Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask a few more questions of the Minister of Health and Social Services with regard to her and the department’s plans for Supplementary Health Benefit Program changes. The information that’s on the Health website talks about town hall meetings being scheduled and a discussion paper that is going to be released. I’m not sure if it’s been released or not yet; I haven’t had enough time since I’ve been back. With regard to the town hall meetings, there are five or six scheduled, I think. I would like to ask the Minister what format is planned for these meetings and how will the input of those attending these meetings be sought. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The meeting being planned is a town hall meeting so that any interested parties can attend. The location and time will be advertised well in advance. I believe it’s on the website and, if not already, will be advertised in the paper and other medium, so that as many people can come and they can have the information in front of us and give us their feedback based on the facts that we have on things like whether there should be some sharing of costs.
We should remember, everybody should know that we’re not talking about the range of benefits that are available. Those are going to stay the same. We’re not talking about changing any benefits. The main question is who should access that benefit and whether there should be any criteria or eligibility list. So those are the kinds of questions that people will be asked to put their input in. As well, we’ll be looking at asking people to respond on-line for those who cannot attend because they’re not in town or the time is not appropriate. So we are interested in hearing from as many people out there as possible as to how we should make changes to the Extended Health Benefits Program.
Thanks to the Minister. I really didn’t get a sense, from her answer, what the format of the meeting is going to be. She’s talking about information being in front of people. I question how it’s going to get there. There is an awful lot of data that has been gathered, and I spoke earlier, I commend the department for doing that data, doing that research, but it sounds to me as though the department is putting the data out there and asking people to interpret it, and I’m not so sure that that’s an easy thing to do. Are they asking people to make their own conclusions? So I’d like to ask the Minister again, the format of these town hall meetings, how is the information going to get to the people who are there, and does she think it’s realistic that people can draw their conclusions from the data? Thank you.
I’m not sure if I understand the question. I’d like to give our public a lot more credit than what the Member is suggesting. I think if you see the material on the website, it’s quite plainly written. There will be a facilitator at the meeting that will present the facts. We’re not going to tell people to interpret. We will present the facts and then engage in a dialogue, very much like what we did with the standing committee and very much like what we did, I believe, with the public working group. You lay out the facts and then ask the people for their input. The facts are important, because people need something to base their input processing rather than asking just open-ended questions. But really, we are interested in hearing from the people and giving them the facts for them to discuss. Thank you.
I have to thank the Minister for that information. The first time around, I didn’t hear anything about a facilitator, and that changes hugely my vision of what’s going to happen in these stakeholder meetings. That a facilitator will present the information will have a much different impact on the people that are there, and I think it will allow them to provide the kind of input that Members and, I think, the public are looking for.
The other thing that’s noted, in terms of consultation, is a discussion paper. I’d like to ask the Minister how the department intends to generate input through this discussion paper. Are there questions involved or is it simply open-ended? Thank you.
The input will come from the feedback that we would receive in the town hall meetings. As well, we will be posting questionnaires on the website and we would advertise that so people will be able to go in there. There are some checkbox kind of questions, but there are also spaces where people can write their opinions on the questions they ask. So it will be designed in a way that will allow people to give their feedback on the information they see and what other suggestions they might have. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
