Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will have the filter in the community as soon as we can. The filter has to come from outside of the country. It comes from the United States. We don’t have a filter system in place. It wasn’t an area we thought would be a great risk. We do have a backup system. The backup system is the old water plant and that’s what is being currently used. Nobody has really been cut off from the water supply. There is the inconvenience of the boil water advisory and it’s working well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this government is always speaking to the social well-being of the residents of the Northwest Territories. In fact, Mr. Handley in his statement spoke to the fact that they’re going to have a summit on aboriginal women’s issues and, in particular, violence against women, and they said they consider it an important initiative.

That’s my topic today, why we allow the people that provide these services to continually have to wait for their funding from the regional health boards. They have enough to do, Mr. Speaker, without constantly having to worry about...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to present a petition dealing with the matter of specialists surgical services located in Inuvik Hospital. Mr. Speaker, this petition contains 794 signatures of Beaufort-Delta residents and, Mr. Speaker, the petitioners request that the Minister of Health and Social Services confirm through a ministerial directive stating that the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority has the authority to staff specialists who are necessary for surgical service and salary and benefit level for a specialist, including general practitioners with special...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for that. I’d like to ask the Minister if he’d communicate to the regional board the concerns of the frontline providers and the importance of having that good working relationship with these frontline workers. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, we will commit to doing that. We will have a discussion with Public Works and talk to the communities and see what some areas that may be requiring parts or filters that we should keep in the communities so we can avoid the situation. We will commit to doing that with all the communities in the Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will have the filter in the community as soon as we can. The filter has to come from outside of the country. It comes from the United States. We don’t have a filter system in place. It wasn’t an area we thought would be a great risk. We do have a backup system. The backup system is the old water plant and that’s what is being currently used. Nobody has really been cut off from the water supply. There is the inconvenience of the boil water advisory and it’s working well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during our pre-budget consultations there was a suggestion that the shelters be funded directly by Health and Social Services, because some of the money wasn’t always filtering through to the shelters. So I would like to ask the Minister if he and his department will consider an option like this? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this government is always speaking to the social well-being of the residents of the Northwest Territories. In fact, Mr. Handley in his statement spoke to the fact that they’re going to have a summit on aboriginal women’s issues and, in particular, violence against women, and they said they consider it an important initiative.

That’s my topic today, why we allow the people that provide these services to continually have to wait for their funding from the regional health boards. They have enough to do, Mr. Speaker, without constantly having to worry about...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement before, I spoke to the concerns of the women’s’ shelter in Inuvik and I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger, if he would commit to looking into the concerns and seeing if there’s anything he and his department can do to help finding a solution for the problems that are going on there. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the system in Tulita was designed and put in place at the time when this type of filtration system, this type of plant, was only available from the United States. We have been working with the community to look at what backups are required. The old plant is still there and we do also have a portable water pump in the event of both plants going down. We are discussing with the community on a plan to carry some backup material, filters and equipment, so that we can avoid the situation in the future. Thank you.