Steve Norn

Thank you, Madam Chair. Committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 12-19(2), 2019-2023 Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is: this form was quite difficult to get, and it wasn't readily accessible. Will the Minister commit to having this form in electronic form, easier access for the public because I didn't see it, and that is for potential claimants and also have a quick tutorial just to make sure, probably a start to our dialogue to make it a little easier, so have a quick tutorial to how to use this form? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister, for that very detailed answer. On the form here, it says, four to six weeks. I guess I didn't really quite get an answer. In addition to this four to six weeks that it states on the form, is there an additional delay for claimants?

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. The medical travel expense claim form in its current format is not user-friendly, and it has been reported to me that they are hard to understand and to fill out, causing unnecessary delays. I have it here in front of me, and I am looking at it. I walked through with one of my constituents. It was a very difficult process. I think it would have been far easier to go take their claims and go to H&R Block and go fill it out, but I don't think we want to do that with our constituents to do these forms. I...

Madam Chair, I move that the chair rise and report progress.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My thoughts on this: I am echoing what Member from Frame Lake said about getting notice for the point of order. I think we as Members, when we first got to the House, we are going to work together. I think we have got to continue to do that and not to surprise each other because we give that courtesy across the other side, and we expect the same thing in return. We did not get that today. That is not right.

On that note, about this whole issue, for me, personally, it wasn't too much on my radar, but the more I thought about it, I have four tenets, and I kind of have a...

Mahsi cho, Madam Chair. I won't say too much about this, but I think I really need to get this off my chest. I am really, really so supportive. It is good to see that we are moving forward with education and advancing our education and talking about the knowledge economy and attracting investments. This is a good opportunity from that aspect. The only reason I am kind of conflicted about this, again, to what the Member for Monfwi said, a lot of our small communities, a lot of our students from small communities, I feel like they are going to be on the outside looking in. That, for me, is going...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Another thing, too, is aftercare. It is really important to always follow up with any sort of treatment program and preventing relapse, and I think it is important that we closely track this to measure change, positive change. What measures is the Premier planning to go forward with to help measure this success? Mahsi cho.

Mahsi cho, Madam Chair. This one here is very near and dear to me, addiction issues and aftercare. It was a big part of my platform, and I spoke to a lot of people about this. For me, I mentioned before when we did our roundtable, I have been sober for a long time now. I struggled with alcohol for many years, and I am glad to say now, it is been over seven years. You try to lead by example, and that is what I am doing, but there has to be more than that. You talk to a lot of people who are in pain right now. They are suffering, and you just feel powerless when you go through your campaign. Now...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have been looking at this one. Affordable food is so important, and you look at food indexes and the price of just a basic bag of groceries costs in the territories, just insane prices in the small communities. Again, I have said this a couple of times, I always think about the single parents in the small communities, and any sort of fluctuation affects those vulnerable sectors. That is what I would like to see. Right now, I am looking at things like the greenhouses and community gardens. It says they want to ensure supports in this document, so my question to the...