Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions for the Minister of NTPC. I notified the Minister today of the issues with billing services in my region when it’s minus 27, minus 23, minus 30 and there’s a disconnection of services to some of the houses by NTPC for billing of about $300 or $400. Is there a policy within NTPC regarding disconnection to houses that the families are not there, they are on duty travel or in the bush and there’s no one there to deal with the billing issue? Is there a policy within NTPC for disconnecting a home at temperatures that are below a certain degree?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe there is a policy that is used by the Power Corporation. I will have to get that and provide that to the Member.
I would also appreciate if this policy is there, that it be communicated to the area staff members who have to deal with regional billing issues and that the staff at the NTPC are somewhat flexible when people are on duty travel or out, to give them sufficient time to deal with their current billing issues before their power is disconnected, because that causes other serious issues.
The issue of disconnection and disconnection notices is one that has been raised a number of times either through this forum or directly to myself. I have forwarded that on to the board. I will again ask that that information be brought forward to look at it and see if there are particular issues the Member would like to have addressed that I could forward on to the board.
I did give the Minister some information this morning, so I appreciate his quickness of looking at this issue with the board. It concerns some of the Sahtu. I want to also ask the Minister about his discussions with the board, if there are any type of future discussions about having NTPC locate an office in the Sahtu to deal with some of the issues that could be a lot less stressful to my constituents.
Over the years the Power Corporation has tried to stabilize its costs and has structured billing payment plans with offices throughout the NWT and communities. I will get the appropriate information. I know that the Power Corporation, as well as the annual report gets tabled in this Assembly, that that could be looked at and the corporate plan as well. I’d have to go to the board and get that information and provide that to the Members.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Fair enough. The Minister is correct that we are looking at certainly some cost-effective measures here. In saying that, would he also consider maybe then having our own NTPC staff in our communities take on a greater role in some of the billing and situations that could be done there rather than calling the Inuvik area office as my region has to do? They could deal right with the community representative about some of the administrative stuff that needs to be handled through this type of issue.
I know that, for example, in the NTPC review that was done, the issue with communications with the customer base is one that was brought up. I know we have to do an overall review and a response to that area to see if we can improve that. I’ve shared that communication side with the board as recently as this morning in fact. That is an area that we need to work on both from our side as the GNWT as well as from the board and sharing that information back and forth. As for the establishment or enhancing that level of service in communities by existing staff, I will check if there are any plans in place to do something along those lines.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I hope the Minister has recovered from my apparent attack yesterday and is willing to give me some answers on wait times, which was actually my intent yesterday.
I know that we have significant wait times for specialist doctors, but I would like to know from the Minister whether or not we have identified standards for wait times both in Canada and in the NWT.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of specialist services and other services we provide at Stanton and other facilities. Different services have different wait times depending on the demand versus available personnel. I’m not aware and I need to check whether there are strict standards put on wait times. I would like to advise the Member, however, that our residents do receive procedures they require if it’s an emergency and acute cases, and obviously our medical professionals are on constant watch to make sure that our people get the services they need.
Thanks to the Minister. I would appreciate knowing whether or not we do have certain standards which are out there which we should attempt to adhere to. I do remember a conversation from a couple of years ago on the federal scene that we were trying to reduce wait times for patients. I’d be interested in seeing standards, if there are any.
The concern for my constituent, in October of 2008 he was advised that it was a one-year wait to see an orthopaedic specialist. I wonder if the Minister could tell me what kind of a wait it is at this particular time now that we’re in March of 2010.
First on the topic of patient wait time guarantee, it is a big national issue. Wait time issue is a national issue. The federal government has made some investments, but I don’t believe it’s about setting the standard and making everybody meet the standard. It’s about changing the system and better aligning health care professionals, using technology, just better management of the resources we have so that we maximize and, therefore, reduce the wait time.
I am aware that for general surgery, which could include -- I don’t want to get highly technical because, obviously, I am not a doctor -- it will be difficult for me to say what is the wait time for orthopaedic procedures. This will be like any other procedure where the orthopaedic surgeons at the hospital would look at all the cases, and cases will be moved up depending on the need and the seriousness or the urgency.
In general, we have a one-year wait time for general surgery at Stanton. Thank you.
That’s kind of a damning statistic, if one has to wait a year to get into general surgery. I know that actually our wait times in the NWT are probably better than in some of the provinces in the South.
To the Minister, I understand that we have a policy that if we have a specialist in the NWT -- this is what my constituent ran into -- we have orthopaedic surgeons within the NWT and even though it’s a year or 18 months to wait for surgery or a particular injury in this case, if we have a specialist here, our patients cannot be referred to the South. So I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not that policy is indeed accurate and whether or not we could change that policy so that we could, in one case, reduce the list of patients that need to have orthopaedic surgery, such as in this case, and provide better service to our residents. Thank you.
The wait times we’re talking about are similar across the country. So the services we need for our residents, we either provide them in Yellowknife or in Edmonton. Sending them south would not necessarily reduce the wait times. We do send our patients down south because that’s where the services are provided. So, for example, for orthopaedic surgery, our residents may get services here or in Edmonton. My point being we have medical specialists at Stanton in constant contact with patients that are waiting for the surgery and whether or not they need to be moved around to get the services they need, sending them south would not necessarily reduce the wait time. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister as well. I guess I would encourage the Minister to consider there may be cases where sending a patient south might actually speed things up and, if that is the case, I would encourage the Minister to consider doing that. I understand it’s probably unlikely, but we have to keep all doors open, in my mind.
The Minister mentioned something about wait times are about changing the system. If we have wait times as long as a year for one particular speciality, I’m sure there are others that happen to be longer. I would like to ask the Minister what we as a government or what we as a Department of Health and Social Services are doing to change the system to reduce the wait times for our residents. Thank you.
Just to state again sending our patients south to see if we can reduce their wait time, my understanding is that actually most general surgeries, Alberta or any other provinces, one year is the norm. It is a national issue and it is a serious issue.
Secondly, Mr. Speaker, Stanton and the department is working hard to look at the entire specialist delivery service to see how we can lengthen the wait time and better provide service. For example, we are aware of the fact that some of the delays at Stanton happened because of the bed shortages. We are looking to review that. Our medical directors are working together to see how we can move our patients around faster and we are also looking at moving some of the services like diagnostic services to Hay River so that we could free the bed. So a lot of work is being done and I would be happy to share that with the Members once it’s complete in a few weeks. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, climate change has threatened the water quality in the Sahtu. Between 1985 and 2000, mercury, DDTs, PCBs doubled in fish in the Mackenzie River to a level just below Health Canada’s set maximum safe level for humans. Mr. Speaker, pollution and climate change is a great concern to us. I want to ask the Premier if he’s aware of the recent study that was conducted near Fort Good Hope in terms of this type of information that came to light.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not aware of the recent study that was done and I would have to get the information from the appropriate department. Thank you.
The study, when I did my research, I was led to believe that our water is not as pure as we think it is. I would like to ask the Premier if he could let the House know what type of protection people have from toxins, like I mentioned, in our water supplies. What type of protection do we have now?
There are a number of protections built in place when it comes to whether it is community drinking water, whether it is regulatory issues around the environment or around worksites and so on. More importantly, through the guidelines for Canadian drinking water quality, they set maximum acceptable concentrations for some of those areas of concern or the contaminants in the water that would be deemed acceptable. One of our other departments of Environment and Natural Sources does some work on the total water ecosystems that we operate within the Northwest Territories and are affected by other jurisdictions. I know the Minister is working on a strategy with our aboriginal partners across the Northwest Territories. Beyond that, I would say I would have to go to the appropriate department and get the information and share that with Members.
I am pleased that the government is investing in monitoring the quality of water in the Mackenzie River. I am pleased to hear that we are developing a water strategy, but I would like to ask this government to urge, in an urgent situation, to address serious emerging issues. The Alberta tar sands today is the greatest threat to our water quality in the Northwest Territories, so can this government act very aggressively to put together a very strong transboundary agreement to protect our water for the life of our future generations?
In working with the Alberta government, we have secured, along with the western provinces, a spot at the table when it comes to transboundary water issues. That is over and above the work of the Mackenzie Basin. I don’t have the accurate terminology with me right at this point, but that is the western jurisdiction of Saskatchewan, Alberta, B.C., ourselves and the Yukon when it comes to the basin and catchment area of our water supplies and the transboundary issues. The federal government is part of that and our Minister of Environment and Natural Resources is involved in that area as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am aware also that particles of toxins from southern pollution like the Alberta tar sands do stick to the algae that the fish eat. Fish is the main food in many of our homes in the Northwest Territories, especially my people in the Sahtu. So I want to ask the Minister in terms of what type of current monitoring is happening in the Northwest Territories to the water and to the fish. Thank you.
The jurisdiction of water, although not in the Northwest Territories area of responsibility, through our Water Strategy and working with our aboriginal partnership, we are coming up with a comprehensive planned approach to the water issues in the Northwest Territories. Right now the Department of Fisheries and Oceans does that work when it comes to waterways and testing. We can also bring it from time to time, for example if there is an environmental issue, the Department of ENR could be drawn into that. Again, I would have to get the appropriate departments to provide that information and the necessary steps that are taken. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently the Minister of Public Works and Services visited Hay River and had an opportunity to have a firsthand look at some of the potential sites that have been identified for the construction of a new hospital in Hay River. I was wondering if Public Works has any kind of an update on the evaluation of those sites. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We did have the opportunity to visit Hay River, along with yourself and Mrs. Groenewegen, to look at one of the potential sites or relocation, providing the hospital project goes ahead with some sites that they require movement of other departments. We had a very good visit. We had a facility that was very attractive. We had indicated at that time that we would provide some staff to do further follow-up in terms of what it would cost, what operating costs are, what kind of land is available and things of that nature. I also had the opportunity to look at a number of sites that the hospital had or the review had considered. I saw firsthand. It also allowed me to go onto the reserve and visit some facilities there. We have not, or at least I have not, had an update. The due diligence is being done right now. It has been worked on for quite a while. I don’t have any update to provide at this point. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we have had the construction of a new hospital on the agenda for Hay River for quite a number of years now. There has been a lot of work that has gone into the development plan and trying to determine what is best needed in the community. Now we are down to trying to decide where such a facility would be best located. Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health and Social Services indicated to me that there could be some time sensitivities around identification of a site for a large capital project. I was wondering if the Minister of Public Works and Services could tell me what is that date by which a site should be identified if the Hay River hospital would make it onto the capital plan of this government for this year. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t have a date for the Member. There is a review team that is looking at the different proposed sites. Depending where the hospital will be located, it may require further relocation. For example, if the site where the ENR facilities are at currently, if that is the area that is going to be chosen, then it will require either a co-location or movement of some of the facilities off that base site. That hasn’t been decided yet.
I think we expect to have some reports fairly quickly in the next couple of weeks. We are waiting for that information. We would need to have it in a timely manner so that we can ensure that the project is on the books. I think we have already made room for that. It is just a matter of getting some of the locations worked out.
There are a number of locations that have been brought forward. I think there were 29 locations brought forward initially but we are down to two. We did look at three, but we are down to two sites that are potential for the hospital. There have been some preferences brought forward by a committee that was put together. There were also some preferences brought forward by the municipality. All of these things will be taken into consideration by our review team. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as one of the MLAs for Hay River, I am most concerned that we do not pass this date by which capital projects need to be into the mix for the upcoming year. A capital project of this size, actually, funding is allocated over a number of years, but you have to start somewhere and I had hoped that some of the capital required would be identified in the capital budget and it would be voted on in this Assembly in the fall, but there is a date by which a site would need to be designated in order for that to be accomplished. That is the date that I am concerned about Public Works and Services working to so that this assessment of potential sites is…that work is completed. Does the Minister know what that date is? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am checking in my binder to see if I can find that date. Mr. Speaker, I want to reassure the Member that we, in my discussions with our staff -- and I apologize that I don’t have the date on the top of my head -- but in our discussions with our staff, Public Works, we don’t anticipate that there will be any slippage on the time frame. We are working toward the site. We are also working towards schematics and things of that nature, so it is all being moved forward as a package. I can reassure the Member that we will have those decisions made in a timely manner so the project is going forward as scheduled. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The work of the CEO of the hospital, the public administrator, yourself, Mr. Speaker, and I had met to go over some of this preliminary information. I believe that when this site is decided on or determined, I would hope that we are certain that the stakeholders have been consulted. I know that the Town of Hay River has a very keen interest as well in being kept fully apprised of what is happening with this project. I don’t know why there were no representatives from the town at some of those planning sessions that we were part of, but I would just like to get the Minister of Public Works’ commitment that the affected stakeholders, MLAs, town, hospital administrator and CEO will be kept fully apprised of where the planning for this very important piece of infrastructure is at. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I can certainly commit to that. I think there is still a lot of time to do a proper consultation. We have done a lot of work in that area. There is a lot of discussion that has been happening with the different people in the community. It is our policy to make sure everybody is involved, including the MLAs. We will provide that information. We will make sure we have an actual date so that the Member is aware of it. We will make sure that there is no slippage on this project. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
This is great. This is the first time I had a set of questions back to back. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will make this very brief.
The prospects of a pellet mill at Patterson Sawmill in Hay River have been supported by this government by way of a study that has been composed. Mr. Speaker, just to make a long story short, the cost of the infrastructure and the operations, significantly the power, is a huge consideration in this. Although there is product out there to be harvested that could make the manufacturing of pellets in Hay River viable, the upfront costs and some of the ongoing costs would be cost prohibitive.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of ITI if there are any programs out there not as a loan but as a pilot project. Since we have now got government infrastructure that will be burning wood pellets in their boilers, we have some major work that is being done in converting the schools in Hay River off of diesel or off of propane and onto wood pellets. I would like to ask the Minister of ITI, is there any program currently available in this government that could possibly see the construction of a pellet mill in Hay River that I guess the financial viability would come in the ongoing product they would produce. It would not be able to carry a significant start-up cost. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
