Ronald Bonnetrouge

Mahsi for that answer. I think we had this discussion already, that there is a total disconnect by the department and the registered nurses' group, but the GNWT does the hiring of all nurses and doctors, and whatnot, and they are passed over to RNANT/NU, their governing body. Once we've done that, there is a line severed right there. They've got no control over any aspect of how they operate, those nurse practitioners and whatnot, and that's a big concern in our small communities. I don't know why the department does not have a mechanism in place to help the residents address these issues. My...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I hope I'm not crossing any lines or anything in my Member's statement and in my questioning regarding the sensitive nature of the subject that I bring up related to health centre concerns. If I do, I apologize to the House. When complaints are not taken seriously by the Department of Health and Social Services, I believe the residents of the Northwest Territories are in serious trouble, especially in small communities with no doctors nor specialists. My question to the Minister is: how serious is the department about the serious health crisis concerns of the residents of...

Mahsi to the Minister for that answer. That's pretty much the standard process, and I believe we've gone beyond that. We've already filed a formal complaint, and there have been other formal complaints filed that have gone unheeded. Northwest Territories residents, especially the Indigenous residents of my community, should not be treated like the treatment they receive at the local health centre. They should also not be treated with racist overtones just for being Indigenous. Comments such as, "Just because you are Treaty," and, "You Indians are a bunch of drunks," should never have to be...

[Microphone turned off]… program is and what is it about?

Very encouraging to know that the reviews are in place, and you touch upon several of the areas that are kind of key. I noticed on even one job that I had in a small community, there was no local employment on the job. That was really surprising. There wasn't any. I'm saying that those people that lost out, it does happen here and there to some of the northern companies. That was a northern company. They just weren't using local labour. They were using other specialized tradespeople, I guess. We were talking about siding. You could still use local people. Some businesses are really good about...

Mahsi, Madam Chair. I think this is everybody's favourite section. I note that this section also covers the BIP, Business Incentive Policy. I am wondering if I am allowed to speak to it in this section here.

That was on 201. It's not listed anywhere else, but it's listed on page 201, under the second paragraph.

Pardon?

Okay. I guess, while there has been lots of talk about reviewing the whole BIP program and possibly revising it to suit northern businesses, I think there is a lot of talk about supporting our northern businesses, there are lots of stories about Southerners coming up and taking work from northern people. Even way up in the Beaufort-Delta, we are getting Southerners coming up there and taking work from Northerners.

In my previous life as a project officer, I have dealt with some contracts. I have seen that the Northerners lost big time to some southern contractors because they were able to...

Sorry. I'm just wondering about capital projects, whether that's in the section, too.