Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am so glad it's a long weekend. I am so glad we are heading into Friday with Monday as Family Day. Oh, wait, Mr. Speaker, I thought for a second we were in Alberta, or BC, or possibly Ontario, maybe Saskatchewan, or even New Brunswick, but we're not. We are in the Northwest Territories, and we don't get a statutory holiday in February. In fact, after new year's, I have to wait over three dark months until the next holiday.

It doesn't need to be Family Day, Mr. Speaker. PEI has Islander Day. Manitoba will be celebrating Louis Riel Day. Maybe we could have Elders Day or...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't think there are necessarily too many highly objectionable things in the core principles and objectives. They're pretty high-level, but I do think there are program models that necessarily wouldn't fit into them. I guess the problem I see is that this is a discussion to me that should come after you have have self-government and after the Indigenous government has funding and is setting up the programs. We should be working with them and providing assistance. I don't think it's appropriate. I think the order is out of place, where it is conditional that these be...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I think that's helpful work, to kind of have an overarching vision and, hopefully, it can trickle down into the mandates. Can I just get clarification of whether we are on track to publish principles and interests in this spring 2021, and whether they will actually be made public? Thank you, Madam Chair.

I recognize that it may not be as simple as turning a switch on. However, our doctors and our healthcare professionals use HealthNet Viewer daily. There have been consistent problems in this area in making sure that patient files are complete. I think that there is a bit of a misunderstanding, and our patients think that someone is monitoring their file and making sure it is robust and complete and all of the data works in there. Actually, the health system is just as siloed as many other GNWT departments. My question is: What work is being done now to make sure we are bringing all of our...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, that does help. I am trying my best to understand this area because I think it actually does not get often the oversight it needs. IT projects are notorious for going over budget, and software is very expensive. It's one of those areas where we spend millions and millions of dollars. I think many people's eyes just glaze over when it starts getting talked about, but it is not an insignificant part of the budget, both finances, procurement of software, and the ultimate management through this ISSS. I have spoken previously to the Minister about having an open data...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke earlier in my statement about our electronic medical record system and our eHealth system. At one point, the Northwest Territories was a leader in this area, being one of the first jurisdictions to completely shift all of our health records to electronic form. When we designed that system, we designed a patient portal, which allowed people to log in and see their health records digitally. Other jurisdictions have now caught up and have those portals open and operating, and we have refused to do this. My question for the Minister of Health and Social Services is...

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I recognize that reconciling human resources into one area in the GNWT makes sense, but I think, when I speak to a lot of people in the health authorities, there has been frustration in the past with human resources and there has been frustration about having not-nurses hire other nurses and not having healthcare professionals having had that expertise. I recognize that's exactly what this joint unit is trying to remedy, but is there any consideration to giving the human resource capacity back to the health authority? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am also looking at the department's business plan, and I see that this May-June session, we were supposed to see the Status of Women Act updated. I don't believe we have seen the legislative proposal for that yet, but can I just get confirmation of whether that work is on track? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am looking at the Department of Finance's business plan, and it said that the Public Service Act was scheduled for introduction in 2020, quarter four. That did not occur. Could I get a sense of when we will see the Public Service Act? Thank you, Madam Chair.

We had this question, kind of lengthy conversation with the Auditor General about P3s, and I know there's new P3 public accounting standards coming out and that office is trying to deal with this issue of how to track P3 debts and ongoing contractual obligations, especially when you get into such large numbers over such a long period of time in the debts. Does the Department of Finance foresee any changes arising from public accounting standards to P3s that will ultimately affect what our total debt is listed to, listed as here in relation to P3s? Thank you, Madam Chair.