Sandy Lee

I am interested in collaborating with NGOs that might be knowledgeable or interested in this issue. As well as that, I think I will make a commitment to direct my department to do more research, gather information, look at the idea, explore it further and get back to the Member and Members on the other side.

Mr. Speaker, I think it’s important to note that the two authorities that are under the most pressure and having a significant deficit are the ones with a hospital. Stanton has a hospital and Inuvik has a hospital. Hay River and Deh Cho have hospitals too, but it’s a different level of hospital care. I think there’s unique pressure in running these hospitals that causes deficits.

The second thing is, whether there’s a board or not or a public trustee doesn’t seem to…. That’s not a factor that helps or doesn’t help deficit situations.

I do want to assure the Member that I am working closely and...

I think the Member is aware of the work this government does and that the western provinces, Nunavut and Yukon do to address FASD issues. I have to admit this is the first time I’ve heard it. I was not aware that this was being practised in Winnipeg. Perhaps there are other jurisdictions that are doing something like this. I’d be very interested in seeing what the program entails, how it works and whether or not we could look into implementing something like that here. It sounds like something that would require a great deal of work to explore, but I’m certainly willing to give the commitment...

The Stanton Territorial Health Authority has been under the management of a public administrator since 2002, I believe. What I did was appoint a new public administrator in May of this year.

With respect to Beaufort-Delta, there is no plan to dissolve that board and appoint a new public administrator. As the Member is aware, the Strategic Initiative Committee on Refocusing Government is reviewing the work of all the boards under Health and Social Services; Housing; and Education, Culture and Employment. We will have to wait to see the outcome of that work.

I do take the Member’s point that it is...

As the Member is aware, this is relatively new legislation. The last Standing Committee on Social Programs worked to implement that.

The second thing is that all of the tools and the legislative framework are there. We just need to work harder to get the communities to come on board. There’s not a lot of money allocated for that. It’s a situation where community leadership and interested parties could get together, and we will give administrative support in that regard.

Lastly, what I want to say is that in some situations in our regions, families agree…. In Sahtu they have agreed to the...

I wish to table the following document entitled Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Annual Report 2006–2007.

Document 8-16(3), Health and Social Services Annual Report 2006–2007, tabled.

I think the 1-800 number question was to do with residents in our small communities who need to get hold of a health professional, if there’s just one simple number they could call. The issue there, at the time, was with NorthwesTel having some difficulties.

With respect to this medical travel, I would commit to the Member that I will ask the department to review the process we have now to see if we could improve that any better. But, at the end of the day, having a contractor who could deliver that service consistently probably will be the better way, and I’m hoping we could have somebody take...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for bringing this issue to my attention, because it appears that we could improve our programming there.

My understanding is that we do not have a contractor for medical travel in Simpson. It is going out for tender in the next couple of weeks. While they do not have a contractor in place, the department and the Stanton authority, which is responsible for medical travel, have been using patchwork efforts to organize transportation. Where patients are flying in charter planes, they would arrange with the charter companies to pick them up, and then taxi...

I believe the Members are going to get a chance to review all of the new initiatives under that strategic initiative committee and Building Our Future budget in November. I could confirm that every cent of that money has been subscribed to.

The midwifery program is something that we want to be able to expand to smaller communities, where there is, I think, even greater need for midwifery because of the fact that there’s not a regular doctor service and other arrangements for women who are expecting to give birth.

I would like to commit to the Member, again…. I just want to be frank and direct...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t believe there is any question about the merits of the program or the skill sets of the midwife who is delivering the services here.

The issue, as the Member is aware and everybody here is aware, is that we are under extreme pressure in fiscal realities. In the Department of Health and Social Services that has meant we have to work really hard to make sure we protect the core services that Health and Social Services has to deliver. The midwifery program is not one of those core services. In fact, it’s a service that in seven provinces in the country is not even...