Tom Beaulieu

Madam Chair, this response needs to have a lot of detail in it because of things that we’re doing. So I’m going to ask the deputy minister to provide a detailed response on this whole question, and perhaps the director of finance may also add to the response. I’ll ask the deputy minister to start off the response.

Madam Chair, as I indicated earlier, we are going to have a discussion with the leadership in Fort Liard. After that, all things being equal, and then wanting to move in that direction, and we think they probably do, but we need to have that discussion just the same.

We would then have discussions with British Columbia Health to sort out the out-of-territory billing and then return emergent referrals from Nelson to the nearest centre where the required services are available. So if they are getting a service there and they need to have further services beyond what Nelson is able to provide...

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. There are some issues with mailing, but I think that the majority of the people that went for renewal have had their health cards renewed without any issues.

There are some issues. To answer her question of how far behind we are in this is difficult for me. I can say that we did change the system just a bit by mailing out postcards as opposed to forms, and that has caused a little bit of an issue. Aside from wrong addresses, I think we’re fairly up to speed on our renewals.

They are scheduled to be completed, or the pilot completed, in April of this calendar year, 2013, and then from there we’re going to use that project to roll out the further chronic disease programs.

The evaluation process is very critical in the RFP. The evaluation is going to give us a very clear indication of where the medevacs are coming from. If the Member from the Sahtu is accurate in his thinking, then, yes, many of the issues resulting from perhaps unrestricted alcohol sales and many people, just many people, period, in the area as a result of resource development, then it is possible that many of the medevacs will originate out of the Sahtu communities. That would be in the evaluation.

When we put out the RFP, I think there’s an indication in the RFP as some background information...

We are just starting to put the pieces of this review together now. The position will come on, hopefully, soon in the new fiscal year. We believe that it will take all of the 12 months in that fiscal year to complete this review.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a priority of this government that children get the best possible start in life so they can reach their full potential. It is important that we continue investment in early childhood development as this is an investment in the future of our children.

In January of this year, in partnership with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, we hosted a roundtable to identify priorities for a renewed Early Childhood Development Framework. I’m pleased to report that the roundtable was a success.

I know the Members of this House that attended the roundtable would...

Yes, Madam Chair. To my right is Debbie DeLancey, deputy minister of Health and Social Services. To my left is Jeannie Mathison, director of finance, Health and Social Services.

We will definitely be evaluating the systems that we employ. We think that an essential part of introducing new systems. We don’t have estimates but we are trying to move forward on these things. Some of our activities we’re trying to move forward on. We’re told to stop evaluating and move forward. If we don’t evaluate and move forward, we’re told we’re not evaluating. So here are some of the decisions that we’re making. We’re moving forward on this because we think that the system, without a thorough analysis on whether or not this system is going to save money and exactly how much money it’s...

My understanding is there is no cap in as far as time, but the flow of the funding within that agreement is contingent upon approvals in the Assembly.