Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services and I’d like to follow up on my statement. The issue of changes to the Extended Health Benefits Program was extremely contentious and it was a couple of years ago that we went through great upheaval and discussion about the changes. The policy was rescinded, but there were some recommended changes and some of those actions were put in place. I’d like to ask the Minister if he can advise the House and the Members and the public where things are at on the rest of the recommendations that were...

Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate that. One of the things that I have heard talk of and that the Australian system highlighted is a central command, so to speak, for medical assistance where doctors are available 24/7 and they can assist communities or small health centres elsewhere with difficult problems. The Minister said that they’re discussing things with the health authorities and I recognize that needs to be done, but this has been ongoing for quite some time. I guess I need to know from the Minister – if we’re going to do reform, that usually indicates that change is taking place –...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister for his comments. I think he probably well knows what comment it was that got me a little excited.

Again, I have to state that one of the things that I’d thought of the other day when we were in committee, we’ve received a huge amount of information from the Minister of Transportation during briefings and there’s been an awful lot of questions asked and the same questions were asked here today. But I’ve found the Minister saying the same thing over and over and over in an effort to convince me without providing me with new information. Without...

We still badly need doctors in Inuvik and Hay River; there is still no permanent nurse in Tsiigehtchic; and each year we continue to spend millions of dollars moving people from their home community to a regional centre so they can get the medical services they need. We can provide medical services in our communities. We have the innovation referenced by Dr. Snowdon, we just need to get on with it.

The Health and Social Services budgets in the last two years have earmarked literally millions for the Foundation for Change to reform our health care system. What do we have to show for that money...

We’ve still got time?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have a few comments here in terms of the supp as a whole. It’s relatively minor in that there are only four items, I think, on here. Most of them are in and out, but we do have one very significant item and that is the request for the work to be done on the Inuvik-Tuk highway.

I’ll back up a bit. I was pleased, actually, to see that in this supplementary appropriation for capital, although its number three, it’s a relatively minor amount in terms of the number of projects that money is being asked for, a large amount, in my mind, in terms of $2.5 million for the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just had a question with regard to the last item, the funding required to address the increased costs of food. Like other Members, I’m having great difficulty understanding why we couldn’t have seen that we were going to need a higher budgeted amount for food costs at our corrections facilities across the territory. My understanding is that we have budgeted the same amount for corrections facilities for food for about the last three, four or five years. To the Minister, I’d like to know how often we adjust our base funding. I know sometimes it’s done every year, but...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m sorry; I’d like to go back to the first item, law enforcement. I did have a question with regard to the expenditure, the third expenditure for $206,000 to provide funding for our share of increased costs with regard to the new RCMP allowance policy, I guess, or backup policy.

I know that this policy has been in place for I think maybe two years now, perhaps a little longer, but I’d like to know whether or not this policy is going to have an impact on us in the future. We’ve got an expenditure here which is beyond our budgeted amount in this particular year. Is this...

Thanks to the Minister. So we are doing some stuff, it sounds like; communicating with nurses at health centres and clinics that are in our smaller and isolated communities.

I guess I would like to know from the Minister whether or not that means that we are actually doing diagnoses. Are we able to keep patients and residents in their community as opposed to having them travel to a regional centre?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to address a few more questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services about the Foundation for Change and our health reform and what we’re doing in that regard. In some of the Minister’s answers earlier he talked about in terms of health professionals, nurse practitioners and doctors, he talked about wishing to do things, but I realize that the department has a very long wish list. My particular question at this point to the Minister is: We may wish to do these things, but what are we doing about attracting health professionals to our territory? Thank...