Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s statement today, we are probably the only jurisdiction in Canada that does not have legislation enabling professionals to become incorporated. I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice if this type of legislation is forthcoming in the Northwest Territories.
The Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Just to address the question on the Medical Profession Act and what the Member is alluding to — the changes — yes, there is a draft comprehensive professional corporation legislative proposal coming forward. So we are working on that with the Department of Health and Social Services and our department — working closely together on the particular statement.
Mr. Speaker, we’re all aware in this House of some of the pressures that have been on the resources and the capacity that we have to draft new legislation and get it enacted. I’d like to ask the Minister if all the consultation and everything has already happened that would allow this legislation to go forward and if it will be given priority status.
Mr. Speaker, this has been an ongoing issue for a number of years, highlighting the doctors and the lawyers. I believe Mrs. Groenewegen raised that issue on numerous occasions in the past. It has triggered our department and also Health and Social Services to draft up legislation on this particular issue. We are currently establishing a draft proposal to be submitted, and then we will be discussing that further. It is one of the priorities that our department is also working on with the department.
To the issue of this being given some kind of a priority here, we cannot afford to lose any more professionals out of our community. As I said, I believe that the lack of this legislation is something that has affected Hay River just this past week in a very detrimental way. What kind of time frame could we be looking at to have this legislation in place and approved in this House?
It is true that we need to move forward on this. We certainly don’t want to lose professionals to the south. We certainly want to attract them and retain them here in the North. The draft legislation proposal will be forwarded for our review within the next month, so it is coming in a progression period.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In keeping with what would be the normal turnaround time required for a piece of legislation like this, I'd like to ask the Minister: is there any way to fast-track this? If there is, when could we possibly see this legislation work concluded and this bill passed in the House?
Mr. Speaker, we’ll do what we can as a department to fast-track this particular piece of our proposal.
We will, as a department, continue to work with the Department of Health and Social Services and the other parties that are involved with drafting of the proposal. We’ll do what we can as a department to move it expeditiously. Mahsi.
The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
