Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to introduce Brenda Van Hauvart; she is the water specialist with Ecology North who is spearheading the Love NWT Water campaign. Also my constituency assistant, Craig Yeo. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could the Minister tell us what kind of an evaluation, if any, is done on the value of the spending in each of these tourism areas, such as 2020, product diversification, industry contribution, skills development? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, before we leave this budget, I would just like to review the investments that the Regular Members are looking for in this section. They are small relative to the size of the whole budget, approximately $2.5 million, but they address key program areas in a grassroots way and I believe will deliver good value for money.

The first is an investment in homecare. As we know, with the aging population, there are increasing demands to keep seniors safe and well in their own homes. That is what most seniors want. An investment in the upstream care for seniors prevents a...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to acknowledge the passing of my constituent Albert Bohnet of Avens Manor. He was 100 years old.

Mr. Bohnet came north from Alberta and made Fort Smith his home. He made his living driving heavy equipment and teaching others that skill. He was named Citizen of the Year after he retired for his volunteer work. He was well known for his love of curling and cribbage.

Mr. Bohnet was predeceased by his wife Febula. He is survived by his children, grandchildren, greatgrandchildren, and his many friends. I offer the family my deepest sympathy for their loss. Mahsi, Mr...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. In my Member's statement today, I talked about two kinds of problems that stem from overprescribing medication. The first is that pharmacists sometimes make mistakes in dosage. What kind of government oversight exists to protect patients from this kind of a mistake? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NWT does not have a prescription drug monitoring program. It is time for the government to make that investment in order to prevent the injury and, worse, the death of NWT residents.

Mr. Speaker, last month media reported on a prescription overdose case of a man from Lutselk'e. The drugstore allegedly dispensed a dose 10 times greater than the medication he was prescribed by his doctor. After taking the pills for a while, he said he felt dizzy and tired. A nurse in his community caught the mistake before the excess medication damaged his health permanently....

Thank you, Mr. Chair. These may also be questions that the Minister needs some additional time with. I'd like to know the number of assessors who are dealing with that backlog of referrals and also the number of staff who are dealing with what I'm going to guess is an increased caseload based on looking at those referrals, so could he please commit to giving us a rundown of how those referrals are being dealt with, by whom, and what the staff capacity is there? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I noticed that the adult support services line which includes the Office of the Public Guardian is losing a small amount of money this year and it seemed like a good time to ask the Minister about the progress of his review of the Public Guardian's office which was due by the end of the calendar year; that was the deadline that he gave us. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for his response. I recognize that there is a process in place to try to get better service from the RCMP if we feel that the service we are getting is not adequate. The fact is, Mr. Speaker, that fewer than 10 per cent of women who have been sexually and physically assaulted report, just exactly because of the onerous nature of trying to follow up the conditions of recognizance that are placed on the accused. I didn't hear from the Minister that he acknowledges that this may be a problem or what he might do to fix it? Masi. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Minister for that answer. I think that he has had a more positive experience, or his clients have, of this court system than the woman I have been working with. In this instance that I cited in my Member's statement, the victim had to visit the RCMP three successive times to report just one instance of intimidation, each time requesting interviews with more senior RCMP members and then finally getting the support of the Status of Women. Only then did the police take action to enforce the conditions of release. My question for the Minister is: why should it be so hard?