Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My issue is not with the Norman Wells Land Corporation acquiring the land; I guess it’s the precedent this sets. I’d like to ask the Minister: are there currently any other negotiations going on around the Territory to sell any additional Commissioner’s land? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the same process would be used if anyone else would have an interest in acquiring Commissioner’s land. They would approach the department and then we will work with them and the community to see if it’s feasible to sell this Commissioner’s land. But all the proper process would be followed. Again, I say, if part of the process is informing Members of fairly substantial land sales, Cabinet was informed, but if informing Members is part of the process, then I apologize if this wasn’t done in the particular case. I will ensure that in the future any substantial purchases, besides the local Member, it would be good protocol to let all Members know. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to ask questions to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs and it’s regarding operations and maintenance funding.
Mr. Speaker, I, like several of my colleagues, have had the benefit of serving on a council for at least one term and understand how important MACA is to the communities and certainly the funding of their operations. Undoubtedly, I know other Members realize that too. One of the problems we’ve always had, I remember from serving on council, is understanding the formula and having an appreciation for the formula that’s distributed to communities. Yellowknife, being one of the largest communities in the Northwest Territories -- the largest, by the way -- there was always the concern of proportional or a respectable fair share of the revenues.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of MACA has given me a briefing note to say that there was going to be a formula update. My question to the MACA Minister is: has there been a new O and M funding formula update done and have you included people from the municipalities on the discussion and development of this formula? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re just in the process of evaluating the O and M funding formula for all the communities. Obviously, with something of this size we would have discussion and we would consult with the NWT Association of Communities. I can assure the Member and all Members that we are reviewing the O and M funding formula as it exists today. Thank you.
I appreciate hearing that from the Minister. Does the Minister have any knowledge as to what level of detail is shared with the communities when you talk to the Association of Municipalities? Do they actually get to see the funding formula or do they just hear about the overtones and the spirit and the intent of what the formula is about and how it’s driven? In essence, do they get into the nuts and bolts of how the formula is developed so they have an appreciation to fair and equitable distribution of that type of money? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we also continue to work with LGA and LGANT. A couple of times a year we will bring a lot of the SAOs into the community. I’m sure they’re all aware of exactly how the funding formula works. I think they review it with them and that way the communities know on what basis they’re funded for their O and M. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, that didn’t actually answer the question, although it sure sounded close, as in a good try. But what the question really comes down to is does MACA share the specific formula used in the distribution of O and M funding? Do they share that with the municipalities to ensure that they know exactly how the proportion is spread out throughout the Territory to ensure it’s spread fairly and equitably? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the answer is yes, we do share all the relevant information, all the information with the communities, because they’re the ones that benefit most from these particular formulas. The answer is yes, we do share all the information with them. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What is the goal of MACA when they do the development and review of the new formula going forward? What is their goal or effort going to be in the context of developing a reasonable proportion? The example I give is that there’s one community one-fifth of the size of Yellowknife but still gets approximately almost the same amount as Yellowknife. I’m just trying to get a sense of what they’re going to do to work and achieve a fair and equitable balance on the distribution of those types of formulas. As we all know, Yellowknife has a very large population and has a very huge infrastructure deficit that they need to continue to work on.
Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct; there are some communities that he may think get close to what Yellowknife gets, but a lot of the tax-based communities have the opportunity to create their own revenue, raise their own revenue and a lot of the non-tax-based communities don’t have that option.
All different areas of the formula funding will be looked at. We try to treat the communities across the Northwest Territories fairly. That’s why we go with a base-plus funding model for a lot of the communities, so you don’t get the smaller communities with, like, 42 people getting $20 when some of the larger communities get a lot more. This is the fairest way and it’s the way we will continue to fund the communities so everybody’s treated fairly.
The formula funding, as I said, we are reviewing it. We talked to the communities. We actually just had a meeting this morning with one community that had some concerns. We talk to the communities, we’ll get their input and then we’ll make some recommendations. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to return and ask some questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services in follow-up to my previous questions.
The Minister defines the Foundation for Change as an action plan. I have to say that for me, an action implies that one would actually do something and it has some definition to it. The Minister sort of implied that she doesn’t know what it is that I’m asking for. Well, we can be in harmony, we can have the same philosophy, but what action is it that the department is actually putting in place? What definite action can the Minister tell me that the department will put in place to accomplish any one of the Child and Family Services Act review report recommendations? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thought that I already stated on Friday, as well as in answering questions this morning, that we have accepted 62 out of 73 recommendations; 62 out of 73 recommendations. We prefaced our response to the report by saying we support the work that the committee has done. We agree with the committee that we need to do more to enhance family support and working with children. We have put explanations on 10 recommendations that we could not accept as they are written, but if anybody would take the time to read those, we explain why and we talk about how we could work with that.
Mr. Speaker, in that way, the committee report and our response is very much in line with the Foundation for Change action plan. The Foundation for Change action plan has many, many different aspects to it: ones to do with wellness...(inaudible)...wellness programming and the state of wellness of our people; we talk about how to increase and improve accessibility to health and social services programs by doing things better, by using technology, by using… I mean, there is just so much to that; and sustainability. This is something that we’ve been talking about for two years, Mr. Speaker. The action plan lays out quite straightforwardly how we want to do that.
We appeared before the committee two weeks ago where we told the committee members that we were on target, but the Member wanted more information and we will get that. Mr. Speaker, I think the action plan is very clear about exactly how we’re going to get there and what we want to get done. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am having a very hard time. I guess it is a matter of semantics. But in my mind, I really don’t know how the department is going to accomplish all of the things that they have in the strategic plan that the Minister talks about.
I would like to ask the Minister to tell me... I am going to give an example from the Foundation for Change. The action is: expand respite care for families of children and youth with special needs. The expected result is families and caregivers are provided with relief time. I would like to know from the Minister how those two statements tell me how the department is going to accomplish the expected result.
Mr. Speaker, I say that is a good example of how simply and straightforwardly we put our action plan.
Mr. Speaker, we see a vision in the Northwest Territories where we will have more families getting assistance from this government as to how they could get respite care and get a break. In doing that, Mr. Speaker, we have expanded the respite care program to include NWT-wide. We have enhanced funding and it is in this year’s budget for $75,000, and as Members have stated, we are working on a territorial-wide respite care program. That is new because before we only had a respite care program in Yellowknife and delivered by one agency. We are expanding that program, and in the previous answers which stated where it is moving to, it is moving to, I believe, in Simpson and Fort McPherson. I could be wrong about the communities, but we lay out in what communities we are moving, so we are working on it and we did a presentation to the standing committee where we suggested from models on how we do that.
Mr. Speaker, I think that is a very good example of how much in detail and how methodical where we are going about dealing with an issue that everybody here has asked us to do. I think that is a good example of how I fail to see how the Member could suggest we are not giving enough information. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Minister for her response. I would like to suggest that all that information in her response should be part of the Foundation for Change. That is the kind of detail that committee is looking for. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I didn’t hear a question there. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on the questions my colleague Mr. Bromley was asking the Minister of Education, but I want to ask these questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services. The Department of Health and Social Services provides $511,000 a year to Aurora College to deliver the NP program or the Masters to Nurse Practitioner and the Introduction to Advanced Practice, both incredibly important programs. It is our understanding, or rather we have heard that the department plans to cease that funding in 2012. Could the Minister either confirm or deny that for us? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a situation where a casual conversation between people at the official level was misinterpreted or it is being misread, Mr. Speaker. We have a longstanding tradition with Aurora College where we do fund some programs for them to train people that we need. It is not a normal practice for a department to fund 100 percent of all the programs that the Aurora College do. That is the responsibility of Education, Culture and Employment. It is a normal practice also. We can’t foresee exactly what funding is going to be in perpetuity. Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that there was a brief discussion between two officials. We are committed to expanding the Nurse Practitioner Program. We are committed to working with Aurora College to continue to work on this program. As the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment stated, we will continue to work on that.
Mr. Speaker, I cannot confirm what the Member has heard. This is something that came to us in the last two weeks. We are committed to working together to keep working on this program. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am not exactly sure what that means. It is my understanding that currently, in addition to the $511,000 we provide or that Health provides to Aurora College to delivery that for us, Aurora College also charges tuition for their NP program and for their IAP program. I have heard through the grapevine that once upon a time the Department of Health used to ensure that all their community health nurses that they hire to go through the IAP and that we paid a tuition on top of that. But I have heard recently that the department is no longer having their employees attend the IAP program. Can the Minister either confirm or deny that for me, please?
Mr. Speaker, there are about four things that the Member said he had heard. I can’t confirm or deny. I don’t know. That is just the information he has, Mr. Speaker. What I am saying is we are committed to hiring and expanding the Nurse Practitioner Program. We are committing to Aurora College $511,000 that we have in the past. My understanding is that IAP program did not have enrolment interest and that is the reason why Aurora College is not delivering that program today. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, does the Department of Health and Social Services require that all the nurses hired into the community health centres throughout the Northwest Territories attend and complete the Introduction to Advanced Practice? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t have that information in front of me. I will have to get back to the Member.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are also for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I want to follow up and see if there is a chance for clarification here. I did want to mention by intro that I do have communication from the Minister of ECE’s office that, in fact, the Intro to Advanced Practice nursing program has been cancelled. That is refuted, however, by Aurora College. Correspondence says that, in fact, it is ongoing if there are sufficient people to be registered. But they also note that the Health and Social Services has stopped funding employees. I am wondering if the Minister can confirm that and if the department has also stopped funding students that they would have funded before; for example, the bachelor program. Many of them were funded to take the IAP program. Is that still happening or has that been cancelled? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Mr. Speaker, there were two or three questions pertaining to the details of the employees being paid to attend such a program. I need to get back to the Member as to whether they were required to do that before, and get the information that the Member needs. I will undertake to get back to the Member on that.
I do agree with the Member that I did have information that that program is not available this time, the introductory one, because of lack of enrolment. I will get back to the Member on the two or three questions that he asked. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Time for question period has expired. I will allow a short supplementary question. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment to get back to me with those details. I just want to know if the Minister was aware that since its inception we have had three to five intakes per year, three on average, with an average of 12 students per intake. I fail to see how we won’t have those registrants unless, of course, we stop our funding. I am wondering if the Minister can commit to getting clarification on that as well. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, my information is that there is lack of enrolment. I do not know the reasons for that. I will get back to the Member on the questions about what he committed to get back to. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, thank you for that commitment. I guess I would like to know when we can expect to hear about that, just to be sure we have a time frame to work with, and also when decisions are made for renewing that program that currently are hearing is to end in 2012. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we approve the budget a year at a time. We are considering the budget for 2011-12. The next year’s consideration will go through the regular business plan process this May through September, I would think. Mr. Speaker, by then I am sure that we would have the information.
We need to look at the needs for nurse practitioners and all the other HR issues that the Department of Health and Social Services consider. As I committed already, my officials and the Department of ECE are going to continue to work on this issue, as they came to our attention in the last couple of weeks. Let me just say that the first question that the Member asked, I will undertake to get back to the Member by this afternoon. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to opening address. Item 11, replies to budget address. Item 12, petitions. Item 13, reports of standing and special committees. Item 14, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 15, tabling of documents. Item 16, notices of motion. Item 17, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 18, motions. Item 19, first reading of bills. Item 20, second reading of bills. Item 21, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Tabled Document 4-16(5), Executive Summary of the Report of the Joint Review Panel for the Mackenzie Gas Project; Tabled Document 30-16(5), 2010 Review of Members’ Compensation and Benefits; Tabled Document 38-16(5), Supplementary Health Benefits – What We Heard; Tabled Document 62-16(5), Northwest Territories Water Stewardship Strategy; Tabled Document 75-16(5), Response to the Joint Review Panel for the Mackenzie Gas Project on the Federal and Territorial Governments’ Interim Response to Foundation for a Sustainable Northern Future; Tabled Document 103-16(5), GNWT Contracts over $5,000 Report, Year Ending March 31, 2010; Tabled Document 133-16(5), NWT Main Estimates, 2011-2012; Tabled Document 135-16(5), Response to the Standing Committee on Social Programs Report on the Review of the Child and Family Services Act; Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Social Assistance Act; Bill 14, An Act to Amend the Conflict of Interest Act; Bill 17, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act; Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Evidence Act; Minister’s Statement 65-16(5), Devolution Agreement-in-Principle, Impact on Land Claims and Protection of Aboriginal Rights; and Minister’s Statement 88-16(5), Sessional Statement, with Mr. Bromley in the chair.
Thank you, colleagues. I would like to call Committee of the Whole to order and ask Mrs. Groenewegen what is on the agenda for today.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee would like to proceed with general comments and the detail of the Department of Health and Social Services. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. With that, we will take a short break.
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Thank you, colleagues. I’d like to call Committee of the Whole back to order. We have before us consideration of the budget for the Department of Health and Social Services. I’d like to ask the Minister if she wishes to give introductory remarks.
Mr. Chairman, I gave those on Friday. Thank you.
Thank you for that reminder. Colleagues, general comments on the Department of Health and Social Services budget.
Detail.
