Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on my Member’s statement and ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, given that we were lined up for major capital work on Stanton Hospital but have now let that opportunity slide, how long will the planning, budgeting and construction process take, in her estimation, to get what is needed in place, major redevelopment? When will that be actually in place?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I’ve indicated in the House previously, we anticipate that it will take at least two years to finish the Master Development Plan for Stanton.
Perhaps I’m not speaking clearly. I asked how long the Minister estimates it will take for planning, budgeting and construction to take so that facility is where we need it. How long? When can we expect that to be in place?
The Member is familiar with our capital planning process in this House. A capital infrastructure like that would go through a master development planning process, which would be used to get into the planning process. It’s the planning process that would determine where that capital ask would fit in. Once it’s approved it will depend on what the building requirements are and depending on how big of a capital project it will be, it will take multi years.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister is being quite modest in her estimates. I would say, at the rate we’re going, the pace the Minister is setting, we will be talking a decade or longer. This is totally unacceptable for this territorial facility, which is brimming over and desperately crying out for action. Everyone knows the territorial facility is overdue. Given that the Minister recognizes this need, what effort is she putting in to pushing to get this process shortened in an exception to the normal planning process? Everybody in this room, in this House, understands this is needed. Will the Minister push to get this done in a much more timely way?
Since the Member and the committee have toured the Stanton Territorial Hospital, perhaps next they could do a tour of the Norman Wells Health Centre or Hay River hospital. My point being, Stanton Hospital is a very important piece of infrastructure for us and it provides very important territorial health care programs and services, but it is not one of the most aged buildings we have. It does require a midterm retrofit. It’s about 25 years old, but the Norman Wells facility is 40 years plus. The Hay River facility that we are working on right now, I believe it was built in 1966, plus the renovations. So, Mr. Speaker, I want to advise the Member and the House that a lot of work is being done to redesign the programs and services at Stanton.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are no doctors in those facilities. The doctors are at Stanton Territorial facility. It’s there where people are sent from all over the Northwest Territories. This Minister is completely ignoring that fact and the desperate need here. Those other facilities are not brimming over. This facility is facing, really, a critical situation -- a quick tour behind the scenes and even her own staff will tell her that -- even comparing to other facilities that we have. So I ask again, Mr. Speaker, what effort is the Minister taking to actually get some work on the ground and recognize the need that’s there, the desperate need? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I think the Member knows that we are here to work for the entire Territories and, for his information, the Hay River hospital has seven doctor positions. They have 50 doctor locums that come and go. Fort Smith and Norman Wells have doctors’ offices.
Mr. Speaker, I understand the need to make sure that the Stanton Territorial Hospital is renovated and, more importantly, that the master development is done. I’ve explained before, the master development plan is more than just a footprint and square footage. It’s about what services will be provided at Stanton for years to come. With the opening of the territorial dementia centre, the consolidated clinic and other facilities, we are looking at a territorial plan that would fit into Stanton Territorial plan. We are doing a lot of work and I’m optimistic that we will have the plan in place and planning money that will have Stanton Territorial Hospital become bigger and better than it is now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you; Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
