Wendy Bisaro

That’s good. Thanks to the Minister.

Does committee agree?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a couple of questions here. I wanted to also state that I think the single window service centres have been extremely well received. I’ve heard nothing but positive things about them. I think, in the Minister’s remarks, he did talk about establishing three new government service officers in three new communities, and that’s great. I was wondering if the Minister or the department could advise what the end goal is here. How many communities do we want to get single window service centres? Where do we want to have them? How many are we going to end up with when we’re...

Thanks to the Minister for that. Is there any hope that the Minister might tell me what sorts of things are being looked at, what kinds of amendments might be coming forward?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have a question that I think belongs here. The Minister, in his opening remarks at the very end, talked about developing a strategy that recognizes the volatility of our revenue and plans to ensure stable revenues. Is this referencing the Revenue Stabilization Fund which has been talked about for a while? I haven’t heard anything about it for a while. Thank you.

Thanks. So I guess what the Minister is telling us is that whatever Ministers say in the House really doesn’t carry any weight. If it contravenes a policy which is already in existence then, oh, don’t listen to the Minister, just make sure that you read the policy and the Minister must be making a mistake. So really, that means that any commitment by a Minister in this House doesn’t mean anything, and I have a serious problem with that. To the Minister of Health and Social Services, knowing what he knows now that there have been two previous commitments to this change in policy, will he...

Thanks for the clarification. I have two last questions here. The first one has to do with the Auditor General’s report, which came out I think almost two years ago now, and it was sort of a status report of a number of reports that they had already done. Within that report at the end of the report the Auditor General identified three barriers, which they saw as barriers to effective and efficient government within the GNWT. They were inadequate information to manage programs and make decisions, insufficient monitoring of third-party program delivery, and an absence of detailed action plans on...

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Abernethy.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just have one question here. Certainly, in my time here, I’ve realized that this section of this department is really busy. We seem to increase the number of negotiating tables that we’re at on a yearly basis. I’m wondering how things are going in terms of negotiating tables. I don’t imagine that we’ve lost any, so to speak, in this last year. I note on the next page that we have gone down one staff member from the current budget year to the next budget year. Are we still negotiating at the same number of tables as previously? If so, why has our staff complement gone down...

Thanks. I think I thank the Minister for that clarification, I don’t necessarily agree with him, but I have to then ask the Minister when we have two previous Ministers of Health who have stated that 65 years and over patients are allowed a medical escort, what weight does the Minister’s statement made in the House carry? Why did that not translate into a policy change? Thank you.