Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you that this is a very difficult time for us as a Legislature. We have all 11 Members from this side that stood up this morning on another occasion where we had a chance to express our views on this. I stand by the statements I made. I believe that the privilege as a Member here comes with a lot of different aspects to that, one of them being our need and right to feel free from any kind of intimidation and limitation. So this is such a very difficult issue. I do accept the Minister’s apology. I do believe he is very sincere in his apology...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This flexibility that's built in for OR nurses is done because it's convenient for the government. It does not pay attention to equity issues and fairness to all the health care professionals. The government allows this flexibility because the OR shuts down. But for the rest of the health care professionals, they are asked to work overtime excessively because there's a shortage of workers, they can't take any time because there's a shortage of workers, they're asked to get cash paid out. But you know what? People don't want to work three weeks in a row, or 10 days...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad the Minister mentioned that, because I think that speaks precisely to the inequity and the problems that come out of this Minister's policy. Mr. Speaker, it is not right for the government to have one policy, even just within the nursing field. There are nurses at the OR room at the hospital who are allowed to bank 150 hours and the rest are 75 hours. Does he think that's fair, Mr. Speaker? How could that be fair? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the last few months, the GNWT introduced a policy where across the board, with very few exceptions, the GNWT employees cannot bank any more than 75 hours of overtime. Not only that, once an employee has reached that in any fiscal year, they cannot refill it again. Mr. Speaker, this means that most of your overtime, above and beyond that, is paid out in cash. This is a problem, Mr. Speaker, because, believe it or not, money is not everything to our people. They want to have the choice of being able to take the time off instead of getting cash, but the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask questions to the Premier with regard to following up on the statements and questions I asked the Premier about yesterday. It’s with regard to a lack of progress this government and the Premier is making with regard to the resource revenue sharing. Yesterday the Premier committed to providing me with proof of the progress and this morning I appreciated the fact that there was a letter sitting on my desk that is supposed to be proof. I am going to table this letter in the House, but could I just ask the Premier exactly what part of this...

Thank you. I'm going to go by very good…You know, sometimes we succeed here and sometimes not, and I have to tell you that the survey or whatever the HR department did in working out the questions to get at the concerns of the correctional services I thought were excellent. So I'd like to ask the Minister if he could review with us about sort of detailed methodology about how…He should talk with the senior management, whether it's by survey, or by interview, or by meeting; if he could work with us, from the Members on this side, as to what the plan is so that we could have some input into...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to add one more thing to that, Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the Minister's willingness to work on this. I need to mention the fact that there are some employees, and it's the case anywhere, where they are scared of bringing points forward. If consultation is to take place in an effective manner, and a substantive manner, in a positive manner, all efforts have to be made to make sure that people feel free to talk and that they are part of the building process and not fingering or blaming. So could I ask the Minister for a commitment to work with the DM and the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I could tell you that these issues have been going on for quite a while. I have been listening to it for about a year and a half and, you know, it's just building and building and I don't think it's in the interest, actually, of the operation of the hospital and delivery of the health care services that this be continued any longer. I understand the extra impetus that the Minister and the department put on when session is on. It's nice. We could use this productively to shed light on issues that have been going on for a long time. So I want to set...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to address my questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services again. I'd like to just state that in listening to the workers, I just feel that there are so many issues wrapped up in this about the hospital, at the Stanton Hospital, and various issues that are coming out of that. It involves many different units, many different professions, and whatever it is that's happening there is causing an exodus of very valuable, long-term not only health care professionals but hospital staff in general. Now, I understand this is a very sensitive...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, may I seek unanimous consent to go back to item 6, oral questions?