Michael Miltenberger

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...

Mr. Speaker, the detail of new money is not available to any of us yet. But I can tell the Member, as I indicated earlier in this House, that year three of the mental health and addictions plan is there on the books ready to be rolled out, pending appropriate funding being available. If there is money for addictions, the intent would be to look at that third year, as well as clearing up some of the shortfalls and inadequacies that are there and that we have identified in the first two years as we rolled out the program to do with office space and those types of things. So if there is money...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if my memory serves me correctly, there was an arrangement in the days of old with the Department of Health and Northern Addictions Services. Then there was a move to an arrangement with federal Corrections Canada, where Somba K'e was to be used to provide services to federal inmates, and the relationship with the Department of Health and Social Services was severed. Somba K'e was used for that purpose and it wasn't sustainable, and that relationship ceased and there were other avenues explored trying to keep the facility alive. But at that point, there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if one was listening to the questions in this House about royalties and resource revenue sharing, this issue with the federal government, there is a whole list of issues that we have outstanding with the federal government that require resolution. We are taking proactive and aggressive or assertive approaches as we can as a government at all the tables that we are at. This is one of them. It is an issue that has national interest. It has national impact. So over the next few months, as I indicated to the Member, we hopefully will be able to show...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an issue that impacts two federal departments: Health Canada as well as Northern and Indian Affairs. Yes, we have staff working, sometimes it seems almost on a full-time basis negotiating with the federal government over the outstanding claims, what they’re prepared to allow and what they’re not prepared to allow. Problems with the criteria that they have, be it on the non-insured health benefits side or under the medical services for Indian and Inuit people. So, yes, we have people working on this. It’s a political issue. It’s a structural issue...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a very important issue and an important discussion. The reality is that, yes, there are drug addiction problems, but the alcohol abuse and the addiction problems caused by alcohol dwarf the drug problems. We are struggling to deal with the addiction issues related to alcohol. Are we trying to deal with the drug addictions? We are, as well. Are we prepared to look at that? Yes, within the fiscal limitations that we have. We have some plans already in place and if you quantify, the actual problem is going to be the first step, and then we have to...