Statements in Debates
Merci, Monsieur le President. I rise today to make my fourth annual midwifery statement. The Northwest Territories Midwifery Program has one of the longest gestation periods in the history of this Assembly, but now there is some good news to report.
In response to my questioning during the Committee of the Whole review of the Department of Health and Social Services budget earlier in this sitting, there is now confirmation of new 2019-2020 funding of $373,000 for three positions. One of them is a full-time midwifery clinical specialist and a three-quarter-time midwife position, both in...
Merci, Monsieur le president. Today is the final step in a very long and time-consuming process that began in September 2018, the three-week review of the departmental business plans. Committee of the Whole reviewed the 2019-2020 Main Estimates for 12 government entities from February 20th to March the 8th. We have received replies from Ministers for, I think, three of the departments reviewed so far, so prizes go to the Minister of Infrastructure, the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, and the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. I look forward to receiving the...
I want to thank the Minister for that, and I would encourage him to share that framework with the standing committee. Families have been advocating for midwifery for years, mostly mothers such as Leslie Paulette, Wendy Lahey, and Joanna Tiemessen. How will the role of these public partners be continued as we roll out these services and evaluate their delivery?
Merci, Monsieur le President. In remarks in Committee of the Whole the other day, there used to be an additional $373,000 for midwifery in 2019-2020, bringing the total resources devoted to midwifery to $1.78 million. There used to be a staff complement of 8.5 full-time-equivalent people. Could the Minister of Health and Social Services summarize where these positions will be located and how services will be offered to other communities? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I know that, over at the archives, there are actually copies of the minutes for the Northwest Territories Council going back to 1921, and they are the only record of those minutes anywhere in the world, as I understand it. Do you know if that sort of information is part of this project? There are research requests, and I have had reason to go back to the 1950s recently on this, but is that going to be part of this project? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Nice try. Thanks, Mr. Speaker. I am not going to be nearly as long on this one. I am not going to oppose this bill. It does serve a number of public purposes, including allowing for pension credits to be earned by residents and so on, so and it is simply enabling legislation in terms of allowing for a cost of living credit to be used. I don't really have anything to oppose on this bill. I wish that there were some stronger public reporting provisions tied back to how this is going to be used to report on rebates that are tied to the carbon tax, but I don't have any difficulty with this bill...
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that commitment again. Can the Minister commit also that, when he puts this information out, he is prepared to accept public comments on it? Because he has already made up his mind perhaps about this without any public input, but I would like to know whether he is prepared to accept public comment when he puts this information out. This is about having an open and transparent government and not just consulting with industry in setting these kinds of rates.
Thanks to the Minister for that explanation. Is the Minister prepared to make that information public?
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for confirming that for me. For a government that says it is open and transparent, consulting only the industry and perhaps Indigenous governments, only consulting industry, I don't think that is a great idea, and I think that is a clear definition of regulatory capture. Can the Minister make public the work requirements and rental rates for future significant discovery licences and the rationale that he used in setting them? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Well, it is my understanding that, when the federal government issued those original rights, they made provision for fees to be charged as a rental rate. Perhaps the rental rate wasn't specified, but at least it was in there, so why did the Minister not include any fees or work requirements in the 10 significant discovery licences that he issued?