Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to move, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that Bill 19, Donation of Food Act, be read for the first time. Thank you.

I guess we have to agree to disagree on the definition of aggressive. It’s been more than a month since the first sort of spurt of confirmed cases came forward. We now have 18 cases, and the cases are continuing to increase. I trust the Minister that there is action happening, that we have professionals doing their job, that things are going forward and that the work is being done to try and stifle this outbreak.

My personal experience is that I have seen nothing except a report in the newspaper some three or four weeks ago. If there is a publicity campaign, it’s not that noticeable. I would...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It should come as no surprise today that my questions are directed to the Minister of Health. As I mentioned in my statement, we have 18 confirmed cases of syphilis, as of last Friday, in 2008 alone. Compare that to less than one case last year and four in the last 13 years. My question to the Minister is: why do we have this continuing increase in the number of syphilis cases in our territory? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Minister. I appreciate that those actions are being taken on the ground, but I go back to the need to publicize this particular situation. I think that if people are aware that there is an outbreak of syphilis and if people know that they are particularly engaging in behaviours which can lead them to be at risk, then that information has to be out there. I think a much more aggressive publicity campaign and educational campaign is warranted. I’d like to know if the Minister and department are considering that.

I thank the Minister for the comment. I recognize the efforts of the department, as she’s outlined. I’m having great difficulty in understanding why the department thinks these actions are enough. I feel that they’re very understated.

Again, my question is to the Minister. Why is the department not taking aggressive action to publicize this threat to our residents, alert them to the potential risk, and provide them with information on access to testing?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT today is headed for a health crisis, one unknown to most of us. Sexually transmitted infections, or STIs, are unfortunately rather common in the NWT, but one in particular is not, nor is it common in other parts of Canada. That one is syphilis.

As of last Friday there were 18 confirmed cases of syphilis in the NWT. Compare that to a total of four cases in the NWT in the last 13 years. In early September health officials noted that five cases had been confirmed in the month previous. Added to the three already confirmed cases, that made a total of eight. Several...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement yesterday I spoke about the need for this government to reduce expenditures. One area, in my view, that is ripe for picking some funds and removing them is print advertising.

The Minister of Finance yesterday was good enough to advise me that, yes, we do have policies that govern this particular expense. But I have to ask the Minister: has he done a cost benefit analysis of this type of expense, the use of print advertising, and what is the value to this government of print advertising?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to highlight this Sunday, October 5, which is Run for Our Lives. On Sunday hundreds of participants in six of our communities will take part in the CIBC sponsored Run for Our Lives to raise funds for breast cancer.

You may know of the national event Run for the Cure, but Run for Our Lives is an NWT event made in the North for the North, and the dollars stay in the North. Several years ago a dedicated group of volunteers, tired of sending our hard earned NWT fundraised dollars to the South, decided that a breast cancer fundraiser event would better benefit...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for answering the question that was in my head. I’m really glad to hear that this is an area that is going to be considered.

I’d like to know, relative to the policies that he mentioned yesterday, whether or not they will be considered in light of reducing the spending on print advertising and if the policies will be evaluated for the value of full page ads advertising a particular day or welcoming kids back to school.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank him for that. I wasn’t necessarily asking for a dollar value; I was asking for a value per dollar spent. I didn’t hear an answer to the question of whether or not there has been a cost benefit analysis done on print advertising. It is for me, I think, one of the methods of communication that is least effective. So I’d like to ask the Minister again: has there ever been a cost benefit analysis done on print advertising from the GNWT?