Thank you for the overview. My question for the Minister will be: Are all communities receiving support in diabetes moving forward?
Like I indicated, running through the local health authorities across the North – and we have all the communities in one of the health authorities across the North – and right now the Diabetes Pilot Program and management of chronic diseases, the outcome to hopefully have better long-term results in diabetes prevention is being piloted in Norman Wells, Yellowknife and Behchoko.
Thank you for that reply. My final question for the Minister. On the subject of diabetes and diabetes alone, will the Minister provide any progress report in terms of the development and successes of this chronic disease in the near future?
The intention, again, is to use the pilot programs to try to improve the programs, management of chronic diseases. Once we have the report or results of the piloting in those few communities, our intention is to expand it into all of the communities. Once we get the results of the pilot program we will share it with the House.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Transportation. I listened, with interest, as he gave us an update today on the Deh Cho Bridge. I have to admit there was a bit of a smile on my face when he indicated he’s spoken about this issue many times before, not necessarily from the chair that he’s in at the moment. Towards the middle of his statement the Minister mentioned that it’s now estimated we will require additional funding to complete construction. Again I had to say to myself, I went, yeah, that’s not much of a big surprise. He goes on to cite some of the things that are going to require additional funding, and I just wondered if the Minister could give us a bit more of an explanation of what kind of additional funding are we talking about. Is it a minimal amount like $5 million or $10 million, or are we talking a larger amount like $50 million or $100 million?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member would be privy to that information as it’s coming up later on in today’s proceedings.
I thank the Minister for his elaborate comment. I’d like to also ask the Minister, later on in his statement he talked about undertaking a retrospective analysis of the project after it’s completed. I know we’re aiming for completion somewhere around November 2012 but that retrospective analysis presumably is in the works to a certain extent at this point, looking at the staff time that’s required and so on. I’d like to ask the Minister when he thinks that we might be able to get a full retrospective analysis of this total bridge project. Thank you.
I would suspect that the bridge will be complete next fall, in the fall of 2012. The Member is right; a lot of that work has been cumulatively done as the project proceeds. Wrapping that up and doing a thorough analysis on the project itself I could see possibly taking inside of six months, and certainly we would share any of that information when it is complete with Members of this House. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. The Minister talks about sharing that information with Members of the House. I would like to know whether or not that information would also be shared with the general public. Thank you.
My intention and the department’s intention is to get the information out to the public in due course. Once that work is complete, you can rest assured that it will be available to Members and to the public. I think this project has been followed closely by the public and the information should get out there. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question has to do with the reference in the Minister’s statement to collection of tolls. I’m really pleased to see that we’re going to doing it electronically and that it’s not going to require paper and killing of trees and so on. I’d like to know from the Minister, in the development of regulations for the collections of tolls, has he, has the department consulted with the public. Thank you.
Yes, the department has consulted with the trucking industry and folks that will be utilizing that system. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to continue my questions to the Minister of Justice on the communities that do not have RCMP detachments. I want to ask the Minister if, being Christmas, we were to wish for a detachment in Colville Lake, what will it cost this government to have a position in Colville Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have that information at hand, but I’m happy to pull it together and provide it to the Member. Thank you.
I look forward to the information coming forth from the Minister. I want to ask the Minister, in his role as the lead Minister for the security and safety of the people, has his department put together a long-term strategic plan and put RCMP detachments in the 10 communities who do not have one today?
That would be done in cooperation with the federal government. We haven’t had that kind of specific detail, but we have been looking at alternative options, the options that I provided in an earlier response. We are having those discussions, but ultimately there is some federal responsibility here. Thank you.
I understand that it is a federal government responsibility and a huge chunk of that cost is on the federal government’s hands. I want to ask the Minister here, for these 10 communities without RCMP officers, we are going to look at projects such as the Deh Cho Bridge and we’re looking at putting additional dollars to that project. Why not to the communities without RCMP officers such as Tsiigehtchic, Nahanni, Wrigley, Kakisa, Colville? People are more important than steel and metal. I want to ask the Minister if he would go to his colleagues and say let’s put an RCMP detachment in those communities, because right now we’re going to discuss how we’re going to put more dollars into the Deh Cho Bridge. Can the Minister go to his colleagues and say we need to put RCMP detachments into a community, a bunch of people, for their safety? Would he do that?
I’ll certainly be talking to my colleagues about community safety and enforcement. It is a priority and I’ll continue to have those discussions with my colleagues. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you. I trust the Minister will work hard on behalf of the people in Colville Lake and the people without RCMP detachments who are looking to you for that type of support. Will the Minister work with his officials to look at increasing the patrols to the communities such as Colville Lake and bump up the security safety mechanisms so that the people know that they can sleep in peace?
The department already has been working with the RCMP in increasing the number and length of patrols in the communities. To that end, we have actually put an additional position, an RCMP position in Fort Good Hope to provide some coverage to Colville. But I understand there are still concerns in the communities, and I’m happy to go meet with the individuals in Colville Lake to talk about what they would like to do to address these problems, what community solutions they have, and from there we can build into some larger picture solutions. I’m looking forward to working with the Member and his communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to make reference to the state of the health and social services system made by the Minister of Health earlier today. There were some strong words put in there that I’d like to make reference to. One was we can make real changes in the health and social services system. The second one was focusing on wellness and prevention at the community level will lead to improved health status over the long term. Thirdly, that the Minister is committed to working with all Northerners to improve the operation of the health and social services system in the NWT.
That’s great news and it’s something that has been sought after for a long time and it will make some great changes in the years to come. We do represent people of the NWT, but we also represent the staff working in our departments within our government system. My first question for the Minister of Health: Has the staff at the Department of Health been briefed or given an update, given a heads-up on the possible increase of prevention dollars for the next fiscal year should we increase that funding for the 2012-13 year? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve had discussions with the department at the deputy minister level, and I’ve talked to the CEOs of the health authorities in one short lunch meeting and have advised them that this is the direction that I’m hoping to take the department more into prevention. Thank you.
In discussions during our strategic planning there were references made to increasing the prevention budget to 1.5, possibly 2 percent in the prevention budget. Currently, we’re under 1 percent within the GNWT health and social services system. Is the department ready for that increase of funding dollars to be allocated to the communities across the Northwest Territories? There is a possibility that there might be one or two job positions that might need to be created with that increased funding. Has the Department of Health and Social Services looked into possible increased human resources for that? Thank you.
The department is looking at essentially a repackaging of what’s happening in the communities. We would see our budgets… You know we cannot increase the budget by ourselves. I mean, it takes the whole House to do that, but we can start to move the funding around internally, and what we’re thinking about doing at this time is repackaging the money that’s going into prevention that’s kind of scattered all over the department, repackage, focus in on community delivery by helping assist the community organizations to deliver the prevention programs. Thank you.
I know the current policy within the Health Promotion Fund that is regulated through the Department of Health and Social Services, one of the policies is anybody who receives funding for a project cannot get funding for any subsequent years for the same project even though the project may have made significant differences in the lives of Northerners throughout the Northwest Territories. Will the Minister commit to revising that policy, re-evaluating it and making the necessary changes so that the projects that we do have across the Northwest Territories that make those positive changes can continue to get funding for subsequent years?
This will be part of the repackaging of the way we are doing business. Communities that have success in programs and then have the program cut off after one year is not something that we want to continue. If communities have success with good programs in the schools or in the communities that are helping with prevention and are doing good upstream work for the Department of Health and for the people in the North, we are going to continue to fund those. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Can the Minister outline the process, with measurable outcomes, that will be used to ensure that water sources are safe to drink?
Can the Minister provide a departmental work plan that will guide this government to build and implement safe drinking water sources in our communities?
Can the Minister provide a strategic plan on how the community of Fort Good Hope can be involved in developing new water sources for the community?
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “NWT Business Development and Investment Corporation 2010-2011 Annual Report.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of ENR, Mr. Miltenberger.
I propose to table the following document, entitled “Waste Reduction and Recovery Program 2010-2011 Annual Report.” Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister of ECE, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “Annual Report on Official Languages 2010-2011.” Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
