Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a committee motion. I move that this committee strongly recommends that the government take immediate action to increase overall funding for addictions and mental health program delivery initiatives, including funding needed to implement the mental health and addictions plan and community wellness plan.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. The committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 9-17(4), NWT Main Estimates, 2013-2014, and the continuation of Health and Social Services, and as well as Public Works and Services. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The Minister mentioned that the smaller remote communities, too, even though they are much smaller, they do need assistance with the clients filling out the application, meeting the deadlines. I would like to ask the Minister if part of the strategy is to be aware of that. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, so the Minister was talking about the intake cycle. Is that complete now? Are they currently evaluating all of the clients to see if they can match them to the home ownership programs such as HELP and PATH right now? Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I just want to speak about the vacancy rates throughout the Northwest Territories and particularly my riding of Nahendeh. There is some recent documentation, I believe my colleague Mr. Bromley received, that shows that there's a 32 percent vacancy rate in our home ownership units throughout the Northwest Territories. That means that one out of every three homes that we’ve built remains empty. With respect to my constituency of Nahendeh, the vacancy rate is actually 25 percent, so one out of four homes that we built in Nahendeh remains empty to this day.

Especially with...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I am also well aware that our budget is very limited and stressed, as the Minister of Finance is quick to point out to Members on this side. Also, I think this strategy of introducing nursing in Wrigley involves working with our federal counterparts.

Will the Minister also work with our federal counterparts to see if impact funding is needed for this development? That way, I think we can work towards getting nursing in Wrigley. Thank you.

I guess it involves working with the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Authority. Just moving forward to the next step towards that commitment, I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services to examine it and can he commit to research it to see what kind of resources we need to establish nursing services in Wrigley.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It is one of our government’s priorities to bring health services as close as possible to the people who need them, but we still have communities without nurses. Wrigley is one of these communities. Three years ago I thought we were making progress towards restoring this critical service for the people there, then the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Authority decided not to go ahead. It seems to have forgotten about it ever since. Why our government has not insisted that nursing service in Wrigley is a priority I do not know. It is time to revisit that...

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

---Carried