Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The money that we are going to be receiving from the federal government to construct the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk road is earmarked for that purpose. The communities in the Beaufort-Delta have worked many years at securing that funding, working with our government. Our intention is to construct the Inuvik-Tuk portion as the first portion of the Mackenzie Valley Highway.
In response to Member Yakeleya’s questions earlier, should commercialization happen and these wells be brought into production, that is going to change a lot of things in the central Mackenzie. Once construction starts on the Inuvik-Tuk highway, yes, our focus will certainly switch to southern portions of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister said that the funds of the federal government have been earmarked. I guess that’s good news. I mean, 75 cent dollars from the federal government is very good news. It’s been earmarked.
I’d like to ask the Minister if in fact there are not still many hurdles with respect to the commencement of a project like that, and if we as a government should not be paying due diligence to the Wrigley-Norman Wells in view of the activity, in case the other project does not proceed. I don’t want to wait until we turn the soil on one project before we start paying attention to the other.
Are these two considerations being applied concurrently? Is it not true that there are many hurdles to overcome yet before we can start the Inuvik-Tuk highway? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we currently don’t have a commitment from the federal government on any other sections of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. That commitment is for the Inuvik-Tuk portion of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. That’s where we’re going to start.
There are a few items that we have to overcome here in the near term, but our anticipation and expectation is that we will overcome those items. We’ll get the decision made here in the House, and hopefully that decision can be made during the life of this sitting here over the next six weeks. That’s our expectation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of this session, I rather barged into the Premier’s office, where Mr. Ramsay was, and suggested that we should turn our attention to the lower portion of the highway and forget about the upper portion. But Mr. Ramsay assured me we will do both. Industry will participate in the Wrigley-Norman Wells portion.
What gives him confidence to say that industry will come to the table? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier to Member Yakeleya, in any discussion I’ve had with industry – and I’ve had a number of discussions with industry, the companies that are doing work in the Sahtu – there’s a genuine interest by them to have infrastructure put in place. All you have to do is look at Husky constructing a 40 kilometre all-weather road on the other side of the Mackenzie River into one of their ELs to see that there’s some commitment there. As this moves forward, as those wells are proven up and if they are going to be brought into production, certainly industry is going to be a big partner of our government.
Again, we’ll talk to the federal government. I think it has to be an initiative that sees people working together, and that is industry, our government and the federal government. I think that’s going to happen sooner rather than later. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will keep this short. The federal government has expressed a great interest in opening up the North; they have expressed great interest in the development of energy sources in the country. With that in mind, Mr. Ramsay speaks of the federal government coming to the table.
I’d like to know when this government would intend to put forward any kind of formal proposal to the federal government to participate in that part of the highway, as well, the Wrigley to Norman Wells. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I mentioned earlier, our focus right now is getting construction started on the Inuvik-Tuk highway. I know the department and the government are working on other initiatives that include the lower section of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. We look forward to, at the earliest opportunity, sharing that information with the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure and the Regular Members so that we can start looking at other opportunities here to build the infrastructure necessary to get our resources to market. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned earlier today in my Member’s statement, the community of Tsiigehtchic has been without a nurse for the last 15 years. We did have a nurse in Tsiigehtchic for many years before this position was removed. I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services what is the department’s plan for a nurse for the community of Tsiigehtchic. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department plans to continue to work with community leaders and the health authority out of Inuvik, the Beaufort-Delta Health Authority, to try to provide nursing services, physician services into Tsiigehtchic. Ultimately, we would like to somehow place a nurse or two in Tsiigehtchic, but because of the Integrated Service Delivery Model there is not enough work for two full-time nurses. So we’re going to try to work something with the authority and Fort McPherson to try to do something where they can have emergency coverage, which is really, I think, the main issue, that even though the nurses go there during the day, there’s never coverage in the evening. If something happens in the evening, we have to find a way to try to provide that coverage. So we’re having those discussions now. Thank you.
Thank you. The Minister said they were in discussions with the department. So at what stage are the discussions that he’s having with the department with regard to a nurse in Tsiigehtchic?
Thank you. We are at the very initial stages of this new idea of trying to somehow have a situation where the nurses can actually live in Tsiigehtchic. There are a few things that must fall into place. One is security when the nurses are called out. Right now, because there are no RCMP officers located in Tsiigehtchic, we’re going to try to find a way that the local community can provide security. Number two is housing. We have to find some housing where we’re going to place two there. There may be room for one nurse now, or there may be room for both nurses, but somehow we’ve got to find suitable housing, and then the most difficult task of actually putting the job out and attracting someone that would be prepared to work that type of schedule, which may mean working in Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic both. Thank you.
Just for the Minister’s information, the community does have one unit designated for a nurse in Tsiigehtchic. I’m sure they’d free up another unit if that was made available.
I’d also like to ask the Minister, will he enter into an agreement with the community of Tsiigehtchic for a pilot project for a licenced practical nurse as an interim measure. Thank you.
It sounds like it would be a good idea, a good way to pilot something. I know that a type of restriction sometimes that governs registered nurses on whether or not one registered nurse can remain in a small community by themselves doesn’t restrict the licenced practical nurse in the same way.
We think that the majority of the work within the Integrated Service Delivery Model can be done by an LPN. So I would be prepared to look at that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So is that a yes? Thank you.
Thank you. Yes.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
I want to follow up from my statement that I made earlier about the Dene Ko Day Shelter here in Yellowknife, and whether or not there’s going to be funding once we come to the end of March of 2013, whether it’s going to be able to continue its work into the next fiscal year. So I’d like to ask the Minister, first of all – it wasn’t referenced in the Finance Minister’s budget address – what amount of money is identified in the 2013-14 budget for the Dene Ko Day Shelter in Yellowknife. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department has identified their portion of $125,000 plus the portion that has expired from BHP. So that would be, I guess, $175,000 we would be putting into it this fiscal year; and if there was an agreement to continue beyond March 31st, then it would be $175,000 the following year. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister for the information. He said if it’s determined to go beyond, then it would be that amount in ‘13-14, I think is what he referenced. So my question to the Minister is, if we’re putting in $175,000 in this fiscal year, is there something which has yet to be determined for ‘13-14 to allow the Dene Ko Shelter to be funded. Thank you.
We were just having a couple of little issues here with the contribution agreement year-end report and proposal. So we need to get some of this administrative stuff out of the way and then the department, seeing all those things and everything being in order and finding somebody to run the facility, if the organization is still prepared to do so, then we will fund for the following year. Thank you.
Thanks. I’m still confused. The Minister said we will fund for the following year. I would really appreciate it if he could give me some numbers so I’m sure of what years he’s referencing. I would think if the money is identified – and I would hope that the money is identified – I guess I want to hear from the Minister that, yes, the money is going to be in the ‘13-14 budget or, no, if we can’t get a contract by the end of March, it’s not going to be there. I would like that clarification. Thank you.
Thank you. The Department of Health and Social Services is earmarking $175,000 for the fiscal year ‘13-14 for the operation of that facility. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for that clarification. I’m very glad to hear that.
I would like to know from the Minister if it is the intention of the department to continue that funding over more than one year, or is this going to be a one year to one year to one year where they are always waiting for confirmation of funding. Thank you.
Thank you. No, we’re not sure that we will continue beyond ‘13-14. This was initially a three-year pilot project, and at the end of the three-year pilot project, which would end on ‘12-13, there was supposed to be evaluations and a year-end report and proposal for the ongoing years. None of that has been received. So we’re going to fund it for one more year. Hopefully, that will give us an opportunity for Health and Social Services to work with the society that runs the day shelter to be able to get that information together so that we could plan for maybe the longer term. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today will be for the Minister of Health as well. A valid health care card is the difference between getting service and getting no service if it’s invalid, and I have to applaud the Department of Health for recently putting a lot of emphasis on putting advertisements in the paper looking at updating the expired cards or health care cards that are about to expire. However, I must admit that, as of late, some of us are hearing some noise from our constituents that those people whose health care cards expired in January did not receive notifications from the Department of Health or from Inuvik as well.
Can the Minister of Health indicate did he indeed hear that very same message regarding the fact that notices were not being issued for expiry dates in January of 2013? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There should be notifications going out to everyone. I think the hope at one point was that, just like a driver’s licence, when your birthday came up you’d check to see if your health care card was expiring and then you would go down and deal with it. However, it seems like the same attention is not paid to someone’s health card as it is to their driver’s licence, so we’ve mailed out information saying that your health card would be expiring on a specific date, your upcoming birthday and so on. My understanding is that everyone whose health card is expiring early this year has received notification.
I appreciate the Minister’s response to that; however, if everyone was receiving notifications, I guess our phones wouldn’t be ringing off the hook from people upset that they did not get a notification card.
My question again to the Minister is: There has been a glitch in the system with respect to notifications being issued for many health care card users across the Northwest Territories, systematically causing disruptions in services for those people who require those updated cards to receive such services in the Northwest Territories. Has the Minister or the department made provisions for basically causing a little bit of a backlog here and has the department made provisions for this backlog?
If there is some bit of a backlog because people were not notified through the regular notification system, then the department will do what it can to get that caught up as soon as possible. If we have specific individuals that have not received notification advice either through their MLA or one of the authorities or even Stanton to let people know in the system that they haven’t received their health card, then we will get on that and try to get the health cards to individuals as soon as possible.
Again, I do stress the integrity of the health care system is paramount and with these delays. I can assure you there is going to be lots of frustration out there in the Northwest Territories for receiving such services. Further, it has been brought to my attention that we have got some other issues with respect to information. With everything that we’ve heard about keeping of information, people’s information, and the privacy, there appears to be some files, from what we have been told, from patients that have been lost from the Inuvik office. The fact that these files are in the process of trying to be retrieved, can the Minister assure this House and the people of the Northwest Territories that, indeed, no patient files have been lost and the integrity of our system is intact?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. That is a new line of questioning, but I’ll give it to the Minister if he wants to take it. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated, I thought that everybody had received notice. There was an attempt to try to make people personally responsible for their health care cards. If the individuals have sent in information on their health care card and have not received anything, I’ve advised the office in Inuvik and they said the information was lost. Naturally, we’re going to do all we can to recover the information. I heard that there are people who may have information lost, but I haven’t received any specifics. If I can get specifics from the Member, I will follow up on it and try to find that information.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that. It wasn’t quite a new question because it was regarding the health care card information being lost. I tried to tie them together, but I do respect the Speaker’s point on that.
What I’m asking here from the Minister, quite clearly, is there are obviously some issues here involving people’s health care card renewals and now information. Can the Minister actually assure the House and assure the standing committee here in the future that the integrities are in place, and can we get something back in writing from the Minister of that integrity?
The department will do everything possible to make sure that people are notified. We will confirm that.
We recognize we’re talking about a volume of about 3,000 people each month whose health care cards will expire. If everyone has not received notification, we will follow up with those individuals and also with anybody who has indicated that there’s a possibility that their information has gotten lost, either going to Inuvik or coming back from Inuvik. We will track that and get to the bottom of any of these issues.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement as well. Basically, it’s a new and emerging issue the impact that is happening in the Sahtu and my riding of Nahendeh and the need for expenditures on the road north of Wrigley. I just wanted to take a different angle though.
We mentioned here several times about the Voisey’s Bay template, about spending money in the special development zones and the federal government did it for Voisey’s Bay. We actually did it for Highway No. 4 and the Ingraham Trail. I would like to ask the Minister of ITI if he could look at this as a special development zone and can we start putting some resources to it. I know the Minister indicated that he’s going to wait and see that the play is actually developed. In these other areas we spent money before they were developed. I would like to ask the Minister of ITI if he will start focusing and work with his Cabinet colleagues to develop a strategy for the Sahtu and develop our Mackenzie Valley Highway north.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. David Ramsay.
