Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Tomorrow is the 103rd International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day is annually held on March 8th to celebrate women’s achievements throughout history and across nations. It’s also known as the United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace.
On this day we all need to spread the message of women’s empowerment to our families, friends and men in our lives. It’s a day that connects women around the world and celebrates the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. It’s a day to celebrate the women in our lives and in our communities, to honour the advances women have made. But at the same time, we need to remember the need for continued action to ensure that the equality fought for and gained by women who have passed before us is maintained in all aspects of our society.
To quote an old advertising slogan, “We’ve come a long way, baby,” but I must echo a quote heard recently, “Much has been accomplished and much is still to be done.”
Of the world’s 1.3 billion poor people, nearly 70 percent are women. Between 75 percent and 80 percent of the world’s 27 million refugees are women and children. And of the world’s nearly 130 million children who are not in school, two-thirds are girls.
On average, women earn 30 to 40 percent less than men for the same work. Women also continue to be victims of violence, rape and domestic violence, which are significant causes of disability and death among women worldwide.
This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is Inspiring Change. It encourages advocacy for
women’s advancement everywhere in every way. It calls for challenging the status quo for women’s equality and vigilance inspiring positive change.
Tomorrow we will honour five NWT wise women, who each in their own way have contributed to changing the world for the better. The 2014 winners are Karen Willy, North Slave; Pamela Faith Gordon, Beaufort-Delta; Patricia Modeste, Sahtu; Sister Margaret Ann Beaudette, South Slave; and Harriet Geddes for the Deh Cho. Congratulations to that formidable group of women, Mr. Speaker. Let’s use tomorrow to get fired up about women’s rights and empowerment and use the day to promote changes in the lives of women all over the world. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The ECE Minister has given us a schedule for rolling out free junior kindergarten service across the NWT. It begins with small communities in ’14-15, followed by regional centres next and, finally, Yellowknife in year three.
Unfortunately, the Minister is funding small community programs this coming year by removing funds for our students here in Yellowknife. The Minister will say schools have a surplus, but in fact our schools raise funds through taxes on Yellowknifers to cover costs not covered by government. While the Yellowknife students are funded on a much lower per capita basis than those in small communities, Yellowknifers have recognized the need for that. But now the Minister is penalizing the initiative by the Yellowknife school boards by not only reducing their funding but also requiring that is what is currently a cost-recovery JK service be replaced with a so-called free service.
Yellowknife schools currently use ECE funding and taxpayer dollars to provide education for 12 classes plus kindergarten. As of ’16-17, the Minister will require them to do the same plus provide junior kindergarten for about 120 small children in each school system with no additional support. Without any investment from ECE to support this extra responsibility, this can only be done on the backs of our children, a clearly unacceptable basis for any program.
It’s not right to give new responsibilities without new funding. The Minister should provide new funding for junior kindergarten to all communities. This relatively small investment will help ensure the success of this new program and avoid eroding the quality of education we offer our kids.
Once again, the Minister is forcing Yellowknife school boards to struggle without needed funds as he removes them over the next two years. With a weakened system, he will then add the responsibility of 120 wee children for each school board requiring specialized early childhood development programs in junior kindergarten, returning only to the original level of funding. Blood from a stone for our children. Shame!
I will have questions for the Minister. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I woke up thinking of Stompin’ Tom this morning. It’s hockey night tonight because tonight we start Polar Pond Hockey in Hay River. It’s an annual event, a spring event. The 10 rinks are built on the Hay River. The big blue tent is up and being fitted with facilities for the upcoming event. There are concessions there this weekend. The event was a question mark this year. It was a question because of Arctic Winter Games and because of so many factors going on whether we’d do it this year or we’d skip. But the crew all got together and said, you know what? We’re going to do it. And they’re doing another great job.
There’s currently over 45 teams, four-person teams, teams of ladies, teams of old-timers, teams of mixed open class. So I would like to commend all those people that put together all that work, all the Zamboni workers, all those people that are going to be out in the cold this weekend helping out with the event, and honestly, we’re looking forward to a great event again in Hay River. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had some questions in the House yesterday in regard to some human resources issues. I just wanted to bring to attention today there was a Minister’s statement or a Minister’s news release on October 13, 2013, that mentioned the Regional Recruitment Program. I’ve made reference to it calling it the 80/20 program, where the residents of the NWT who actually try to get into the GNWT workforce get paid 80 percent of their salary and 20 percent of that overall salary goes into training.
I want to ask the Minister of Human Resources some questions later on the implementation of this program because in the press release it did state that the program would be implemented before the end of this calendar year and that was in 2013. He was hoping that trainees are anticipated to be on the job in early 2014. Obviously, we’re in the third month right now of 2014, I want to see how that’s going.
He also mentioned that this program would help reduce barriers of entering into the workforce where individuals who go into the job would do training on the job. I brought up concerns yesterday in regard to individuals trying to get into the workforce and actually not being able to get in because they have to look for a Commissioner for Oaths to sign something, or else also looking at trying to get a criminal records check or some other things that can happen to them.
This Regional Recruitment Program is a great program. I want to get an update on that and I want people of the Northwest Territories to know that this program is supposed to be in place and we’re supposed to get some residents into the workforce this year. I will be asking the Minister, later on today, how this program is coming and whether or not we’re actually having a perfect program here to get residents of the Northwest Territories into these jobs that are vacant. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement today is in reference to the recently tabled Northwest Territories Health and Social Services 2012-2013 Annual Report on the subject of patient no-shows for specialists, family and nurse practitioners.
For the record, the no-show rates for specialists are at 9.1 percent, slightly lower from the target of 10 percent, and a no-show rate for practitioners are at 12.6 percent, slightly higher than the 9 percent target. Keep in mind the 12.6 percent rate is only for Yellowknife and the Sahtu as the disclaimer in the report says the numbers aren’t consistently available for other health authorities. This concept of no-show rate is nothing new as I’ve spoken on this topic before in the House, as have others.
Alarming, still, is the continued lack of understanding of the true cost this has on our health care system, coupled with the waste of important resources in a system limited by design.
So what is the cost of a no-show? I guess this would depend on the specialty. However, what this report doesn’t really address is the issue of our no-show rates for our travel clinics and the no-show rates for our surgical operating rooms. For these numbers, one has to dig a little bit into the archives. In fact, what has been mentioned in the not-so-distant past is the no-show rate for our specialists travel clinics at 16.8 percent and for our operating rooms at 16.5 percent.
How do you begin to quantify the costs of not coming to your own operation? I can’t imagine what a team of doctors or an anesthesiologist and a couple of surgical nurses cost to have standing around these days, but I’m sure it’s not a pretty invoice.
To the question: Who pays the price of these no-shows? Well, you’ve guessed it. The taxpayer. How do we protect the taxpayer from having to pay for the arrogance of a few? That’s a good question. For some of these answers, I thank the private practice of my dentist. How about a reminder phone call? How about a text message? How about an e-mail? How about doing this for a secondary contact? How about doing all four suggestions at once, or better yet, if you really want to reduce the no-show rates, how about a deposit at the time of booking which is non-refundable if you are a no-show. Now that you’ve got everyone’s attention and, I mean, the wallet does have a way of stimulating the cerebral cortex, doesn’t it.
It is clear, we have limited resources in a world begging for more service delivery. I’m not just sure we’re giving the proper attention of this no-show rate in the NWT, so I will have questions at the appropriate time for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Money is set aside for this year’s capital plan for a new fire lookout tower in Enterprise. The tower will replace an existing tower located in an isolated part of the Cameron Hills, 73 kilometres from Kakisa.
Like other fire lookout towers, the Cameron tower is staffed from mid-May to mid-August by a contract employee from Hay River. It is used for fire detection and it is also part of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ communication system. However, the tower has limited visibility over Hay River and the Cameron Hills Plateau. It can only be serviced by helicopter, which increases operating costs substantially. Its isolated location raises health and safety concerns for the employee stationed there. Fire detection for Kakisa is primarily from another tower located 15 kilometres west of the community and from aerial detection flights.
We have a strong business case for removing the Cameron tower and relocating its functions to Enterprise. My constituents look forward to that work starting as soon as possible. The new site provides better coverage of high priority values at risk. It will be easier to manage and brings added activity to the community. Tower construction and servicing would ideally involve contractors from the region and, better yet, from the community. This lookout station also makes the community aware of the role we all play in forest fire management as stewards of our land. With a certain amount of commitment, a local person might have the opportunity to work the new fire tower, thereby reducing costs even more.
The new tower in Enterprise makes sense. I’m very pleased to see it in the 2014-15 Capital Plan and look forward to the community of Enterprise being a key piece of our forest fire management system.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to give a few reflections on what has been, well, is almost coming to an end and has been a long budget session. As Michael Miltenberger indicated, this is the 19th budget that he and I have had the pleasure of working on together.
Each of us is sent here by the electors of our constituencies. I respect those decisions that people have made. It’s a democratic process. People can put their names forward and the electorate chooses. I’m honored to say that Hay River South has elected me five times. I have had credible, respected, formidable opponents in these election campaigns and that is part of the democratic process, and I also respect those people.
Just for the record, I want to share my appreciation for the hard work of this Assembly and for you, Mr. Speaker, in the challenges that face all of us as we do this kind of work. There is not a day that I walk out of this Assembly, and walk down that long sidewalk out front, if I run into Premier McLeod that he’s not toting a big briefcase full of documents that he’s taking home with him. There are Members in this House who have made sacrifices. There are Members with new babies that are away from them for extended periods of time. We all know this when we get into public office. I’m not complaining, but these are the stark realities of serving the public at this capacity.
What is serving the public at this capacity? It is public service. I’ve been here five terms, and maybe some people think that I should have aspired to do more than be a Regular Member. I’m honoured to be a Regular Member. I’m not the greatest original thinker in the room, that’s for sure, but I do think I have an ability to observe what other people are saying and to summarize and collect my thoughts and present those thoughts, and I do love my work at the constituency level as well. There’s nothing more gratifying as an MLA than getting a call from a constituent with a problem and being able to use your experience and your skills, whatever they are, to bring to bear on that issue and to help people and see concrete and favourable results from those efforts. It’s a very, very rewarding experience.
So to anybody who thinks we’re here wallowing in the sense of our own importance and all the money we’re making, and again, I look around this room and I see everybody in this room having come from different perspectives but able to do very well for themselves no matter where they are. I am very honoured to serve with this group of MLAs and I just wanted to take a moment this morning to thank them for what they do and contribute to the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The public expects leadership from this government and many times they just don’t see it. They get frustrated when they see the marionettes in the bureaucracy pulling the strings of the political puppets. Many Assemblies have spoken about passion and forcefulness about how they can do things better. Those Assemblies, through them have risen Ministers who try to claim they are the leaders, don’t worry, we are the decision-makers, not fence sitters, Mr. Speaker.
The public demand something and when there’s a clear choice, some of these Ministers would rather sit by and watch a study tell them what to do and when to decide. As we wait for studies that support to do something or, in some cases, not to do something, the general public gets frustrated by wondering where are those leaders who passionately and forcefully have said they are deciders. These leaders are waiting for studies to buttress their decisions. May I remind the public that a buttress is something that cannot stand on its own, for goodness sakes.
So when you hear language like “we will do something when the study says so or the expert says so,” or “I will support something when the study says so or tells me to do so,” the question then arises from the public, where are those leaders?
Last summer Lodune Shelley died in a very terrible event. Could lifeguards have saved his life? I don’t know, but I can tell you 100 percent that if a lifeguard was there it would have given him a fighting chance.
When Mr. Dolynny asked questions to the Minister on October 24th, his response was, “If it’s going to make the beach and Fred Henne safer, there will be lifeguards next summer.” Well, the budget came and the budget is gone, no lifeguards. More studies, more sitting on the fence.
On February 25th the Minister goes on and says, “If the study recommends to do so, there will be.” What if the study says no lifeguards? That’s not leadership. That’s sitting on the fence, hiding behind the study. I’d say if there was real leadership over there, they’d say there’s lifeguards, we are going to consult the experts and those experts are going to tell us how to do it, not if we do it. That is the problem with this government and that’s the particular problem.
I spoke to the grandfather on the weekend and he’s burning upset that this government still drags its heels. We expect leadership. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to name off some community schools: Lutselk’e, Chief Jimmy Bruneau, Fort Providence, Hay River Reserve, St. Joe’s, Weledeh, Norman Wells, Fort McPherson, Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour, Fort Simpson, Fort Good Hope, Elizabeth Mackenzie School, K’alemi Dene School, Fort Resolution, JBT, Mildred Hall, Colville Lake, East 3 High, Ulukhaktok and William Mac School. These are 21 schools that are participating in the Traditional Games Championship this week.
Yesterday at the opening ceremonies, there was excitement in the kids. They did their ceremony outside and they had one of the speakers come and talk to the kids. They were out there at 7:00 last night with a fire ceremony and Dene drumming and the prayers from the song to the land, we come from the land and we flow from the land, as I’ve been told at one time this morning.
Then an Inuvialuit elder came up and spoke about the traditional games. He talked about tradition and the discipline of these games. These young people are being trained and learning from the elders, doing the traditional games.
I want to thank this government and the Department of MACA for putting all their energy and efforts to start developing these young leaders in these traditional sports. This goes a long way. We may not see it because we’re in the House and we’re busy with stuff, but this morning, being out there at 8 o’clock, seeing the young kids doing the push pull, I thought, gee, that would be good to have Cabinet and Regular Members doing that at 8 o’clock in the morning, practising these traditional games. I wonder who’s going to do the high kick over there, or the finger pull.
It’s good because the kids were excited; it brings them all together from across the Northwest Territories. They are practising the traditional championship games. I’m hoping that one day these traditional games will be world championship games where we can all celebrate all schools, no matter where you come from in the Northwest Territories.
A hand to the coaches from William Mac School for putting this up, and to Yellowknife for hosting them, and for all the officials over this weekend. Let’s give the kids the boost they need today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize two of our Pages gathered with us here today from Aklavik: Ethan Hartley and Grace Illasiak, and their chaperone Crystal Koe. I’d also like to recognize, up in the gallery with us today, the mayor of Aklavik and former chief, Charlie Furlong, and his partner, Joanne Deneron, and her daughter Kimberly Mabbitt. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize the Pages from Hay River South that have been serving us in the Chamber this week: Brittney Crosman and Kiera Boulanger-Rowe. I’d also like to thank Catherine Boulanger for her work as the chaperone for these young ladies, and thank them very much for their good work. I’d also like to recognize a constituent, Kim Deneron-Mabbitt, in the visitors gallery today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize Kim Mabbitt from Hay River. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize the Pages that have been here all week, especially two Pages from Yellowknife South: Benjamin Karstad and Brittney Bessette. I also want to recognize Charlie Furlong and Joanne Deneron. Welcome to the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a couple of visitors from out of town. I’ve got Mike Pearson from London, England, and Jack Bertini from Toronto. Welcome to the House. I also want to recognize Mr. Mark Salvor. He’s a senior policy analyst with ITI and I know Mark has done a great deal of work on devolution and getting us closer to April 1st. Thanks, Mark, for all your good work on devolution. Also, I’d like to recognize Mr. Charlie Furlong and Joanne Deneron. I’ve got a Page that I wanted to recognize, Gianna Debogorski from the good riding of Kam Lake. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a few people, as well, and I’d like to start by recognizing a couple of the Pages here from the Great Slave riding: Isabel Wilson and Joseph Cameron. I’d like to thank you both for everything that you’ve done for us over the last couple of weeks. We truly appreciate what all the Pages do for us. I’d also like to recognize a constituent, Mark Salvor. Nice to see you in the gallery.
Yesterday I made a statement in the House about a cancer video that will be premiered in the Great Hall later today and I’d like to recognize Charlie Furlong, who is in the video and is here to participate in that presentation, and Joanne Deneron as well. Wonderful to see you. Thank you.
Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to recognize a young Page that was serving us. His name is Ben Karstad. Ben and my son Chase practice karate together, so I want to recognize him. I would also like to recognize the chief from Aklavik, Charlie Furlong, and his partner, Joanne Deneron. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. I’d like to welcome everybody here in the gallery today and thank you for taking in our proceedings.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke of the recently tabled statistical data of no-show rates for our various specialists, practitioners, travel clinics and our operating rooms.
Alarming information shows that health care no-show rates have not really resolved themselves in the Northwest Territories. This begs to ask some questions today of the Minister responsible, which is the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Before we begin to get into the details of these no-show rates and what can be done about them, I think committee found that the recently tabled Health annual report to be rather limited in information on this topic.
Can the Minister indicate why the department could not report the no-show rates for practitioners outside of Yellowknife and the Sahtu? What were the barriers of this reporting?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will certainly get some more detailed information for the Member on this, but one of the challenges we face getting data from other authorities is the fact that every authority in the Northwest Territories is operated on different IT/IS/IM systems, they have different accounting systems, but we will continue to work with the authorities to get that information and I will provide some more detail to the Member once I get it from the department. Thank you.
Thank you. I appreciate the Minister’s response to that. Having a more complete picture of our no-show rates begins with expanding the scope of the performance measures.
Can the Minister indicate why the no-show rates for travel clinics and operating rooms were not included in the department’s Health and Social Services Annual Report, and is he able to maybe offer some statistics on that in the House today? Thank you.
Thank you. I don’t have any of those statistics in front of me today, but I’ll certainly get that information from the department and share with the Member.
As far as the travel clinics and whatnot, we have the same problem that we do here in Yellowknife. This is a big issue for us. We know there are significant costs on the system. I do know that the Member had a life previous to government where he was in health care outside of the public service, so I’d really be interested in his ideas and concepts for helping us improve the no-show rates. A number of things need to happen, we get that, and I’m certainly looking forward to the Member’s input as we move forward.
