Sandy Lee

I tell you, I’d give him everything I owned if I could. I don’t know what else to say, Mr. Speaker. The rule is that we need to have at least two nurses in each community. That’s one of the reasons I have committed to the Member that I will look at all options available to see if we could have this person stay there.

Mr. Speaker, if I had the power to order that right now, I would. I have to work through the health authority. We do have the Beaufort-Delta health authority board. They decide on how their block funding will be spent. I will get back to the Member. I’ve given him the commitment to...

Mr. Speaker, I have committed to the Member that we will work to extend the nursing coverage in Tsiigehtchic. The community has expressed interest in extending the nurse visits there, because right now the nurse visits weekly, and then they have extended stays during the freeze-up and breakup.

I have committed to the Member in writing, verbally, in meetings, in committees that I have directed the department to revisit this issue and look at all options available to extend the nursing covering in Tsiigehtchic.

Yes, and I have been communicating also with the Member for Mackenzie Delta on this issue. I’m not sure if the wellness centre is looking for treatment programming. They have lots of creative ideas about how they want to use that facility, and the department is certainly there to assist them in any way it can.

I understand that there was a nurse about five years ago, and that nurse moved to Hay River. Since then Tsiigehtchic has had a visiting nurse. The Member has been keeping me informed of the situation from day one. I am absolutely doing everything I can to extend the nursing coverage there. I have directed the department to work with Beaufort-Delta to enhance the services in Tsiigehtchic. That is a commitment I can give. I cannot give an exact date of when that’s going to happen, but I’ve committed to the Member to get back to him on that.

I was not suggesting that I was going to engage in any consultation. The fact is that McPherson has a nursing station and residence and nurses there. Tsiigehtchic has nursing service. It’s just that the nurses visit, I believe, once a week or every second week or so. We are working with Beaufort-Delta to extend the nursing coverage in Tsiigehtchic. I have asked them to give me all options possible, and I have committed to the Member that I will have an answer for him by the next business plan meeting, which is in November.

Mr. Speaker, yes, this new process has required that unless there is a very specific plan in an advanced stage, some of the capital projects that were on the books got taken off — the Stanton master plan is one of them — and they are being redirected to work through this new capital plan process. I commit to the Member that I will revisit this capital project to see where it is and put it into the process.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The capital project for Deh Cho has not been made available to me. We have just finished our ’09–10 Capital Plan, and we’re getting into the new stage. I’d be willing to look at what the Dehcho Authority is proposing.

In my tour to Deh Cho the administration had suggested that they would like some work done at the hospital as well as, perhaps, Fort Providence. I think there was some suggestion that they might want to use the surplus money to do that. I understand that’s not the right way to spend the surplus money, but Deh Cho has the right to make their submission and...

I do not have all of the list available. I could get the Member that information. I am aware that there are a number of our NWT residents with MS who get assistance for devices that they need. I understand that this device she purchased is in a pilot program in Alberta. Until the pilot program is finished, we have not decided to put that on the list. It may be that it could get on the list. It appears that this is an experimental device.

Mr. Speaker, I’m sure that if the constituent would go in and talk to the officials, we could give her a whole…. I believe she was given the list of things...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to just speak briefly to this motion, as lead Minister of the Reducing the Cost of Living Strategic Initiative. I appreciate the intention behind the motion and agree with the Members that we need to make sure that our children get every opportunity to grow up healthy and strong. As a government we believe that all of our residents should be able to meet their basic needs and already have many programs that help ensure this.

At the same time, Mr. Speaker, we know that economic pressures on our residents are increasing, and we welcome the opportunity to work...

Mr. Speaker, I know that the Sahtu regional health authority is new, young and vibrant. It’s working hard to bring up the programs and services in the region. I’m willing to work with the authority as well as the Member to look at what we have in the Sahtu and what we need to work on, not only in the programming but also with respect to capital planning. I do make a commitment to the Member that I will ask the department to work with the Sahtu to see what their capital needs are. There are processes, step by step, that we need to follow, and I’m willing to begin that process.