R.J. Simpson

Thank you, committee. We will now return to the bill number and title. Bill 26, Statistics Act. Does committee agree?

I will now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu.

All those abstaining, please rise. The results of the recorded vote are 11 against, six in favour. The motion is defeated. Zero abstaining, for the record.

---Defeated

I will now recall the clause. Clause 10.1, does committee agree?

I think that the Minister was speaking about what is called the Nuka model, or something based on that. He mentioned that there is a pilot project going on in a few different regions. When can Hay River expect to become part of this pilot project or expect to have the end result of the pilot project fully implemented?

The Member has asked for a recorded vote. I will put the question to committee. All those in favour, please rise.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just a moment ago I spoke about the need for more permanent physicians at the Hay River Health Authority, and I talked about some of the issues, some of the barriers that we are facing, in terms of being able to recruit physicians. There are just a few. I often get complaints about the work environment as well, but I didn't want to delve into that too much.

I have a series of questions for the Minister of Health. My first is: what steps is the Hay River Health Authority, along with the Department of Health, doing to recruit more physicians in Hay River? Is there a...

Thank you, Minister. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this month Hay River was in the midst of a serious physician shortage. We had one physician in the community, one physician to service not just Hay River but all of the South Slave communities served by the regional health centre, one doctor to manage the workload usually allotted to five full-time positions. The number of scheduled appointments was limited, and walk-in appointments, which are hard to get on a good day, were either limited or sometimes cancelled entirely, so, as you can imagine, the emergency room turned into the walk-in clinic.

Mr. Speaker, this...

Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is being distributed. I will wait until all Members have a copy. The motion has been distributed and is in order. To the motion. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, and welcome to the witnesses. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 26, if there are any general comments. Mr. Testart.