Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today, I have a question for the Minister of Transportation. As the Minister has heard numerous times in this House, in the small communities, not the big centres like Hay River, Inuvik, Yellowknife, Fort Smith, it is very important to have projects done with local contractors where possible, or with a joint venture, so the money can stay in the community. Therefore, can the Minister please explain the process used to set up negotiated capital projects with his department? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I again thank the Minister for his answer. Can the Minister please explain how the hours of operations and process to get appointments were changed without consulting the residents in leadership in Fort Simpson?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Today in my Member's statement, I spoke about the challenges that we are facing in regards to the health system. I would like to address my questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services.

As some of the Members are aware, Deh Cho Health and Social Services has a public administrator. Can the Minister please explain to the House what the public administrator's role is versus the authority’s role versus the department's?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in the House to speak about issues and challenges facing our health care system in Nahendeh. On February 17, 2016, I received a letter from one of my constituents who has experienced some issues with our health centre. I shared this letter with the Minister and asked a few questions to start the process of addressing these issues and I thank the Minister for responding to me. Since receiving this letter a Facebook page was developed asking for people's comments and their experience with our health centre. There are very some very positive comments with the...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Can they explain to us why it came to be $4.5 million? It seems to be kind of a random number. Could the Finance Minister please explain to us how they came up with this number?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm still a little confused why we would actually not allow somebody else to purchase it, to invest and work it, deal with this mine. We are just holding it and waiting for tungsten to go up. I'm still trying to figure out why we as a government would not just allow a company to purchase it and try to manufacture it from there. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minster for his answer. I did ask this question to the Minister in an email, if the terminal is going to modular built or stick-built. The response I received it was going to be stick-built, but it was going to be done outside the community and will be trucked in. The reason for doing this was they needed special tools. Can the Minister please explain what special tools were needed that could not be brought into the community to do the stick-built project for Somba K’e? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for his short but sweet answer. Can the Minister please explain how the department works with small communities so they can address their desire to go into negotiated contracts?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I thank the Minister for his response. With all the challenges and the issues that I've been addressing with the Health and Social Services Minister in the system, including staffing, since being elected, I'd like to ask the Minister to commit to doing an external review of the health and social services system so we can build on what is working and what needs to be improved within the system.