Sandy Lee

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health and Social Services appoints members to this… It’s not a panel that exists throughout the year. It’s formed when a complaint is moved to that board of inquiry and a panel is selected from individuals appointed by the Minister. The panel will include at least one doctor who is licensed to practice in the NWT, one doctor who is licensed to practice in a province, and one member of the public who is not a doctor. So it’s usually made up of three members on that board. Thank you.

I have another return to oral question asked by Ms. Wendy Bisaro on March 24, 2010, regarding wait times to see medical specialists in the Northwest Territories.

As I stated in the House, the topic of wait times is a national issue. The international physician shortage and changing population demographics impact wait times around the world. Our medical director is working with health care providers and the chief executive officers of the health and social services authorities, constantly monitor wait time lists both here and in the South. Wait times are generally the same length down south as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the basis of review of analysis we have done, we believe this is a very good program and provides fair and equitable coverage to most people and those 2,000 people that the Member mentioned. Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, we have referred those suggestions and we have reviewed them and looked at the implications of progressive taxation, taxation to pay a program like this, which is not an insurer service, and we have reviewed the suggestions made in the Minister of Finance’s roundtable on revenue options. There was a suggestion for progressive taxation by Alternatives North. I believe that the program that we are proposing under supp health is a progressive taxation within the program in that we are supporting those who need it the most and we are asking those on a higher income to make a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is with a strong sense of loss that I rise in the House to acknowledge the passing of a great northern woman and leader, Bertha Allen. Bertha is known throughout the Beaufort-Delta, the NWT, Canada and the world as a strong yet soft-spoken Gwich’in woman who lived and worked for the advancement of aboriginal and northern women and social change.

In 1978, Bertha founded the Native Women’s Association of the Northwest Territories. It was her goal to ensure indigenous women of the North were not left behind in the fast-paced development of the day.

She saw that women...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Medical Profession Act, as any other professional body, it lays out a very clear process on how these things get conducted. It does not allow for Minister to intervene. I understand the overall responsibility I have as a Minister to make sure that there is a process in place. I do appreciate that the Member did let me know about that. I am not able to say anything in the House that would attribute anything to individuals out there. Having said that, I did let the Member know that I am concerned about what the Member has told me. I have told her that I...

The fact of the matter is, as a part of our consultation process we did write to the pharmacy association and the NWT Medical Association. The pharmacy association did not respond. We had written in March. We did get an email from Mr. Dolynny, who was not a president of the pharmacy association. He invited our staff to come. We had five days’ notice. Our staff was not going to be available for that time. It was five days’ notice. We had offered to meet with them at another time when it was more convenient, Mr. Speaker. So it is entirely inaccurate for anybody to suggest and it’s without...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do want to let the Member know that I do agree that people who have concerns of this nature should be able to go through the process and have the matter resolved as soon as possible.

Mr. Speaker, I would have to commit to look into how long certain cases do take, what is the normal course of process in going through this. I have to tell the Member that this does not come across my desk very often. I think I might have been thinking about a court case that seemed to take a little longer, but that’s different than the board of inquiry. So, Mr. Speaker, I just do not have...

My position is that it is fair and equitable because it gives access to all non-aboriginal people. It uses a criteria being used all around the world and all across the country, in determining a government social program. This is to be a safety net. We are going to give benefits to seniors. We’re going to give benefits to those with chronic conditions. We’ll be able to expand services to single moms, young university students. We’re going to be opening the program to everybody.

The program that we have now is not a program... We already have a separate program for Metis and NIHB for the treaty...

The fact of the matter is the old disease and conditions list did not work, and it doesn’t work now. Every day I get a request from the Member, every other Member, I get calls from all over the Territories wanting to know why we’re not covering this, we’re not covering that, this medication, there’s a new disease that comes on that gets diagnosed, there are new drugs in the market that we’re not able to pay, we have new wheelchairs, I don’t know, the list goes on. I’m sure if I did the Hansard research I could find a statement made by the honourable Member from Yellowknife Centre who said our...