Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions will be to the Minister of Health today. I’ll be following up on both my Member’s statement and my questions from yesterday, which addressed my concern about this young mother, two in tow, a three month old nursing baby with her, who had trouble getting a hospital room and waited 34 hours.

I was reading Hansard questions yesterday. To understand some of the complexity, the frustration I’m feeling on this side of the House…. The Minister said we send people….that we use Capital Health services, because services like urology…. Well, Mr. Speaker, I was...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to use my Member’s statement today to trumpet the efforts of one individual in our business community, in our Yellowknife private sector, who stepped up to the plate, when government sometimes is uncomfortable, on environmental education for youth.

That person is Yellowknife’s Chris Johnston. He heard last week the lukewarm answers from our Premier about purchasing the documentary film “Water is Life.” He heard — and I quote from the October 7, 2008, page 22, unedited Hansard — that we will be prepared to “try and see what we can do to get this information out to...

I’m sort of perplexed. It sounds like we’re not getting any additional services than anyone else who would walk in off the street, yet we have a very specific contract with Capital Health. I find it an odd situation that this government wouldn’t try to negotiate some type of preferred experience, preferred customer. I’m certainly well aware that the GNWT makes every effort to make sure we pay our bills in a timely way — to get recognition for that — so Capital Health doesn’t need to sit and wait for payment.

Why do we contract specifically with Capital Health? Why don’t we consider going...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I still have a few more questions for the Minister of Health regarding our experiences or relationship with Capital Health and our contract.

A lot of people in this House know, I’m sure, that Capital Health is an approximately $13 billion sort of conglomerate of hospitals and whatnot; that’s their budget area. To put that into perspective, the GNWT’s budget is only 10 per cent of that. It’s a sense of magnitude I’m drawing on that.

In negotiating our contract with Capital Health to provide services to Northerners who need services, I’d like to know if the Minister is...

Mr. Speaker, I’d like the Minister to explain a paradox. At one moment she’ll take responsibility, and at another moment she’s not responsible because it’s a doctor’s situation. At the one moment it’s Capital Health’s decision where to send the patient, yet she acknowledges that she spent all day on the phone. I’m really confused. If she doesn’t have control, why does she bother calling? If she’s the Minister, I would think she’d be in charge and respectful and do the honourable thing by providing a written apology to the family. But then she says it’s not her responsibility.

So who’s...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to continue questioning, and I certainly want to thank Mr. Ramsay for helping on this issue, because it is an important issue for this family in Yellowknife.

I continued to ask the Minister four times yesterday: would she provide a written apology to this family in light of the way that this family was treated and certainly in recognition of the duration that this process went on? Is the Minister willing to write apology to this family and also recognize what she will be doing to make sure this does not happen again in the future?

Mr. Speaker, I am glad the Minister drew in Royal Alex, because she is very adamant that this patient went to the Royal Alex. But I actually contacted the hospital; I contacted Capital Health, and she is not at Royal Alex. As a matter of fact, she’s at the U of A. So I seem to be a little…. And there’s no problem with the Royal Alex, but obviously the detail isn’t there.

The Minister said in her remarks yesterday that she spent all day trying to do her best to get this patient into a room. There is a reference to contacting or finding information about Calgary and Grande Prairie. Well, Mr...

Well, if I try really hard and understand that answer, what I’ll do is I’ll assume that there must be some proviso and detail that talks about potential status if the hospital is full.

Mr. Speaker, when I raised the issue about notice or communications to the Minister’s office vis-à-vis through Stanton or whatever from Capital Health and it talked about beds being full, the Minister said there was nothing, but I am getting indications that there was information passed to this government through Capital Health. I would like to be clear: does Capital Health inform this government in any way if...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The 2008–2009 Review will examine:

whether progress has been made since the changes to the Official Languages Act in 2003;

whether the government implements and administers the act effectively and efficiently;

whether the objectives and goals of the preamble are being met;

whether the changed roles and responsibilities of the Minister responsible for Official Languages improved the administration and implementation of the act;

whether the changed role of the Languages Commissioner as an ombudsperson improved the implementation of the act;

whether the new Official Languages...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I’ll help the Minister: there’s Grande Prairie; there’s Calgary; there’s Saskatoon. There are other places if the Minister is looking for suggestions to consider.

What is the Minister doing to make sure we have recognizable service levels defined in our contract with Capital Health? If she chooses to do nothing, why isn’t she doing something on this issue?