Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I do hear the Minister, and that's why I started with the question of whether or not healthcare in this territory is chronically underfunded. There are certain things that residents of this territory are going to expect to be able to have access to and equitable access to across the territory. Health demands are much different, say, in Fort Smith or in Yellowknife as they might be in Nunakput and the costs of each of those. And so my question to the Minister then is what conversations is the GNWT having to ensure that health systems in the...

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, absolutely that residents have asked for all of that. I guess it comes down to choices because I've also seen some things that I would think that are not necessary expenses for the Department of Health and Social Services, which I won't get into. But I do think it comes down to choices, and I think that there are ways that we can spend money smarter. So my next question is how is NTHSSA working with regional health authorities to reduce the trend in this growing deficit? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the Department of Finance might want to review their website then, because it does clearly state on the website that it is for residential lease arrears.

But my last question for the Minister of Housing is if this program doesn't apply to Housing NWT itself, to be able to use Property Tax Arrears Program to pay off arrears, what other process is available to Housing NWT to forgive public housing arrears? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I've got the Finance website open in front of me, and just for everyone's sake Property Tax Arrears Program is designed to help residents who have property tax or residential lease arrears in the Northwest Territories. And so, given that information, I'm wondering if the Minister of Finance can confirm if Housing NWT clients can use property tax arrears to pay rental arrears? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, in 2016, the GNWT created the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority. The NTHSSA was created to provide efficiencies and streamline administrative services for the regional health authorities. It was thought at the time that one agency to manage procurement and administration could save money, provide consistency, and manage the ongoing deficits from the regional boards.

Unfortunately what happened, Madam Speaker, is that the NTHSSA now takes procurement and decisionmaking away from the regions while the health deficit continues to grow.

NTHSSA's annual...

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I too would just like to thank Mr. Thagard for his service here. He's been an absolute joy to work with and I would like to, on behalf of Kam Lake, congratulate him on his retirement.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I always love sharing ideas. I've shared one this week that will tackle two of the five major items that run over in the health budget, which is trading education for service in the public service. Thank you.

My next question for the Minister is has there been an evaluation of health authority programs to determine where specifically there can be cost savings to the government in this fiscal year? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Can the Minister or sorry, can the Minister answer what is the Minister of Health and Social Services doing to meaningfully address the growing deficit of NTHSSA and is healthcare in the territory chronically underfunded? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm seeing here that it also extends to residential lease arrears. And so I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to what that difference is and if it also extends to damages incurred within residential lease arrears as well, and if that confirmation can be made. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we have $193.7 million deficit within NTHSSA. Two of the main reasons for this deficit creeping up are cost of overtime due to staffing shortages and underfunded locum costs. So I think that investing in education in exchange for return of service is a good investment of this territory. So my question comes back to investment in bursaries is will this government provide bursaries in exchange for years of service to anybody who wants to be a nurse so that their program is fully subscribed every year? Thank you.