Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member makes comments that tend to diminish the work of people in the communities that have been working for years in the field -- wellness workers, addiction workers -- writing them all off as a disgrace, a waste of time, a disaster, it is not happening. Well, it is happening. Yes, there have been problems unfolding this and rolling it out and staffing all of the positions, but we have had more success than we have had failure in terms of staffing, and we are going to continue to work at it. We are going to continue to work at staffing all of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the term “near epidemic” has been used a number of times. I have seen it in the press, as well. The suggestion is that our response is going to be to just try to fix people once they are addicted. I would suggest that that is an incomplete response, that, very clearly, with the influx of drugs, there has to be a comprehensive response, trying to limit access, trying to convince people not to use it, trying to crack down on the people who are selling it as opposed to just focusing the attention on accepting the reality and let’s just try to fix people...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in fact, we do have arrangements with the Salvation Army. In fact, the Salvation Army now is approved for medical travel as well, which it hasn’t been in the past. I would be happy to provide the Members the detail of the various contractual arrangements we have with the Salvation Army. I would also like to acknowledge the work that they do, and that they are a very valuable resource. We are relying on them more and more because of their skills and abilities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would argue that we have responded, maybe not to the Member’s satisfaction or to the degree that he would think acceptable, but as we balance the many priorities, dementia units, shortage of housing, the fact that we have a budget that has to meet its fiscal targets that have been set by the Minister of FMBS, that we have responded. We responded in the best way we can with the resources we have. If there is an interest, as I have indicated, I am prepared to sit down and talk to the Members. I am prepared to talk to the stakeholders and the communities...

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, we have capacity at Stanton to do medical detoxification for alcohol and drugs. That’s what we have in place. It is not a formal withdrawal management unit but it is the capacity that we do have. There is also a social withdrawal program that is run through the Salvation Army and some local groups like Crack Busters that have started. If there is further more dedicated treatment, then we would be looking to southern jurisdictions if that is what is required, as we have done on a client-by-client basis so far. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there was a strategy that was done, an action plan for persons with disabilities, and the response has been worked on by the government across departments that are involved in education, health, housing and MACA. That response has been built into the various business plans of the departments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the amount of time is obviously going to be dealt with on a case-by-case and need basis. There is no set formula that indicates an amount of time for specific concerns or issues or problems. So there are also the efforts that are going to continue on in terms of trying to expand the homecare services that are available to assist people to stay in their homes longer and more comfortably, but there is no set formula that dictates any given time. It is based on individual case need. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to assure the Member that I would never ever confuse her with anybody else.

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She doesn’t have to refer to me as Almighty; Michael is fine.

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She has raised a very specific issue from her information that she has obtained, so I will commit to follow up on the particulars of the two positions, but I would once again suggest that it is not because people don’t care, we have written it off, it is a waste of time. I would suggest that efforts are being made. There is funding for those positions for a reason, because those...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my job as Minister is to try to come up with some plans to, in a careful way, implement those plans after there has been proper consultation. We have done that with the mental health and addiction strategy. We responded to a fairly damning report in a state of emergency. We have committed to following the plan. We have implemented year one, year two. Year three is on the books. The Member now stands up in this House to say it has been a disaster. Let’s change that. I am saying, okay, if that is what you are thinking, then let’s have that discussion...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my recollection of the history of the Somba K’e is that they had an arrangement with Corrections Canada that was severed and that they were looking around for an alternate way to get funding. We did look at the facility. We did have people take a look at it from a technical and structural point of view initially for the possibility of a childcare facility. What came back was a number to bring the building up to appropriate code both structurally and from a program point of view of over $3 million, which exceeded the budget we had available to do...