Michael Nadli

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I asked questions to the Minister in terms of the ambulance service. I would like to talk about highway emergency services today.

Many residents of the Northwest Territories and visitors to our territory probably assume if they were to have an accident on one of our highways, there are ambulances and trained emergency service providers who would come to their rescue. They would be surprised to learn how thinly our emergency services are stretched. The issue is one of gaps and policies, legislation and coordination. We do not have a clear framework for emergency...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just reserved some of my questions for later on in the detail. For the most part, I am kind of encouraged by the movement to engage communities in terms of trying to at least advance the whole biomass initiative. I think it is a very good initiative that complements the realities of community life, especially small communities where jobs are very few and industry is not very actively present in the communities to provide businesses plus job opportunities. I think right now I understand it that there are discussions ongoing with several communities. Perhaps some of...

I’d like to thank the Minister for the response. This matter goes back to the 16th Assembly and this matter continues to be at least an agenda item for a to-do list for the government.

Would the Minister agree that our highway communities need locally stationed ground ambulance and highway fire emergency vehicles and equipment and access to training for first responders? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I asked a question in the House in terms of the long-term plans for ambulances, and I appreciated the response. My question is directed to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

As you know, at this point we have increased industrial activity in the Sahtu, where we’re seeing large amounts of transporting of goods up to the Sahtu area; plus, at the same time, we have the bridge operable now on a 24-hour basis. So we are seeing increased activity of traffic on the highways.

My question is to the Minister of MACA. What emergency services are available now...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, would like to commend the department for being recognized as the top 100 employers, here in the Northwest Territories. That is quite the achievement.

I understand that staff or human resources is just one part of a system of the organization of the GNWT that we operate. I think staff and the workforce play a key role in the sole machine that operates here in the North.

I have a couple of comments. I would like to focus on a few specific questions. For the most part, in my mind, in terms of decentralization, in terms of seeing some of the shift from headquarters...

Thank you. Lacking an ambulance in most small communities, what emergency measures do the health centres have in responding to heart and stroke situations? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I raised a question in terms of heart and stroke, and it being Heart Month, so my question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. What is the department’s approach, in terms of addressing the heart and stroke disease, from diagnosis to treatment? Mahsi.

Has there been discussion? I know right now we’re under fiscal restraint in terms of ensuring we control our revenues, but at the same time we control our expenditures. We’re trying to do more with less, so we’re at such a point it will probably make it necessary for us to cooperate and work together. There's more than likely cross-departmental initiatives to try to advance some major initiatives and do it so that it’s effective but at the same time it’s strategic.

One of the key things that I mentioned is just trying to ensure that we have a fairly reflective ratio of First Nation or northern...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is just in terms of the long-term horizon. I know it’s probably improbable for every community to have an ambulance, but is it within the department’s plan, in terms of long-term objectives and goals, to ensure that at least, at the very minimum, communities such as Fort Providence would have an ambulance?

Thank you. I know one of the priorities of the 17th Assembly was to try to take some preventative steps in terms of trying to address the health and social issues. So my question to the Minister is: What are some of the preventative measures that are in place to try to curb? He’s indicated that heart disease and other afflictions are cost-drivers. What are some of the measures in place to try to curb the rates of heart and stroke disease in the North? Mahsi.