Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that kind of working relationship is critical at frontline levels and at every level. Once again, I’m aware of the concerns that the Member is talking about and I will, as well, commit to make sure that that’s part of our discussion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We currently have dialysis services available in Yellowknife. In Fort Smith we have arrangements as well with the Capital Health Authority in Edmonton. We are in the planning process for having those services available in the community of Hay River, which we anticipate will be up and operational by the end of October or early November. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I gather it’s a lot like going to the butcher shop and you buy a steak. You buy some by the pound and you want to make sure the butcher doesn’t have his finger on the scale.

---Laughter

I appreciate the Member’s concern. This is a relatively straightforward process. There’s a certain amount of setting up the system that’s operating in good faith here where we want to work with the communities to deal with a very important environment issue. Once again, we’ll make sure that we go back and double check to make sure everything is working as it’s supposed to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when individuals come in with their recyclable beverage containers, they are compensated on an individual item basis, be it cans, bottles or other containers. The issue at hand is when you are dealing with the aluminum products, what has been done is we process these through the system. It has been estimated, for example, how much 500 aluminum cans would weigh crushed up and they pay on a weight basis. The concern, I understand from having talked further with the Member, is that there may be a discrepancy where the contractor may come in with what he...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have training arrangements both with the Stanton Hospital, as well as Capital Health and training can be provided to nurses quite readily and on a regular basis. As well, as we look a little ways down the road, we are also moving towards further enhancing the performance service mandate of LPNs, so they can take on those kind of duties as well. In Fort Smith, for example, we’ve trained nurses. They have that duty plus others and if they are fully booked up at the dialysis unit, that’s what they do. If there is other time available, then they perform other functions...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We currently have dialysis services available in Yellowknife. In Fort Smith we have arrangements as well with the Capital Health Authority in Edmonton. We are in the planning process for having those services available in the community of Hay River, which we anticipate will be up and operational by the end of October or early November. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a system, the Government of the Northwest Territories has made a significant investment in setting up local authorities with representatives from the communities to administer almost 80 percent of the government’s or our Health and Social Service budget. Once again, I appreciate the Member’s concern. While it’s an option we’ll consider, our primary concern is still to try to work with the regions and the communities to ensure that these very valuable resources are supported the best way possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d be pleased to do that. I’ll make that commitment that we’ll sit down and I’ll talk further with the Member and we’ll work with the Inuvik Health and Social Services Authority to make sure that we can try to address the issues. I’d also like to point out that we did add out of some of the federal money we had another $100,000 a year to the shelters. The five shelters we fund and the shelter directors got together and, I believe, agreed that Inuvik was one of the shelter’s that should get that money as opposed to some of the other ones, but I will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate the Member’s concern that he wants to ensure the system is fair, especially for the small contractor. But it would be problematic where volumes are very high like Yellowknife where they are processing hundreds of thousands of beverage containers to have individuals sitting there counting one can, another can. I think they’ve come up with ways through the recycling processes across the land in terms of weight and what that’s equivalent to in terms of the number of cans and such. So we will make sure that the process is fair, that it’s...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in fact, I shared that information with the individual in question since I spend a lot time in the airport, as does he. We had a chance to talk about this, but yes I appreciate the Member’s concern and we are going to be making every effort as well to recognize the efforts of the Speaker on this because it's a very, very important issue for everybody. We are pushing very, very hard with Public Works and with our own training to make sure we are ready to go late October or early November. Thank you.