Mr. Speaker, I have said many times that I believe Stanton is underfunded. I think a zero-based review would actually clear any air or question on that particular problem. The problem is everyone seems to know that there are problems but no one is doing anything about their problems. We hear about we have done a review. Now, we hear, out of the blue, a zero-based review is done through the years. We have no facts on the table where they have stopped the leakage. By the way, all it is is just an accumulation of protecting the process than it is about doing anything. Mr. Speaker, is Stanton or is the Minister’s office approving or rewarding overspending and ineffective budgeting? That is what it looks like over the last 10 years. We are going into 11 years this year. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I have said on many occasions that we believe, yes, all of our authorities are not necessarily under right budget. We are working toward right budget for all of the authorities. You can’t be looking at Stanton and Beau-Del separately, Mr. Speaker. The Member has said that we all know that Stanton is underfunded and if you do a zero-based review, you will know. I have to disagree with the Member on both accounts. We do not necessarily know. You can’t just make a statement that Stanton is underfunded, and a zero-based review would only tell you how much money you are spending to do things that you are doing the way you are doing it now.
We know exactly how much it costs to operate the programs and services we do at Stanton. What we are trying to do is we want to move programs around so that if there are things that could be done in other places, if things can be done more efficiently, we would like to do them outside of the hospital. We want to keep the hospital being the most acute care facility that it should be. We want to make sure that all of the doctors, nurses and everybody that works there are doing exactly what they should be doing and not anything more and that they get exactly the right budget. I have had new management there for a year and a half and we have been working really hard on that. We are making progress. This is not something that you could fix in one day just by saying, okay, they are underfunded, let’s give them $10 million and we don’t want to know why. That is not the way I would like to manage the health care system. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The way this Minister and the previous governments have been managing the health system is supplementary appropriation. That is how they are managing the funding problem.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister seems to hearken quite clearly about you have to do zero-based budget review. She is the one who has a deputy minister who said they did this. So they should know on what positions cost and they should fund them properly. They should know what all of these items cost and fund them. That is the issue.
Mr. Speaker, how many unfunded positions are not accounted for? How many physician costs are we paying for the region that should be the regional costs, not Stanton’s costs? That is the type of mismanagement. Allowing this to happen is allowing Stanton to have a reputation of mismanagement and this Minister is letting them be saddled by that, which could be cleaned up as job one. She has been here 12 years. There should be no surprise. It’s not like it just showed up today. Thank you. She should be doing something about this particular issue.
Do you have a question, Mr. Hawkins?
She should be doing something, Mr. Speaker. What has she been doing?
The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister responsible for the Energy Coordinating Committee, in terms of the energy issue in Norman Wells, if the thought has ever come around to the Minister of looking at a possibility of running a line from Colville Lake to Norman Wells on a natural gas line just as a possibility. I know there are other assessments out there looking at energy or using some of these dollars to look at providing alternative energy to the communities. Is this a possibility that ever arose within the Minister or coordinating committee?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for the Energy Coordinating Committee, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee has been working largely with new energy initiatives. We have been dealing with the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline through normal government procedures, normal government responsibilities, and through the Joint Review Panel process we have been, as a government, disposing alternative energy proposals ranging from hydro to gasification of communities. We have undertaken a number of reports or commissioned a number of reports to identify those communities along the right-of-way that would or could be converted to utilization of natural gas. Also, there was some review of biomass and the fact that there will be a significant amount of trees that would be made available because of being on the right-of-way of the pipeline. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I asked because there was a public meeting in Norman Wells on the 20th of January. The public was asking about this, how maybe this government could help us in terms of looking at alternative sources of energy. We want to have the gas talk and see if this government here has any type of discussion in terms of looking at an assessment as to running a line from Colville Lake to Norman Wells to help them alleviate some of the issues that they are facing now.
Mr. Speaker, as a government, we invested approximately $60 million to review our reliance on fossil fuels. As part of that investment, we looked at alternative energy, renewable energy, and so we looked at all of those different aspects. Most of them have been on a pilot project basis.
As far as running a line from Norman Wells to Colville Lake, I think our preferred approach, if we were to do that, would be... I think Colville Lake is close to being on the right-of-way for the proposed pipeline, so I would have to go back and check the reports as to whether it would be feasible to convert or gasify Colville Lake with using the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline natural gas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I think the Town of Norman Wells was very pleased that the Minister can look at the possibility. It is not saying we are going to go ahead with it, but the feasibility to see what it looks like, if you can convert or have a line from Colville Lake to Norman Wells. I know there are dollars being spent in other areas. I wonder if this one here can be looked at to help out with this issue here. There are no guarantees that this is going to be done.
Mr. Speaker, my understanding is there was discussion earlier. There is a committee in Norman Wells looking at all of these different options. We will provide our information, whatever information we have through Public Works. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister, once he provides the information to Public Works, brief the Standing Committee on this issue and see what else can be done in terms of helping the town of Norman Wells in terms of this energy crisis?
Mr. Speaker, we will be pleased to provide a briefing and we will make a request to committee to see if they can fit us in their busy agenda. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
What have been the total NWT costs and volumes by year for the 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 fiscal years of obstetrical and midwifery services, including:
the average number and cost, including travel expenses and accommodation, of admission days during prenatal, birth and one year postpartum care for those mothers attended by midwives versus those not attended by midwives;
the average number and cost, including travel expenses and accommodation outside home communities, of admission days during prenatal, birth and one year postpartum care for those mothers attended by midwives and who birth at home versus those not attended by midwives who birth in hospital?
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Please provide the statistics outlining the number of births in the NWT over the last four fiscal years; i.e., 2010-11 to date, 2009-10, 2008-09, 2007-08.
Please provide a breakdown of the number of births, identifying the home communities of the mothers.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
How many locum and agency nurses are currently employed by the department and health authorities in the NWT?
What positions are they in?
What is the length of time each position has been occupied by locum or agency nurses?
By year, what is the hiring priority of new students entering the Northern Nursing Program for the past seven years?
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 3.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s been such a long time since I’ve done a Member’s statement, I thought I’d recognize the two young ladies who have been Pages here down from my constituency of Inuvik Boot Lake. We have Pages Meagan Ross and Paisley Day. I have to thank Mr. Robert C. McLeod’s constituency assistant who has travelled down as their chaperone and has been helping them as they help us do our job here in the House. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 9, written questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Could the Minister in cooperation with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, please provide the complete statistics on admission and graduation rates for the Aurora College Nursing Program from 1999 to present?
Please identify the affirmative action status of these students and graduates by year.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition dealing with the matter of expansion of the Midwifery Program. Mr. Speaker, the petition contains 33 handwritten signatures and 304 electronic signatures. Of those, 150 signatories identified themselves as residents of the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, the petitioners request that the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Health and Social Services fund additional full-time indeterminate positions for the Midwifery Program in Yellowknife and identify communities other than Yellowknife and Fort Smith to receive midwifery care by 2012. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that the Speaker be authorized to set such sitting days and hours as the Speaker, after consultation, deems fit to assist with the business before the House.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Motion is on the floor. Motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called.
---Carried
The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on Thursday, February 10, 2011, it shall be adjourned until Monday, February 14, 2011;
AND FURTHER, that any time prior to February 14, 2011, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall transact its business as it has been duly adjourned to that time.
There is a motion on the floor. Motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called.
---Carried
The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
