Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to provide the Member, through the Social Programs committee, with all the information we have as it pertains to the alcohol and drug and mental health strategy, all the information she has requested both as it applies to the community wellness workers and the mental health workers. As well, I would be happy to extend the offer for a briefing to the committee to discuss the situation and any other concerns that they may have resulting from the review of what has been implemented to date, which is now in year two. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, part of this process, which was supposed to be a good news story, was to recognize it. In many cases, there were incumbents in positions and incumbents who had been practising for years, incumbents with an often wide array of different training, education and skills. We want to recognize that. If my memory serves me correctly, I made a commitment in this House last week that the intent is not to lay people off. We would have a grandfathering or arrangement here, as well as doing past learning assessments on incumbents. We are in the process with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out that all affected seniors were given a direct mail-out as were all pharmacies, but I will commit here today to ensure that the information has gotten to its destination and ensure that the information of how the changes are to be implemented are in the areas where they are supposed to be. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we did consider that. We also considered the fact that there is a host of other significant other related information tied into compliance and monetary issues, as well as some program issues. We recognize that clearly there was strong support for the program by clients, and that some of the professionals involved in the day-to-day work with clients spoke highly of the programming work that was being done there. But the reality for us, Mr. Speaker, is that there are other issues and variables that have significant bearing as well on the situation, which...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m prepared to share with the Members on a confidential basis the reports that we have. I am respecting the client confidentiality, and I would be happy to set up an opportunity to do that. There is an extensive stack, and I would be happy to do that, or at the very least I could share a relatively detailed summary that we also have available that outlines the various issues, the compliance questions, the service issues, and the monetary fiscal questions that have been raised. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today is World No Tobacco Day. I would like to make use of this opportunity to recognize the work that is being done to create a smoke-free society in the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, there are numerous examples of people and communities working to a common goal of a smoke-free society:

A new campaign targeting school children is using a character named Butthead to encourage kids to commit to be smoke-free. This campaign has only been running for a few weeks and already about 1,340 kids have made the commitment;

New health units have been developed that discuss the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let me be as clear as I can on this issue. We are not abandoning anybody. We have made all the appropriate arrangements. We have had staff down there for the last few weeks trying to work through this transition. The reality is, at the end of the day, APYS has to get its house in order with the Alberta government so they are duly licensed and they comply with all the other hearings where they have to, and at which time we will consider doing business with them. Until that is done, we have an obligation to ensure that the people from the North are given...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in the House yesterday, integrated services and housing is available with all the other professional supports that are required. We have meetings today with the individual clients, outside of the glare and pressure cooker intensity of group meetings, but we have been approached. They were talking to clients on an individual basis. So I am confident that as this issue moves through its transition phase that we will be able to make sure that all the clients we have down there are successfully integrated into the alternate placements that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this issue has been on the government agenda for many years. In fact, my recollection is the federal government itself did a review of the positions that could be moved north and there were a substantial number, but the federal government decided not to move on that, the main rationale being that the public didn't really want to move out of Ottawa and other southern jurisdictions where they currently did their business. It's not an option that was given in '67 when they moved the capital north, but it was the one that the federal government used.

Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member has made a number of allegations against some of the officials in Edmonton that work for government. Mr. Speaker, we are a contracting body that are buying a service. We have certain obligations. It is not our role to get involved in the disagreements and the internal wranglings and differences between APYS and the Alberta government and whatever other agencies are in Alberta. It’s an Alberta run operation that runs out of Edmonton. They have to comply with the laws of the land, the standards of the land, and their obligation was to do that. We are looking...