Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As of May 2008, we have 24.5 funded positions and two unfunded positions for nurse practitioners.

Currently, out of those, 11 funded NP positions are filled, plus two unfunded. So out of 26.5 NP positions available, we have 14 positions filled. Seven of them are in Yellowknife, one is in Resolution, one is in Smith, and two are in Fort Providence.

There are two unfunded positions at Stanton, as Members are aware, that we have funded for six months. And there is half PY funding being used for NP relief in Yellowknife.

Mr. Chairman, I could also add that there are 12 NP...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The headquarters person in Yellowknife…. We have one in headquarters, one in Inuvik, one in Yellowknife Health Authority, one at Stanton. We are proposing to eliminate the positions at Stanton and the Yellowknife Health Authority.

I could advise the Member that the elimination of these positions does not impact, in any way, the department’s ability to follow our mandate and deliver the programs and services we have been given to do. We just have to do them differently.

I understand that that bursary program still exists — it’s just reduced — and it still meets the level of demand or interest that has been shown in the past.

Mr. Chairman, I could give him that assurance. Anybody who needs that dialysis service is being, and will be, provided with it at Stanton.

I think the Member mentioned that…. I’m not sure if I would put it that way. I mean, I don’t think a Minister or any official in the department goes into the book and says, “What mandate can we eliminate?” May I just get that reworded?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I could assure the Member that the reductions being proposed are more than compensated for by new investments we’re making. As the Premier stated in his budget statement, there’s a $1.8 million new initiative, and most of the money is coming from THAF. It’s going to enhance the NP programming we have and the opportunities we can give to the NPs.

Mr. Chairman, the increases to Stanton are the registered nurse for Northern Women’s Health and two positions for dialysis registered nurses. So that’s three. There is a typographical change, a correction of the error from last year, on three positions, so it’s not real positions per se. The only reduction at Stanton Territorial Health Authority is a Telehealth position.

As I indicated yesterday, in adhering to the realignment exercises that we’ve had to go through, my department placed the most minimal impact on the front-line services as much as possible. That is the reason most of the reductions are within the headquarters, within the Department of Health, not in the authorities.

There are reductions of 17 positions from the department, and that is about 12.5 per cent of the entire workforce of the department. I do have a table here for the Members that I can provide to the Clerk. I can advise the Members that out of the 17 positions, nine positions are...

Obviously, I’m not as familiar with the situation in Fort McPherson and Tl’oondih as the Member is, but I like to think I have spent some time in meeting with the people and talking to the Member. I have had the occasion of meeting with the people from Tl’oondih Healing Society and the community people. I don’t think we could generalize; we need to work on specific situations.

With respect to Tl’oondih, the Beaufort-Delta authority has been working with the community to have that community person do the job she has been doing for a long time. There were extra training models provided. She was...