Sandy Lee

I’m going to try to tackle this and if there is any technical backup, my DM can jump in.

Mr. Chairman, first of all, telehealth and telespeech, we’re not talking about two different projects. It really is a communication machine. It’s about delivering health care and related services like speech therapy through a TV screen connected to a service provider, whether it be a speech language therapist or a radiologist or even a physician. It is a distance health care delivery method. I can tell you that, I know for a fact, I saw with my own eyes new machines sitting in Deline, Good Hope, even...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The way our system is set up, the authorities get the funding to provide services to the communities. They work as one entity and they distribute their resources in the best way possible. I understand and I have heard, and I have met with the community about the desire of the community to have a permanent nurse physically there all year round. The issues are the Beaufort-Delta Health Authority is stretched, not only in terms of dollars, but in terms of available nurses. They have the obligation for all of the Beaufort-Delta communities to spread their nursing resources...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member is right; this is a crucial and big emerging issue. It is permeating into all of our program areas. It is not just a long-term care issue.

Seniors population right now -- about 3,500 out of 40,000-plus of the Northwest Territories population -- is the fastest growing segment of our population. It has grown by 54 percent over the last 10 years while the general population only grew by 4 percent. I think that speaks to what challenges and opportunities we are dealing with.

The department, in all program areas, looks at how to support the seniors and how to...

Mr. Chairman, the home care service, the money is provided to each authority under our primary care. Thank you.

...(inaudible)...busy schedule, but we would like at least an hour or two to give you a briefing on what we have so far and seek your input. Thank you.

Thank you. Beyond that I would just like to add that we have had a situation of not having a written contract between Stanton and Nunavut and it was important for us to make sure that we conclude that so that we settle the outstanding receivables and we have made some gains on that. So that’s why it was important that we conclude this and any newer issues that we need to be bringing to this we will deal with that in the next phase.

Also, I think it’s important to note that while Stanton has been experiencing a deficit, it is not correct to think that this is contributing to the deficit to the...

As the deputy minister stated, we have a portability provision. All the provinces and territories know that our people travel to each other’s jurisdictions and they have a pretty clear guideline on paying for that. So as long as we bill other jurisdictions, those are paid. Now, obviously we want to make sure we bill for every service we render to anybody who is not from here. Every health centre has that function incorporated into their finance office. That is a course of business. In Inuvik the hospital does that, Stanton does that, and any of the clinics, and the headquarters, through the DM...

Mr. Chairman, the agreement that has been agreed to has been worked on for quite a while. That contract is closed, basically. The negotiation has been going on and that is done. As the deputy minister had indicated, there are some other things that we want to be able to prove, but that would involve larger discussions between not only the DMs but myself with the Nunavut government. This contract that we are finishing off is basically dealing with a situation where there had not been any solid agreement before and we are closing that part of our relationship with Nunavut. So we will have to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member is right; this section has a sunset of THAF of $3.1 million, but it also has investments of $10.82 million that goes to various areas that constitutes the biggest amount of the plus and minus of that item. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I may, I would like to ask the deputy minister to give some information on where we are with physician recruitment in our authorities, especially in light of the new Collective Agreement and as well as the work that the deputy minister has been doing with the medical forum on this issue. Thank you.