Robert Hawkins

Some of the problems I have heard is potential cash flow to make sure they can keep their business afloat during these rocky times. Does the department consider any type of option like this?

Mr. Speaker, three well established tourism businesses in the Yellowknife region are closing the doors, if they have not closed them yet. I don’t feel comfortable mentioning their names, because I know only one, as of yesterday, gave notice to employees, and I can’t speak to the other two specifically.

Their issue for closing their doors, they told me, is the economic climate, the slowdown in tourism, and there is concern that the support levels might not be there from the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Setting that sort of framework up, my questions are directed, of course, to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not trying in any way to catch the Minister off guard, but is he is aware of any type of financial dollars that will be lost if some of these loans in respect to the BDIC.... He knows the companies I’m referring to. Does he have any idea or is his department doing any reconciliation about the type of loan dollars that would be lost when these companies go out of business officially?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Power Corp issue is an accountability issue for me. It’s about value for money. The day to day question is: how is it being operated? Are we getting the money that we expect out of this organization? Are we getting the accountability out of this organization that we expect for our citizens in the territory?

Mr. Speaker, I think the government has a role to play. I think it’s time to roll the NWT Power Corp into the territorial realm of responsibility, just like any other department. They act like a department but with the independence of free rein. It’s a grey area...

Although the Minister has said it a couple of times and I believe her, I just have one more element to add to the scenario. In this particular case the specialist in their group will be recommending that the specific patient stays for a few extra days for follow-up, which I would like to think is normal. Because it is considered at their request, will the Minister look in to picking up those types of costs? Because it is based on specialists making a recommendation, not in the context of a perceived holiday or an unwillingness to return after everything’s done. It’s based principally and only...

I want to thank the Minister for that answer. Just further on that answer, if Medical Travel approves a non-medical escort to go south because of a specific need and a professional has requested that, would it be conceivably considered reasonable that we would pick up the associated costs? If we’re willing to pay for the plane ticket for them to travel down with somebody who requires specialized care, would it not be conceivable that we would pick up the reasonable costs of things like a hotel and meals?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 8, oral questions, so I can have a question.

I don’t want to give too much detail, because it is a very specific issue, so I’m trying to be as vague as possible, but the Minister is fully aware of the case. In this particular case, the constituent has to travel south for a very specialized reason. Once they’re finished what has to be done to them, in a medical sense, they’ll require specialized drugs to help them through the process. In talking to Capital Health, there’s an assumption that the GNWT won’t cover these specialized drugs, recommended by the specialists after they’ve received this very specific treatment. That concern is real...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have an oral question, and it’ll be for the Minister of Health and Social Services. It will be on the topic of medical travel.

I had a constituent contact me yesterday, and interestingly enough, I had another constituent contact me again this morning regarding almost an identical medical travel problem. Mr. Speaker, that is about when you get a non-medical escort approved through the doctors’ process. Medical Travel in one of the cases has refused to allow that person, even with a doctor’s note, to bring a non-medical travel escort south. In the second case the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The other day Mr. Richard Nerysoo was here, and I had a chance to speak to him. He’s the president of the Gwich’in Tribal Council. It’s always a pleasure to speak to him, because he always has a lot of wisdom and experience that he brings forward. I learn a lot when I speak to folks like him.

In our discussion this year we had a talk about the Gwich’in Wellness Camp, and I posed a question to him: would the Gwich’in folks be willing or interested if some type of discussion could be created between the Department of Health and them about having a treatment centre located...