Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today, once again, to shine a light on my Member’s statement and oral questions from Monday, February 25, 2013, on the subject of air ambulance protocol for highway emergencies and the role of medical travel. Admittedly, I am fully aware of an ongoing RCMP review of last week’s highway accident and I will refrain from asking specifics to this file.
Upon review of the responses of the Minister of Health and Social Services, it bears to ask, once again, some questions. The Minister of Health and Social Services indicated, as per Hansard, “I’m not familiar with the protocols for getting people on the highways.” He also states, “All calls for medical travel, whether it be medevacs or medical travel, are made by physicians.” So the Minister has had a few days now to familiarize himself with protocols. Therefore, can the Minister of Health and Social Services explain what protocol does a medical travel physician use when aborting an air ambulance extraction versus a more lengthy ground transport option?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The protocol, as I understand it, does not specifically speak to air rescue services by a chopper or by a float plane. I wasn’t advised officially by anyone that a chopper was originally called in and asked not to go to the site. I checked into that to see if there was anything within medical travel, within medevac, to see if there was something in there on how we pay for rescue with choppers. In that category it indicated that anything outside of the communities where there would be a requirement for a float plane or a chopper there was nothing in the policy that spoke to that.
Thanks to the Minister. If there is no protocol or policy, my question is quite simple. What is being used by the physician who works for medical travel to make such decisions?
In extreme circumstances, working between the Department of Health and Social Services, the health and social services authorities, RCMP, military, they may elect to use one of those modes to rescue, to assist people who are injured, but these are made strictly on a case-by-case basis by the parties involved. During the time there is an incident and the key people are brought together, the call is made on a case-by-case basis and not within the policy. It’s on a case-by-case basis.
We’re finally getting to the meat of the matter here. We’ve heard from the Minister today that it’s a case-by-case basis, and a call is made, but we don’t know by whom. It seems we are at an impasse on sharing with the residents of the NWT a clear pathway and roadmap of medical travel, especially on our road and highway air ambulance situations.
Can the Minister of Health and Social Services provide all these protocols and table this information for the public to see?
There are no clear protocols. I indicated that. It would be difficult for me to provide protocols around this when there are no clear protocols. I think that the system, the government recognizes this as a gap in the system, when we’re trying to determine how we’re going to perform rescue on a place like a highway, as an example.
With that in mind, we had put together the Interagency Working Group that is led by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs working with the Department of Transportation and ourselves, Health and Social Services, so that we could develop a system that would allow us to use ground ambulance, that’s one of the things that we’re looking at. With that, we had to ensure that we removed some of the barriers. Some of the barriers were the fact that emergency medical service responders may not be insured to be handling injured people on the highway. So the first thing we have to do is give those people the comfort by developing a legislation that will allow them to get insurance so they can assist people on the highway. We can’t have people who are not insured, not covered, handling injured people on the highway. So we need to put some of these things in place before we proceed any further.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve heard today, finally, that there are no clear protocols or policies and we’ve heard from the Minister directly that there are gaps in the system. This leads to my final question.
It’s clear that we need a forensic review of medical travel and the fact that this should have been completed years ago as promised to the Auditor General of Canada, Ms. Sheila Fraser. So I’m rising here again today and raising awareness of this requirement. When will this Minister complete the review of medical travel, medevac operations and protocols, and table this with committee?
As the Members know, and I’ve been saying, we are working on revising medical travel or trying to make medical travel a better program that addresses the issues and needs of the people of the Northwest Territories. I do believe the review is complete. It’s a matter now of putting together what information we have in order to revise medical travel to make medical travel better. I’m only recalling this because I have the information here but no time to pull it out for that specific question. I believe the review is done and that we are now moving to areas that need to be addressed. We know there are many areas. This is one area. There are areas on how we handle seniors, on how we handle persons with disabilities and so on within that travel policy, the whole thing about medical escorts, non-medical escorts and so on. The whole review is complete, but now it’s a matter of taking that policy and developing something that is an improvement to what we have now.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask a few more questions to the Minister of Human Resources following up on my questions from before about policies the GNWT has with regard to harassment and bullying in the workplace. My first question to the Minister is, he spoke about training and that it sounds to me as though the training simply explains the program or policy to employees so that they can understand what they may or may not do. My belief is that we need to educate our employees. We need to let them know what bullying is so that they can recognize it and then report it so that we can change attitudes. I’d like to know from the Minister if that is something, if I have misunderstood, is the education and awareness and training aspect of it something that I misunderstood or is that something that we can do.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of for Human Resources, Mr. Glen Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my response earlier to the Member’s previous questions, I made reference to the training that is provided. In that training we’re mostly explaining the policy of the program and how it’s outlined with some reference to the types of things that are covered, which would be the harassment that the Member is talking about.
I did have an opportunity earlier today to meet with the Northwest Territories area council for PSAC, and we did talk about our Harassment Free and Respectful Workplace Policy. They did indicate that they have looked at the policy, and although it’s great to have this policy in place, they did indicate that our policy tends to be, or appears to be, more reactive than proactive. I’ve agreed to look at the policy and meet with the Department of Education, who is doing some work on anti-bullying policies in the Northwest Territories, to learn some best practices and look at what we’re providing in the Northwest Territories public service with respect to prevention and promotion. I have and I will continue to work on that, and I will be happy to bring any of our findings to the Committee on Government Operations in hopes that we can improve the programs that we have in place to create this environment of fairness, dignity and respect.
Thanks to the Minister. That’s good to hear. I have been given to understand that from an employee’s perspective, our policy really isn’t all that helpful, so I’m glad that the Minister has heard that from union people.
I’d like to know from the Minister if, at this point, if I’m in a workplace and I see that bullying is being experienced by a fellow worker, does the policy that exists allow me to report the bullying that I see that’s not being perpetrated on me but that I see somebody else doing to a third person.
Before I answer the second part of the question, I’d just like to indicate that the policy does work when it comes to reporting individuals who have experienced harassment issues. We feel the policy actually works quite well. We’ve had a number of investigations. We’ve had a lot of mediations and other resolutions as a result of this policy, so it is helping our employees. But I do feel that the Member is correct. There are some challenges with getting more information out there and helping with prevention and promotion rather than just being responsive, so we will continue to work on that.
I didn’t really hear an answer to my question whether or not I can report bullying that is not happening to me, myself, but whether I can report bullying that is happening to another party.
I would like to know from the Minister if he feels that the policy that we have guarantees anonymity to somebody who is reporting harassment or bullying.
I didn’t answer the question because I, quite frankly, forgot it halfway through my response, so I missed it.
Right now, the policy is set up so that an individual who is being harassed or has experienced harassment can report that and go through the process. It isn’t set up so that somebody who witnesses something or thinks they’ve witnessed something can report it, but we do encourage employees to speak with their manager or supervisor on all issues and any issue related to harassment in the workplace, so it isn’t specific to that. As a result, with anonymity, if an individual is bringing forward a complaint and it’s going to be investigated, because it’s between two people and often we end up in mediation, the person isn’t necessarily kept out of it if they are filing a formal complaint. They have to be part of the solution.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate anonymity. If I am reporting someone, I can’t keep my name out of it. We’ve heard a lot in the statements today and I think it’s recognized now that in order to stop bullying, we have to, as an onlooker, speak about it, we have to stop it and we have to take some action. I’d like to say to the Minister that I really hope we are seriously looking at changing the policy so that third party reporting can happen, and if that does happen, we need to guarantee anonymity. I’d like to just ask the Minister if he would agree with me that this is the change that we need to make.
The Harassment Free and Respectful Workplace Policy has steps that we go through including mediation, counselling and all those types of things. I’m not sure that what the Member is suggesting would exactly work within the policy, although I do recognize that there is some value to that. Rather than committing to putting it in the policy, I will work with committee, I will work with Members, I will with Education, Culture and Employment. I’m interested to hear what PSAC and the UNW have to say on how we can actually address this issue. It may or may not be appropriate in this policy, so I won’t commit to putting it in there, but I will agree to do some work on this issue and share my work, and work and continue to work with committee.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, the departments of Municipal and Community Affairs, Justice, Education, Culture and Employment, ITI, ENR and the Housing Corporation all function as stand-alone regional units in the Sahtu. We have some control in the region. We have devolution. However, we learned yesterday that the Department of Public Works and Services does not have that yet. Public Works still works out of Inuvik. I want to ask the Minister if there is anything in his plans to have the Public Works office be relocated to have regional authorities like the other previous departments I just named off.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, there are Public Works and Services staff in the Sahtu region.
Just as we have staff in the other communities, I’m asking for the regional authority to be moved to the Sahtu. Right now, the decisions are made in Inuvik. When will the regional authority be devolved into our region? As the Minister of Finance would say, we want control of our destiny. When will that happen?
This government is committed to getting positions outside of the headquarters into some of the regions. I’m not completely sure how taking positions out of one region and putting them in the other would be good for employment in that region. It may affect some of our staff. But I will commit to continuing to push this issue to find out what types of positions we can locate out of Public Works and Services in the Sahtu, if any. As new positions come forward, we will certainly consider the Sahtu as a location for positions.
We have been talking about devolution and those types of things and about locating positions outside of Yellowknife. The Executive is taking the lead on that, and HR and Public Works and Services and all the departments will be participating in some of those discussions.
Although I won’t commit to moving what are considered regional functions to the Sahtu at this point, I understand the Member’s point and I will continue to work with the Member, I will continue to work with Cabinet and Members to make sure that, where possible, we are moving positions to regions, as appropriate.
It’s no different than for us when we’re going to Ottawa and asking for a devolution deal to bring the decision-making closer to the region and to the people. That’s what I’m asking the Minister, the Minister of Transportation and other departments. We want the same type of request that we’re making to Ottawa. I want to ask the Minister, would he closely work with his colleagues and bring forward a discussion paper where we want to bring in decision-making power closer to the people in the Sahtu. Will the Minister commit to that within the life of this government?
I understand the importance of regional autonomy and I completely get what the Member is saying. I will commit to doing the work. I will commit to working with my colleagues and try to identify positions that may be appropriate to move.
I do express caution. We don’t want to necessarily rip positions out of one community and effect their employment rates in that community just to stick them in another community. We have to look at positions that are coming on line, positions that are maybe new to the Government of the Northwest Territories to make sure that we have a solid balance. But to the Member, I will commit to continuing to do that work with the goal of regional autonomy and responsibility.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Colleagues, before we continue, it’s my pleasure to welcome a former Member of this House, a former Government Leader, a former Minister and our current Senator for the Northwest Territories, the Honourable Nick Sibbeston. Welcome back to the House, Senator Sibbeston.
Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I could let the Minister of Public Works know that we have a process such as the devolution process now. We don’t want to get the jobs out of Ottawa and bring them into Yellowknife. I think the basic process that he has a path. I want to ask the Minister, within the life of this government, to serve the people the best that they need. As the Minister of Finance has always said, we want to control their own destiny. We want that in the Sahtu.
Will the Minister again commit to a discussion paper, a paper that would make sense, similar to the devolution deal that we did with Ottawa, to have one for the Sahtu? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is, obviously, a bigger question than one department can respond to. It’s going to take all the departments looking at their operations, figuring out what responsibilities exist, what responsibilities would be appropriate to decentralizing or moving to communities. We also have devolution coming, which is going to bring a significant number of positions into the public service.
We have already committed, as a government, to working with our colleagues, working with communities, to get some of these new positions to the Government of the Northwest Territories outside of the capital, outside of the centre here and into some of the communities. So we will commit to doing that.
I believe all the departments have been working hard to identify positions within their organization right now within their individual departments that might be appropriate to move out to the communities. In this budget, we have identified a number of positions to move, and we’re also creating a number of positions.
I clearly hear the Member. I understand and I support the concept of some regional responsibility and some regional accountability. We will continue to do that work. The Executive is the lead, but all the departments are providing input and guidance. We will continue to work with the Member and committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Finance.
What factors are taken into account in managerial review for approval of travel requests to ensure managers determine with certainty that travel is required and that business cannot be carried out by alternative means before travel is approved?
On the basis of a thorough analysis including a review of controls used in other jurisdictions, what policy and procedural improvements could be introduced to ensure that travel is approved only after verification that other communication means have been considered and determined to be impractical?
On the basis of a random sample of several hundred travel claims from across departments:
What is the proportion of full fare versus excursion fare tickets?
What is the frequency of ticket changes incurring additional costs?
Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I have a return to written question asked by Ms. Bisaro on February 6, 2013, regarding K-12 school infrastructure.
As the Members are aware, all departments follow the government-established capital planning process. This process supports the development of the capital estimates presented to the Legislative Assembly for consideration each fall.
The capital estimates list the planned projects to be undertaken during a fiscal period. The proposed budget for these projects is not published. The budget detail is presented at the department and activity level only.
This process was first adopted with the 2009-10 Capital Estimates and is done to avoid influencing the results of individual project tenders. Similarly, other internal planning information prepared during the development of the capital estimates is not made public. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, entitled Waste Reduction and Recovery Program, 2011-2012 Annual Report. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled Northwest Territories Marketing Plan 2013-2014. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Ms. Bisaro.
