Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise on a point of order. I’ve waited until today to raise the point of order because I wanted to review the previous day’s Hansard. During an exchange with the Premier regarding the courthouse, I made note that on Friday, February 22, 2013, on page 26 of the Hansard, Premier McLeod makes the following statement: “We did, as the government put it, have that project, called the NWT Law Courts Project, and we put $40 million in the capital budget in 2005-2006. Committee took it out of the budget.” There lays the point of order issue.

So I draw all Members’ attention to...

Thank you for that. Just adding a little further, so is it safe to say that… Sorry. Would it be correct to say that medical travel, then, is on budget for core cost and should we be including third-party cost in its normal line budget? If the taxpayers of the Northwest Territories asked the simple question does normal medical travel under the cost of our programs we offer as a government service, are we on budget or are we within budget, is that a fair statement to make?

Thank you. I notice there seems to be an absence of the description under this particular title. Is there a reason why in-house respite services at $225,000 isn’t listed in some type of detail, or furthermore, why isn’t it broken out on its own? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I was to look for a line on medical travel, is this the only funding source area that I would search out or is it listed in any other line somewhere within the government?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to come back to something that I was thinking about when I asked questions about the health and social services authorities’ administration money. I think it was mentioned that $1.4 million, I assume we are still talking about the same pot of money of $15.5 million but $1.4 million is allocated to staffing, sort of, compensation and benefits. If that’s the case, why wouldn’t this be further labeled or better labelled as a travel fund, and maybe if they could talk specifically around who accesses this funding.

Just one last question, I believe, on this particular area. Would we be considered part of the norm or would we be considered part of the generous group? So in other words, is this consistent amongst pretty much every other jurisdiction or is this considered maybe over and above services that we offer just to keep them coming to the North, which isn’t as common in other areas? Thank you.

Would the Minister be willing to provide that type of update and have it in a written form to me, and possibly other Members, as to the current status of this file? When was the last equalizing on the amount that we believe we were out?

I’m sure it was only a few years ago that it was tens of millions of dollars outstanding. I have to admit, I find it almost a bit of a shock to hear that the feds have either come forward and made up the difference, or maybe, rather, did we write down the difference on that particular amount and just walk away from it? It seemed to be a very bitter dispute...

Thank you. So is the whole sum total paid out for the staff, or are there other activities associated with the management and administration?

Thank you. Is this considered consistent with other places who hire nurses under this Allied Health Program? I’m just trying to get a sense here. Thank you.

Thank you. So the Minister is saying that all our services that we pay under the NIHB program are completely paid up to date by the federal government and there has been no dispute on our funds and allocations of that? Thank you.