Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It seems our health system's on a pretty clear trajectory, which is that its deficit keeps going up and the number of services we offer keeps going down. And, Mr. Speaker, I recognize that many of these are due to the inability and the struggle to find specialized services. And the latest victim in this is our rheumatology program, which has recently been discontinued and transferred down to Alberta. However, Mr. Speaker, after this program was cancelled, we all found out in the news that perhaps it wasn't so hard to find a rheumatologist. And in fact, there was one who...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope that this is a priority to rebuild this program. And my question is, I believe at one point the hope was to build the continuity of care and not just be a rheumatology but, you know, a multidisciplinary arthritis program. And I'm wondering if in the plans going forward to do that that is in the works? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I recognize that sometimes we have to cancel a service because it is difficult; there's not the ability to get those practitioners. But I want to know whether this cancellation of rheumatology is a permanent cancellation because we couldn't find a person or whether this is now the new reality that we have lost this program forever? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will recognize the Yellowknife North pages who are here today, because they can't go anywhere. And that's Emma Grace Wells and Seiya McEachern. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm wondering if when this decision was made, or if the Minister of health knows, whether this is actually more expensive? I imagine that we are sending 400 patients down to Alberta, we're going to get quite a big bill both from Alberta and our medical travel. So I'm just curious, in the longterm, when we're looking at rebuilding this program, does that actually save us money? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Firstly, we now have an environmental liabilities dashboard so I would like to thank the government for taking that step. But it's not quite as fulsome as the federal one and hopefully we get there one day. And to this point, specifically we can see in the public accounts the total environmental liabilities for the GNWT, and then you go to the dashboard and you can see all the sites we have environmental liabilities for but you actually can't figure out what the estimated liability is for any individual site. And Finance, during public accounts, says they don't want to...
Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to also emphasize that industry has long asked for a number of these policies too, because they find themselves in confusing situations. There's been a longtime ask for a brown field policy site. And I think also some direction needs to be given on when, you know, a mine's going to be allowed to leave infrastructure, if at all, on a site. I don't think those are best to kind of just be made oneoff kind of ministerial decisions. But there should be some proper policy.
And similarly, there's a motion in here about, you know, relinquishment. We similarly...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've also asked these ones and didn't get an answer but I'm feeling lucky.
Payments for leased space:
The Government of the Northwest Territories is one of the largest tenants in the Northwest Territories. Can the Minister provide lease fees paid by the Government of the Northwest Territories to the following companies, broken down by individual lease and building space, for the last ten years as follows:
All lease payments made to Northview Canadian High Yield Residential Fund (Northview) and its predecessor companies, broken down both by residential leases and...
So I'm getting some funds sometime, Mr. Speaker; I was hoping for a little more detail. I guess, does the Minister have any more information of when and how someone will be able to apply for this? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In last year's budget address, the Minister of Finance said it wasn't about flashy announcements but yesterday in giving her budget address, she forgot the flashy announcement, Mr. Speaker, and that is, you know, something that makes up .0002 percent of the budget, because buried deep in here is an Electric Bike Rebate Program, Mr. Speaker. And I am very excited for that flashy announcement.
I think electric bikes are great, Mr. Speaker. Studies show that those who switch to an electric bike from a normal bike actually get more exercise. They ride more times per day, per...