Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister indicate to this House when we may be able to see this RCMP investigation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, as I have indicated, the RCMP is doing a thorough investigation into this incident. Once they have completed that investigation, after they have gathered all of the evidence and they’ve done all the analysis that needs to be done, what can be shared will be shared. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 2010 Ruskin picked up the defunct contract on the Deh Cho Bridge and took the price from $167 million to $182 million. In less than a year we needed an additional $10 million that pushed the contract to $192 million. In the spring of 2012, the McLeod government went even further by demanding $10 million that brought the project up to $202 million.
The question is to the Minister of Transportation. What value and services did the taxpayer of the Northwest Territories receive over and above the original 2010 signed contract with the GNWT and Ruskin? In essence, did we get anything more than a bumper sticker that said open 2012 instead of 2013? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The public in the Northwest Territories, the transportation companies, everybody has access to the Deh Cho Bridge. It has been open since November 30th. That is a great benefit to the residents here in the Northwest Territories. We got the bridge open on November 30th of 2012. Had we chosen a different path as the Member suggests, we would still be in court, the bridge wouldn’t be open and we’d still be asking ourselves many questions. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, what were the costs and savings realized when this government drove the contract from $192 million to $202 million? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, that horse left the barn about six years ago. There have been a number of questions that have been asked over the years. I don’t believe it does us much good to be beating a dead horse. The bridge is open. If the Member wants specifics on what exactly that $10 million was used for, that money was used to get the contract complete by November 30th so that the bridge could be put into service and that’s exactly what we did. The government was intent on getting that bridge put into service on November 30th. There was a cost to do that. That is what we did, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, in the Minister’s mind, that horse may have been gone six years ago, but I can tell you it’s before the taxpayer for the next 35 years, if not longer.
Why didn’t the Minister of Transportation mention that we saved approximately $2.4 million on the operation and maintenance of the ferry and the ice road services? If I have to answer my own questions in this House, I’m going to ask the Minister what was left over with the $7.6 million needed to open up the bridge a year earlier. What were the benefits of opening it up a year earlier other than spending $7.6 million uselessly? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, it would have been a year worth of tolls on the bridge. It would have been a year’s worth of interest paid on that money which would have well exceeded the $7.6 million the Member talks about. That bridge is open. Again, it’s serving the public of the Northwest Territories doing what it was supposed to do and intended to do. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Paying the interest on the loan is actually a bit of a misnomer. We would have had to pay that fee anyway. Where did the money really go and what benefit did the territorial citizens receive? The Minister is correct about the tolls being a wash when it comes to the money, but the tolls themselves wouldn’t have added up to $7.6 million of slush money to open up this particular bridge.
Where are the facts of where the money went to and what was the received benefit by opening it up a year early? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the benefits are that we’re not waiting, there is access to the North Slave region 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There is convenience. It’s good for transportation companies. It will be great for university students coming back from university in May. They won’t have to face leaving their vehicles in Hay River and fly to Yellowknife and then fly back to Hay River to pick up their vehicles.
It went into the contract. There were extra costs associated with accelerating the contract in order to get the bridge open by November 30th, and if the Member wants to find exactly where that $7.6 million went, we’d be happy to share that information with him. I believe we have shared that information with him and committee at a previous meeting. I’d be more than happy to pick up that presentation that was provided to his committee.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m just going to continue on the same theme here with the Mental Health Act. I have questions here today for the Minister of Justice.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice what is the number of psychiatrists and psychologists that we have in our current corrections facilities right now. How many psychiatrists and psychologists are there in the facilities?
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, corrections has psychologists at the North Slave Correctional Centre as well as the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre who provide mental health services to our inmates. The North Slave Correctional Centre psychologist is currently on maternity leave and is being covered by a contracted psychologist. We don’t have any psychiatrists within our facilities, but psychiatrists are available at Stanton Regional Hospital and corrections has links to those services through referrals, just like any other NWT resident.
It’s good to hear that they do have the services at our corrections facilities. My next question is, in terms of Justice, do peace officers in the Northwest Territories have a good understanding and education of the Mental Health Act, and also understand what their duties are, and under the Mental Health Act and legislation what they’re entitled to do should they encounter somebody with a mental health disorder? Is there a program that ensures they are educated on the Mental Health Act when they do come to the Northwest Territories?
RCMP are familiar with their role under the Mental Health Act. It’s actually part of their training. On specifics, the types of training that they go through and how we ensure that they have that, I’ll get more information for the Member and committee on that. I did fail to indicate one psychologist position that we have at the North Slave Young Offenders Facility. We have a staff counsellor position or individual there who is in the process of obtaining her licence as a psychologist, under supervision of a licenced psychiatrist at Stanton. So we’re working on one more.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
(a) Under Section 6(a) and (b) of the NWT Mental Health Act, how many voluntary patients have there been throughout the Northwest Territories hospitals and health centres from the 2009-2010 fiscal year to the present?
(b) Of those voluntary patients, how many were admitted into the hospital and how many were denied admittance during the same time period?
(c) Of those voluntary patients denied admittance, how many were reasoned due to lack of beds and/or space during the same time period?
(a) Under Section 8(1), what are the specific numbers in which a medical practitioner has had to make an order for detention for a psychiatric assessment from the 2009-2010 fiscal year to the present?
(b) Under Section 8(3), how many reports has the Minister’s office received since the 2009-2010 fiscal year to the present?
(a) Under Section 15(1), what are the specific numbers in which a medical practitioner had to apply to admit an involuntary patient from the 2009-2010 fiscal year to present?
(b) Under Section 16(1) and (2), how many applications has the Minister examined, and how many applications were approved, and how many were refused during the same time period?
(c) Under Section 17, how many times has the Minister had to approve an extension of time for applications from the –
Mr. Moses, I have just been informed that when you have written questions, you’re only allowed four supps and I think you’re about eight now. If you want to do a second one, you can, but as of right now you’re allowed only four.
---Ruled Out of Order.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. New written questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services:
Under Section 17 of the Mental Health Act, from fiscal year 2009-2010 to the present, how many times has the Minister approved an extension of time for involuntary patient period of detection applications?
Under Section 18 of the Mental Health Act, from fiscal year 2009-2010 to the present, how many certificates of involuntary admission have been completed in NWT hospitals and health centres?
Under Section 18.1(1), from fiscal year 2009-2010 to the present, how many patients have had to be transferred outside of the NWT?
Under Section 19.2(1), from fiscal year 2009-2010 to the present, how many times has substitute consent been given on behalf of a voluntary or involuntary patient under Sections 19.2(1)(a), (c), (d), (e), (f) and (g)?
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
For fiscal year 2012-2013, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment re-profiled $1 million from the Inclusive Schooling budget to Early Childhood Development initiatives.
Immediately following year end for fiscal year 2012-2013 March 31, 2013, I ask that the Minister provide a list of actual expenditures for that same $1 million.
Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Written Question 4-17(4) asked by Mr. Dolynny on February 11, 2013, to the Honourable Tom Beaulieu, Minister of Health and Social Services, regarding NWT health care cards.
According to the Bureau of Statistics, the estimated population of the Northwest Territories at December 31, 2012, was 43,349. The number of active NWT health care cards as of February 25, 3013, is 42,239.
The Department of Health and Social Services incorporates two types of health care audits:
a health care card renewal that happens every three years; and
periodic review of client files throughout the year.
A health care card renewal is currently underway for the 2013 calendar year. As a part of this renewal, approximately 38,000 residents will be required to complete and submit a NWT health care card renewal form. If clients send in their renewal form more than four months after their health care coverage expires, they are required to provide proof of residency in the form of one of the following:
rent receipts, lease agreement or letter from a private landlord, or confirmation from a financial institution that the resident has a mortgage for local residential property;
utility, power, oil, property tax and/or phone bills; or
confirmation from Canada Revenue Agency that the resident filed a NWT income tax return.
Periodic reviews also ask clients to provide confirmation that they are residents of the NWT. These reviews are usually a result of a client receiving continuous medical services outside the NWT.
The department completed 124 health care card periodic reviews in 2012 and is currently gathering the information on the results of these audits. We will keep the Members up to date on our findings.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Motion 19-17(3), Child Tax Benefit Clawback.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my Return to Written Question 6-17(4), I wish to table the following document, entitled Mackenzie Valley Winter Road.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Monfwi, that Bill 3, Wildlife Act, be read for the first time.
Bill 3, Wildlife Act, has had first reading.
---Carried
Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Table Document 9-17(4), NWT Main Estimates, 2013-2014; and Bill 1, Tlicho Statutes Amendment Act; Education, Culture and Employment, Transportation, with Ms. Bisaro in the chair.
By the authority given to me as Speaker, by Motion 1-17(4), I hereby authorize the House to sit beyond the daily hour of adjournment to consider the business before the House.
All right. We’ll call Committee of the Whole to order. We have before us Tabled Document 9-17(4), NWT Main Estimates, 2013-2014; and Bill 1, Tlicho Statutes Amendment Act. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Committee has decided we’ll continue on with Tabled Document 9-17(4), NWT Main Estimates, 2013-2014, with our continuance of Education.
