Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, moving on to a different topic, I noticed that the homecare and support services has been decreased a bit. It actually has sort of decreased over the last three fiscal years. Also, that there had been some marginal increase to the mental health and addictions. Like I had indicated during my opening remarks on this department, that's a huge cost driver for the department and I think there should be more funding put into at least those two areas. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Minister, on the contract section, what type of term? I realize there is a lot of detail, but what type of term on the contracts for this care, the length of the contract? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have no further questions on this side.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I think there are a lot of good items and a lot of money wellspent or planned to be wellspent in this budget. I just want to touch on, in no particular priority, some of the items that I will be exploring as we go through the budget with Health and Social Services.

Longterm care, I think, is something that the department is heading in the right direction. I am very pleased with the fact that we are able to provide longterm care regionally, the fact that people from Fort Smith can go into longterm care in their own community, Hay River. Hay River...

Marci, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently, at this time, how are existing addictions programming targeted to serve the youth? Thank you.

How will the actions described in this plan work with the department's future development of an addictions recovery action plan?

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to move item 11 on the orders paper, replies to budget address. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Unanimous consent granted

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to talk about difficult times families are facing when it comes to impacts of drug and alcohol on youth.

[Translation] The way the kids are drinking and using drugs, that is what I would like to talk about. The way our relatives are having problems and still drinking today. There are kids -- it gets very expensive and all the money is spent on -- [translation ends] struggle with alcohol and drugs, the added burden on mothers, fathers, and grandparents and siblings is huge. It is a wide ranging issue, from not sleeping properly to constant worry...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we had attended the Antipoverty Roundtable in Inuvik as a social development group. It was very interesting. The Minister was there, of course, and listening to the group there talking about their work. We felt also that there should be more funds targeted towards the anti-poverty group. So that's just something I would mention here, as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Minister has anticipated my question well. My question was the whole idea of repatriating. I know that the department had gone through one repatriation and created a community living complex in Hay River, so the fact that the Minister has indicated that he is looking at that all the time is something that I am satisfied with. Thank you.