Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, November 1, 2010, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that this Legislative Assembly requests the Governor-in-Council to dissolve the 16th Legislative Assembly on September 4, 2011, to permit a general election for the 17th Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories to be held on October 3, 2011.

Thanks to the Minister for her comments. I appreciate, I think, Standing Committee on Social Programs will certainly take advantage of the Minister’s comment that we can go for public input. I imagine there will be certainly some of that.

The Minister mentioned the 2007 policy, which has now been rescinded. It kind of leads into my question. I guess two things: I don’t think we need a policy to extend coverage to people who are not covered, but in the absence of a Supplementary Health Benefits Policy -- which I presume we now have -- what will govern extended health benefits, Metis health...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’d like to follow up on my statement and her statement as well.

I noted in the Minister’s statement that there were no words that I read or understood which referenced that coverage would be extended to those residents of the NWT who do not currently have either chronic conditions coverage or catastrophic drug coverage or supplementary health benefits coverage. So I’d like to ask the Minister, is it the intent of the Minister and the department to do that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, we were fortunate to have rain every day. I have to just again express my disappointment, although I have to say that this is probably the one area of expense why I could understand why we would have a base amount and then would come back for an appropriation, because it is a very volatile activity and one can never tell from one year to the next how many fires we’re going to have. But I do think that our base amount is not enough. Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s pretty much a comment.

I would be interested in seeing those two numbers, because I really have a hard time believing that we need $3.6 million. We have a $3.6 million shortfall if we’re budgeting from actual, because in the previous year we had a deficit of almost $2.8 million. Just a comment.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That’s good.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the comments by the Minister, but if we have over-expended in this particular item on our budget roughly the same amount two years running, I’d like to know from the Minister -- and I appreciate that we’re going to be making some plans to try and reduce the costs -- why would we not set our budget for the amount that we expect we’re going to incur? I know our budget keeps expanding, but we’ve overspent by about $3 million for two years running now, so in the next 2011-12 budget can I expect that we’re going to see a realistic figure for medical travel? Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m totally in support of this motion. For me, it’s a no-brainer. I have been perplexed since the federal government announced they were cancelling the long-form census as to what the rationale was for them doing so.

The motion itself references any number of reasons why we need the long-form census. So I don’t think I’m going to repeat what’s in the motion. My colleague Mr. Bromley has covered many other reasons as well.

I just want to read a quote from the executive director of the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre of Winnipeg. She said, “They strongly urge the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I guess we have to agree to disagree. I’m puzzled that we need a policy change or a new policy in order to implement some of these efficiencies and changes to supp health and chronic conditions coverage.

The last thing I want to ask the Minister is whether or not... There have been a number of changes that have been mentioned in her statement. I have to assume, I’m hoping these are not all the changes that are being proposed. Are these the short-term changes and are there medium- and long-term changes coming?

Thanks to the Minister. I’m afraid her words don’t give me much comfort. She’s mentioned that she’s coming back to announce the process to talk about implementation. I have several concerns there. The coverage of people who are not currently covered is a very basic need and it’s one that certainly all Members have agreed upon. It was not one that at the Joint Working Group there was any kind of disagreement on. So I need to know from the Minister, in terms of these announcements of process and implementation, will there be an opportunity for the public, I guess, to have input on those? I know...