Kieron Testart

My colleague from Boot Lake just said we could build a very nice dental clinic for $8 million. So there's clearly a problem here. How it's not this Minister's job to solve it but when you're assessing these kind of applications in terms of an overall fiscal sustainability, does the department have a perspective that we need to solve this at a fundamental level rather than just throw more money into the medical travel program? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's good news. I'd like to ask the Minister if she'll join my mission to MARS and get online map staking done by 2026 or earlier? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this represents an increase to kind of program commitments, not an increase in children in care? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And this is related to fiscal year 20232024? I'm seeing nodding of heads.

So the next question is on medical travel benefits provided to the public service. It's $8 million. Can we get some additional explanation on this increase?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I talked about the serious need for us to reinvest in our mining economy and open it up to new degrees of exploration. So I'd like to ask the Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment will she ask or will she bring forward an FMB submission to double the Mining Incentive Program? Thank you.

Thank you, much. Yeah, I think we just go back to, like it's much like the medical travel discussion we've had. Like, there's an issue here we need to solve because this is just going to end up costing the taxpayer more and more as time goes on, not less and less. And there's an additional cost to staff morale and productivity within the health care system that needs to be looked at as well. And I know the health Minister is here listening, finance Minister's here. I am confident we are going to move forward as an Assembly on this and look at health care sustainability as we move into budgets...

Okay, now I'm confused. So the Travel support program is $6 million, then. Okay, I see a nodding of heads. Yeah, nothing further. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, luckily, the night is always darkest before the dawn. So I'm hoping that we can, you know, move forward from tough times into brighter ones. But I think maybe the Minister can do the public a service as well because I think during the evac circumstances, there was a lot of discussion around like depleting the operational surplus which left the government broke, for lack of a better word, and so can we draw a distinction between the supplementary reserve and the operational surplus and why they are relevant to one another but not intrinsically linked or the same...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that the Minister of Health and Social Services' Minister's statement, Health Human Resources Recruitment and Retention, be referred to Committee of the Whole for consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One is too many. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that that's the sentiment I'm hearing from health professionals in my riding. And what they're looking for is accurate numbers and cost analysis. So in their words, we have been successful and we're seeing how we can compare if we've been successful in recruiting and training nurses. And these questions are not kind of to yeah, I guess we could put a spin on it and say, like, we're excoriating the department for relying on agency nurses and privatizing our health care system, which is probably more exciting for question period than it is for...