I realize that for some out there this could be studied for 10 years. I’ve been here for 10 years. This Supplementary Health Benefits Policy was studied for seven years, that I was here in 2007, before changes were brought about. Mr. Speaker, the Member is right; the last motion was in April, but I believe we set after the motion was passed. We worked on it through the summer and the fall. Perhaps, for some, we could spend 10 years studying this before any changes are made.
Mr. Speaker, I believe it’s a judgment call. I believe it was more important that we go out with the profile of the program: what is it, who’s accessing it and who’s not accessing it. We are going out to the public so that they could have a discussion, because we get daily questions from people wanting to know where this is at.
I think we need to give people a chance to speak. The Members can continue to give us their input. The Member is asking why do you not have the answer to what would happen if X happened. My point is we’re not saying X will happen without going to the public. Let the public decide whether the X should happen or not and, if that’s the case, how. Just to make sure that we let the people know that this is not a cost-cutting exercise, it’s about educating the public about what the supplementary health benefits are. It is the most generous of any. We want to keep it still generous, but we want to look at who is accessing that. Right now it’s only those who are over 60 and those who have a specific condition. There are a whole lot of people who are not able to access it. It’s only fair that those who don’t have access to it have a chance to say I think we should relook at who accesses this program.
The motion is clear. I was wondering if the Minister could tell us why the Minister ignored what the motion said.
The motion was a recommendation to the government. We have adhered to the motion. They told us to take it back, look at the facts, do that analysis and do the consultation. We are doing that right now.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Premier of the House. I want to ask the Premier about a motion that was passed several weeks ago about the caribou issue. We had a motion that gave direction to the government on dealing with the caribou issue. I want to ask the Premier where that motion is at.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The motion was passed about the caribou situation. There are a number of things that are happening. As the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources responded in the previous session, there is work going on with the co-management boards and with the Wek’eezhii board, as well as setting up a process that includes the Yellowknives and NWT Metis in that process coming up as an overall management plan similar to what we’ve done in areas where there are land claims and co-management bodies in place. We’re moving down that process.
In the interim, I know the Minister and his department have tried to sit down and have had a number of meetings with Yellowknives Dene to try to come up with a workable solution on the very specific issue that they’ve had to deal with.
Can the Premier give us an update on where things are with the Yellowknives Dene on how they’re trying to work out a deal on the harvesting?
For that detail, I’ll defer that question to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have put an offer to the Yellowknives. We have also, as I’ve indicated to the Member previously in the last session, had discussions with the Dene Nation about a possible process. Both those cases we are waiting for feedback on to see if we can move ahead as we move into the ninth week of the protection of the Bathurst herd.
I’ll ask the question of putting the offer to the Yellowknives, is there a time frame for this offer being discussed and negotiated to come up with a deal?
We are looking to -- and I’m sure both parties would like to resolve this particular issue -- the deputy minister was going to in fact get back in touch with the Yellowknives, now that the Olympics are over and everybody is back in business, to see what possible next steps might be there in the minds of the Yellowknives.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
I want to ask the Minister or Premier on building relationships with the aboriginal governments on this very important issue. This issue is very critical for us to go forward. I want to ask the Premier about this deal, having it satisfactory to the Yellowknives, to the Tlicho, to the people of the Northwest Territories to go forward on bigger issues with the government. Is the Premier committed to ensuring this deal can get done soon? This week?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In that area of building relationships with aboriginal leaders and groups and governments across the Territory, we continue to do that. We continue to build on that. We’ve had the discussion about caribou at that table and we will continue to have discussion about a process forward in a number of key areas as well. This is one of those areas and we recognize that we need to continue to build and strengthen on that relationship.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The particular issue I keep trying to raise here is linking the reduction of services to poor management. I’d ask the Minister of Health and Social Services what work is done from a waste buster point of view. With a department that has a budget of $326 million, do they have any staff or personnel dedicated to finding wasted resources within their organization?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The entire health and social services system is geared towards making sure that we use our health and social services dollars to the people in need. On any given day I have every Member of this House come and talk to me about the things we need to do for our people: medical travel, different services, different care, different institutions they should go to, different treatment. The fact is that health and social services is a high-demand field. We put a great deal of priority on spending our dollars in the health and social services field, but we’re also aware that we’re under constant pressure with the dollars we have. Everybody, every manager, every department head, every CEO, every chair, every board is preoccupied to making sure that we use our resources that we get as well as possible.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The time for question period has expired. I will allow the Member a very short supplementary question. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you kindly, Mr. Speaker. On one hand the Minister will say in this House that the supplementary health benefit changes are not about reducing costs. The question still stands: what services are provided within the Department of Health and Social Services that examine the cost of our health dollars to ensure that they are being used wisely?
One example that I can think of is we’ve been reviewing the specialist services to see what services we provide, how they are being provided. The Stanton CEO and the department and refocusing government have been working on that. We have also done a review on medical travel, because that is a part that is completely dependent on demand and the requests that are made from the doctors and other service providers. That’s under review, and supplementary health benefits. We just went through a very detailed analysis on exactly how many people accessed that, how much it costs and who’s accessing that. That’s not a cost-cutting measure. It is about learning what the program that we provide looks like, who is using it, how much does it cost.
If we were talking about Rio Tinto or BHP, they have staff dedicated specifically to look at resources and how the system is being done to make sure they can do them in an efficient way. What proof does the Minister have that she can lay before this House that the Department of Health and Social Services examines the way it does business on a regular basis to ensure that we’re getting the best value for our dollars?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s a lot of difference between Rio Tinto or BHP and the public health system. Our system is demand driven. People put the highest priority on their health and social services. On a daily basis, whether it’s Friday night, Saturday morning, midnight, I get calls from Members and the general public asking us to do something more for health and social services or extra services they would like. You cannot compare a health care system to a private corporation who needs to check the bottom line all the time. We have finance people in our authorities and our department. Cabinet keeps a close eye on our health care expenditures, because every government in Canada is concerned with making sure we find and spend our health dollars wisely.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I highlighted the fact that we’ve got doctors acting like either summer students or clerks. In my statement I also pointed out that we’re not billing properly. So are we like a diamond mine? No, we’re not. But the strategy and process and thinking is exactly the same: wise resources and good use of them. Would the Minister re-examine the issue of establishing a position that looks at how we use our resources to make sure we’re using them in the most efficient way? It’s not about the question of providing resources, it’s how we spend the money. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the entire Foundation for Change is based on making sure that people in our health care system do what they’re most suited to do. So I can’t answer to the Member’s question about doctors looking at files. I can’t imagine that we would ask them to look at their files for any other purpose than for which they are being paid to do, which is to provide doctor services.
Mr. Speaker, he’s asking a very general question. I’ve answered already. The primary care clinic consolidation might be requiring the staff to look at their files, but, Mr. Speaker, I can say once again that my preoccupation every day is to see how we can spend our $326 million as well as possible so that we benefit the people on the ground. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister responsible for Human Resources.
In regards to the number of positions that were staffed through the use of direct appointment:
What was the number of direct appointments made in each department during this fiscal year to date and fiscal year 2008-2009?
What reasons were given for the appointments being made directly?
What was the number of positions that were vacant up to and/or at the time of the direct appointment in each of these years?
What was the number of direct appointments that were made after the staging of competitive staffing actions in each of these years?
Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Justice.
How many inmates on remand at North Slave Correctional Centre are awaiting professional psychiatric assessments?
Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document titled Today’s Resources, Tomorrow’s Legacy: NWT Heritage Fund Public Consultation, February 2010.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Wednesday, March 3, 2010, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that the Government of the Northwest Territories take immediate action to alter the Beverage Container Program by eliminating the collection of the non-refundable handling fee for milk containers and provide a corresponding and suitable level of financial assistance to the Environment Fund, if required, to assist in covering program expenses and improvements to waste reduction and recovery programs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Wednesday, March 3, 2010, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that the Government of the Northwest Territories establish assessment services for adults who have FASD; and further, that a multidisciplinary team based on the examples of the Territorial Assessment Team or the Child Development Team at Stanton Territorial Hospital be developed to provide these assessment and diagnostic services in the NWT; and furthermore, that programs and supports for individuals and families living with FASD be enhanced to be available to NWT residents who need these services; and furthermore, that the government provide a response to this motion within 120 days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Wednesday, March 3, 2010, I will move that Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Veterinary Profession Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
