Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services of the Government of the Northwest Territories has a very competitive and, I think, progressive pay and benefits package for nurses. We see it as a very positive step, all the work that has gone on in the last number of years, the work with the nursing association and the work with the unions, the work with the government, to come up with a fair remuneration package. So the Member and I have a different point of view on the value and the benefits of that particular issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the renovation in Inuvik is to make the office space more habitable. If memory serves me correctly, the offices are in the Semmler Building. They are very crowded. They are trying to renovate to better accommodate the staff. I know they’ve had at least two major sewage backups that have caused a lot of damage. So this is to deal with that particular issue in terms of accommodating the staff. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the week of October 17th to 23rd is National Foster Family Week. I would like to take a moment to recognize the valuable contribution that foster families make to our communities and our children.

Foster families form an important network of safe, caring homes for children. They have a very challenging and demanding role and provide care for children when parents are unable. There are about 200 foster homes in the NWT that give children a stable, nurturing home environment. It is encouraging to see that so many people in our territory have offered to care for children. Over...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a national issue that affects all the provinces and territories. Anybody that does business with the federal government and administers programs for aboriginal people has this problem. So, yes, it has been dragging out. It is protracted. The pace is glacial in getting it resolved, but we all have some new tables. The Prime Minister himself has set up a table to meet with the aboriginal leaders. There has been recognition, and there is going to be a table for the aboriginal leaders to look at the health agenda. There has been a blueprint for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don’t have an exact figure on hand, but I would like to note that the Member has raised a very important issue. It’s one that I know the Premier has raised at his tables. I’ve raised it since my tenure as the Minister of Health and Social Services with the three federal Health Ministers that I’ve had the privilege of working with over the last three years. It’s also an issue for the other two territories. It’s hopefully one of the issues that will be put on the table if we can get this working group together that there’s funding been identified for out of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the budget we do have about $247 million. We’re in the business planning process right now. It has been publicly announced that there are fiscal targets we are looking at as a government that there are restraint targets that we’re trying to hit as a government. Health, in fact, has to shoulder their share of that burden. So, Mr. Speaker, within that context, we rolled out, two years ago, a Mental Health and Addictions Strategy in response to the Chalmers report, State of Emergency. We’ve hit year one and two. Year three is on the books yet to be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the programs we have to deal with addictions and alcohol and drug abuse are geared, as the Member knows, to trying to deal with the many complex issues presented by alcohol abuse and addictions. The issue of crack cocaine addiction is one where there is no discreet program. We have been dealing with them on a case-by-case basis. There are other jurisdictions where this is a much larger problem and they have set up special specific facilities and programs to deal with these particular situations. We’ve been dealing, as in the Member’s case that he...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I am saying is that when you are dealing with teenagers, unless there is an apprehension and they are put into some kind of custodial agreement under the Child Welfare Act, it’s very difficult if they are not willing to partake in whatever program is laid out to force them to that. People around this table know, and those that are old enough to have teenagers will know that teenagers are very strong minded. They have minds of their own. They also have their own rights as young adults. So there are places, there are some legal vehicles like...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the member’s comments and sense of chagrin and displeasure of the members. If I could just add this to the discussion here, the budgets that are done for health boards, since I’ve become Minister, there is no formula like there is with education. There is a process that has evolved over time, through historic use and ongoing forced growth in increments. We are in the process of trying to develop a funding formula.

With regard to this hospital, we, as a client, bought a design, we agreed to a design that was going to deliver these wonderful things in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member raised the issue in her Member’s statement. It is a problem. It’s a problem in the community of Fort Smith and we hear it on the radio from other communities where MLAs’ communities are struggling with the issue and they have had community meetings, they have tried to get parents to the table, their community leadership, Health and Social Services, the RCMP, the teachers. It’s an issue that plagues us all. We have, as a department, some resources available. In most communities we have social workers, we have mental health workers, community...