Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, streamlining access sounds like a reduction of services to me. I’m not sure where the Minister...how she understands it that way.

Mr. Speaker, when I referred to Nunavut services as a priority, we send our team professionals here, whether they’re physio or speech, to places in Nunavut and that makes their clients more of a priority when we have people here not getting full services. On top of that, it’s a billing issue.

But, Mr. Speaker, my question, as stated before, and I’ll ask it this way: Mr. Speaker, again, we’ll have a difference of opinion on reduced services or money, but...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Al Shortt, one of the YK No. 1 School trustees. He’s in the gallery today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I highlighted the fact that we’ve got doctors acting like either summer students or clerks. In my statement I also pointed out that we’re not billing properly. So are we like a diamond mine? No, we’re not. But the strategy and process and thinking is exactly the same: wise resources and good use of them. Would the Minister re-examine the issue of establishing a position that looks at how we use our resources to make sure we’re using them in the most efficient way? It’s not about the question of providing resources, it’s how we spend the money...

Thank you kindly, Mr. Speaker. On one hand the Minister will say in this House that the supplementary health benefit changes are not about reducing costs. The question still stands: what services are provided within the Department of Health and Social Services that examine the cost of our health dollars to ensure that they are being used wisely?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Co-payment is a reduction in services. Mr. Speaker, when you grandfather people, that’s a reduction of services to the people who follow after them. Mr. Speaker, I’m trying to understand from the one-sided point of view of this full evaluation, as I’ve been trying to highlight, we can save money so we can make sure we don’t have to make these changes. I’m trying to understand how come the Minister keeps defending that there are no changes when we keep highlighting that there are. Thank you.

I keep telling the Minister we’re leaving thousands of dollars on the table, whether it’s through WCB… We charge through WCB but we don’t charge through federal programs where they provide individual insurance. Mr. Speaker, I’m asking the Minister what do we do to make sure we’re collecting all the fees and services, and I’ve pointed out whether it’s insurance through, for example, auto insurance, like I said last week, whether it’s getting full payment from Nunavut on services we provide to them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe the Minister is completely incorrect in us being able to bill insurance companies for services that they are rightly responsible for. I’d like to hear the Minister on how she defines reduction of services for supplementary health benefits is not considered cutting services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to express some serious concern and caution to this Cabinet before us. I speak in favour of the Taltson Hydro Project, but I need to see some results. We’ve all heard about how great this project may be, and I certainly support any hydro expansion in our North. But when I talk to industry face to face, they show no interest in this project. They stall and don’t move to make any agreements with the Government of the Northwest Territories. The longer this process takes, there will be no diamond mine industry for them to extend the power to.

We need to have...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with all those inquiries the Minister has talked about, I think that’s a significant milestone in the sense of showing that there is attention on the North as a marketable option for people to do this work. The issue really comes down to are we actually getting them here to run those cameras, get those actors acting and the film crews filming. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to hear if the Minister, recognizing that there seems to be interest in the North, would he work, in his review, to help develop a program just like made in the North. Perhaps we could develop a...

I’d like to thank my supporting cast in this expose, my thespian, the Minister McLeod. Mr. Speaker, the issue really is about not just attracting issue, but it’s equally weighed with helping to develop the industry. Now, we have some very dedicated and, I’m going to stress, significantly talented filmmakers here in the Northwest Territories, but without the types of resources, which are very expensive, it’s very difficult to get off the ground. In the recent example I talked about, Ice Pilots, they had to bring everyone up from the south to do the work here, and they couldn’t do the editing...