Wendy Bisaro

Thank you. I, too, would like to say welcome back to all Members of this House. It’s good to be back.

I’m going to speak today about a contentious issue; one dear to the hearts of those assembled in the gallery and dear to us on this side of the House as well. I refer to the proposed changes to the NWT Supplementary Health Benefits Program.

I can’t say it often enough or loudly enough. This program has been poorly thought out, poorly presented and is based on a poor policy. Cabinet had lofty goals and, I hope, good intentions when they decided to go forward with this new program and policy. We...

I would like to recognize pretty much everybody in the gallery. I can’t see anybody from where I’m at, so at the risk of leaving people out, I’m simply going to say welcome to the House to all the residents of Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to say that the Minister has often been heard to say that we have a Cadillac health program here, and that being said in comparison to other jurisdictions. Can the Minister promise on September 1st, 2009 an NWT resident will not pay any more for health benefits here than someone living elsewhere in Canada? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to thank the Minister for her comments. It’s nice to know that consultations are going to be happening with the NWT Seniors’ Society, but they’re not the only group of people who are affected by this policy change. There are many people who are not seniors who are also affected by this change. I need to emphasize to the Minister that there has to be consultation with them as well, because they don’t have an organized group to be consulted, as such.

I’d like to know from the Minister that as this consultation progresses, as the schedule goes through, will the Minister guarantee to...

I want to emphasize to the Minister that I said “changes to the policy.” I believe that in the Minister’s statement earlier today that she made a statement that the policy will not change; that the policy is the base for the program changes that she wants to be implemented. I would like to ask the Minister again if she is open to changes to the policy, which to me means changes to the income testing, that that can possibly be dropped.

I would like to recognize pretty much everybody in the gallery. I can’t see anybody from where I’m at, so at the risk of leaving people out, I’m simply going to say welcome to the House to all the residents of Frame Lake.

Thank you. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Health. I’d like to thank the Minister for her statement earlier today and for her announcement earlier this week, and that’s that the new Supplementary Health Benefits Program has been delayed. In my opinion, it’s not nearly long enough. I agree with some of the comments made earlier by my colleagues, that April 2010 is a far better date.

This delay is intended to respond to the gaps that have been identified through consultation. So I’d like to ask the Minister how she will ensure meaningful, comprehensive and open consultation on the...

Thank you. I, too, would like to say welcome back to all Members of this House. It’s good to be back.

I’m going to speak today about a contentious issue; one dear to the hearts of those assembled in the gallery and dear to us on this side of the House as well. I refer to the proposed changes to the NWT Supplementary Health Benefits Program.

I can’t say it often enough or loudly enough. This program has been poorly thought out, poorly presented and is based on a poor policy. Cabinet had lofty goals and, I hope, good intentions when they decided to go forward with this new program and policy. We...

Mr. Speaker, I didn’t get the answer I was looking for.

The second question that was asked by a constituent is: why are suggestions from knowledgeable people being ignored and critical research absent? I think constituents are concerned that albeit we have a Program Review Office, there is very little analysis prior to job cuts being proposed. There is very little research — in this case “critical research” is the statement — in terms of proposed job cuts. I would ask the Minister again: what sort of analysis, what sort of research are we doing for the job cuts which are liable to be coming up...

Mr. Speaker, I mentioned in my Member’s statement a number of questions that had come from constituents, various residents that had communicated to me their concerns in terms of revenue, budgeting expenses and so on. I would like to ask the questions that I mentioned in my Members’ Statement to the Finance Minister today. The first one is: where is the analysis of the impact of cutting jobs on GNWT finances?