Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. They are, of course, related. The North has a very long history of agriculture throughout most of the Northwest Territories, up the valley where there is, as was indicated, rich land, and there is a resurgence of interest in many communities to take advantage of that opportunity to grow many, many crops. I was in Norman Wells and saw the very impressive greenhouses that were up there and the variety of crops that were being grown, as well as flowers. There is a correlation between healthy living and being able to eat your produce out of a garden as a summer pastime, and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize and acknowledge a very good returning officer, a fine lady and a friend, Margo Harney.

That is a significant issue. This issue is on the agenda of every government that I’ve been involved in, and every Assembly, and will continue to be. The decision about priorities with the resources we have available and the best way to do the programming to deal with the issue of addictions and the other areas that the Member has talked about are going to be critical challenges for the incoming 17th Assembly. That issue will be there for them to consider.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are no new treatment facilities in the capital plan in the foreseeable future for Health and Social Services. There are many other projects, but there are no new plans for imminent treatment centres.

As I indicated, there is some work being done, and I do thank the Member for all the work that he did pull together. Of equal importance, I believe, and I know that there are very many capable people that I know who are dealing with autism with family members, that I think of equal value would be to find out what kind of supports could be put in place within the resources available to assist them. I know that over the years they’ve done an incredible amount of good work. Just on their own, often with little or no support from government, and they’ve amassed a very, very valuable amount of...

As I committed to the Member when he raised this issue a number of days ago, I would get the latest briefing. The Member has articulated probably the one option, probably the main option, but I will get up to speed on the file and I’ll commit to sit down with the Member and see what possible options there are over and above the current circumstance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue of autism, as the Member indicates, is one where there is a concern. There are a significant number of individuals affected. As we plan for our transition into the 17th Assembly, each department, including Health, will be pulling together the list of issues to be considered and priorities to be addressed, and this will be on that list as decisions are made to look at what’s possible with the resources that are available.

There have been studies on this issue over the years that I’m aware of and I’m sure the Member is as well. The challenge of NGOs to offer competitive wages and some of the other benefits like pensions and sick leave. The issue of parity has not been resolved. There is a huge price tag to that.

The issue that the Member is specifically referring to, I’m familiar with that position. There is the whole issue, as well, of the positions that are run through a contribution agreement and what happens with the job descriptions, as opposed to those where they’re formally put in place as indeterminate...

There is a range of training that’s available. Of course, the more detailed the training as you move up the ladder in terms of those qualifications with degrees, psychologists, psychiatrists, those type of things where you’re going to specialize in addictions all require additional work. Depending on the job and the job qualifications, that range will apply, and some are entry level and some are more advanced. They cover that whole range of experience that the Member is referring to.

There has been work on this issue. I’ve as well had some questions. This leads into an area if there’s going to be emergency search and rescue, is that the expectation that nurses or whoever is in the community will leave and fly into other communities. Are they going to be trained to do that kind of extraction? Is it a case of calling in search and rescue from the military?

There are very few places, I think, other than Yellowknife, that have, I think, the benefit of highly skilled folks in this regard. This is an issue that has some considerable perplexity. It’s not just a case of saying, yes...