questions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Unanimous consent granted