Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. They’ve been recognized a few times, but I certainly wouldn’t mind underscoring it just one more time at least a little further. I’d like to recognize Deputy Minister Arsenault. I’ve gotten to know him over the last few years. I really admire his hard work. He’s had a great relationship with the Northwest Territories and I’m very thankful that we have someone in the Yukon who understands our problems as we learn about theirs. I couldn’t think of a better team to take on the challenges in Ottawa than our good folks in the gallery here today, so thank you for your...

I hear the Minister but I worry he’s not hearing me. The issue is it’s not about Avens and if the government decides to contract directly with Avens for services for the extended care level 5 beds. Albeit it’s not as if it’s a competitive market in the city where we’ve got 50 seniors’ agencies scrambling at the door saying we want a chance. We really have one. Sorry; two. I should say it this way. You have Avens and you have the Government of the Northwest Territories. You have one or the other who wants to take on the challenge.

That isn’t the issue, and I want to be very clear, but the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m not going to belabour this section very long. I just need to clarify a particular thing under the extended care 18-bed facility being anticipated to be here in Yellowknife. One of the particular issues that has arisen is the competitiveness of these opportunities.

Can I get the Minister’s commitment to this House that it will be a competitive tender process whether is it developed through a partnership with Avens or it’s developed as a government project or some other way? The point is, I want to ensure that this extended care facility is an open and competitive...

It was reported on CBC North, and I thought it was an interesting comment, and not just a plug for CBC North on at six o’clock with Randy Henderson – Randy can thank me later; I’m waiting for his Tweet – that said, in all seriousness, the Ontario Auditor General had pointed out performance problems with the contractor as basically the lead of this initiative. I mean, in essence it really talked about probably cost creep, although I haven’t had a chance to read the report, I certainly will be looking towards it later on. In essence, the performance of these two hospitals that were built in...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m going to maybe touch base on some of the earlier questions, only more so for clarity and so I can get the fullness of the detail provided.

First off let me say that I want to applaud the decision-makers on going forward with the new building. Part of the issue I had was I was speaking with two of the bidders when it came to three preferred folks to make a final proposal. Two of them told me it would be a lot cheaper and a lot faster to build a new building. I know a lot of emotion is probably attached to Stanton, and rightly so, but I think it’s important to ask...

Avens presently has 29 beds. They want to extend it to 60, and of course, they have bigger plans than that. But you know what? They see what’s in the near future. They’ve got over 50 on their waiting list. I won’t go on at length, but our population is growing to 184 percent in five more years. We’re not meeting the demands. We couldn’t start the planning, reviewing and building and meet that challenge that’s presented to us in five years if we did something today.

Again, I’m going to ask the Minister, when is the government going to make a formal commitment so Avens can march forward on this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my Member’s statement today – and I gave the facts and the numbers, and even the GNWT’s numbers through their partnership with the researcher on Avens – the study Where to Go and What to Do, one thing is clear: a tsunami of seniors is coming and there’s nowhere for them to turn.

As I said in my statement, if the capacity was similar to a school where once a school hit 75 percent full, it triggers a renewal of the school whether through renovation or a building of a new school, but yet we have no policy or solution for the seniors. Avens is 100 percent full...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, we all heard the other day that the population in Canada is aging. No surprise, of course, and the NWT is certainly not immune to those pressures. That’s right. Stats Canada says one out of every six persons in Canada are over the age of 64. Heck, take the statistics in this room. Twenty percent of the MLAs are over the age 60. Stats Canada can see this, why can’t the GNWT see this?

So, while the problem keeps getting ignored, Avens continues to be bursting at the seams when it comes to capacity, and as time goes on, it marches on, more seniors are on the waiting...

I thank the Minister for that answer. Is there any commitment that we can get that that will be the process followed?

I guess I go to the Minister and, hopefully, maybe if he doesn’t want to answer, maybe the other Minister will answer it, or somebody will take responsibility for it, which is: Who can confirm or commit to the House that there will be a competitive process in this particular initiative?