Please be seated. Colleagues, welcome back to the Chamber for the continuation of the Fifth Session of the 16th Legislative Assembly.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the elders of our Territory who participated in the first Elders Parliament held in the Northwest Territories and, in fact, the First Elders’ Parliament held in any commonwealth country.
---Applause
The special parliament took place last week and I was honoured to serve as Speaker for this historic event.
The Elders Parliament clearly celebrated the wisdom of our elders, the knowledge and history they bring from their communities, and their wonderful humour and generosity in sharing their knowledge. To each participant, thank you again for your unique contribution.
Members will notice that their seats in the Chamber are covered with fur and seal pelts, on loan from the Department of Industry, Tourism and Development. The pelts were used during Elders Parliament for the comfort of participants, and to highlight the importance of the traditional economy and the role it plays in all our lives. We are fortunate to have them on hand during this sitting of the House.
It is now my duty, colleagues, to advise the House that I have received the following message from the Deputy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. It reads:
Dear Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise that I recommend to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, the passage of
Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2010-2011
Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2010-2011
during the Fifth Session of the 16th Legislative Assembly. Yours truly, Margaret Thom, Deputy Commissioner.
Thank you, colleagues,
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. April 1st, 2010, marked the start of a new fiscal year. The measures included in our 2010-2011 budget are now being implemented, including almost $1.3 billion of operating expenditures and over $200 million in planned capital investments. These measures will be used to deliver needed public services and infrastructure to NWT residents and will help support our economy as the recovery takes hold.
Recently released preliminary estimates of 2009 Gross Domestic Product confirmed that the NWT economy shrank last year. Although there are positive signs for 2010, including rising diamond prices and an expected increase in mining exploration spending, the need for caution remains. Canada’s economy is expected to grow in 2010, but growth will be moderated as interest rates edge up and fiscal stimulus spending winds down. Internationally, fiscal and financial instability in parts of Europe point to the fragile and complex state of the global economy.
Our 2010-2011 budget planned for a slow recovery. Our government’s fiscal plan included holding the course on spending and making substantial investments in infrastructure to provide NWT residents and businesses breathing room. We are prepared to incur some short-term debt to accomplish this. We recognized, however, that the fiscal plan needed to include measures to return to a sustainable path over the next few fiscal years, measures such as maintaining a tight rein on spending growth and reducing capital investment over time to historical levels. Although barely six weeks into the fiscal year, we have already begun our planning for 2011-2012, based on the fiscal strategy we laid out in January. Next year’s budget will be the last for the 16th Assembly. With the time left to us, we will be focussing on consolidating the progress we have made and deliver on the initiatives that we have begun.
Mr. Speaker, April 1st was also the day the GNWT assumed the debt associated with the Deh Cho Bridge Project. However, assuming this responsibility will not change the GNWT’s fiscal strategy. The bridge will largely be financed by the savings from the elimination of the current ferry and ice bridge operations and a toll on commercial vehicles crossing the bridge. The requirement for a subsidy of up to $2 million was identified in 2007 and has been factored into our fiscal projections.
I am able to confirm that federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has obtained federal Cabinet approval for a temporary adjustment to our borrowing limit. Effective April 2010, the limit has been increased by $75 million for a period of five years. This accommodation will give us the necessary room to implement the fiscal strategy that we presented in January. In addition, assumption of the debt has not affected our Aa1 credit rating from Moody’s Investors Service.
The Deh Cho Bridge Project is now a GNWT capital project, funded by the debt issued in 2008. However, the GNWT has always stood behind this project. We have never provided anything less than our full support, including guaranteeing the payments needed to service the debt. For this reason, we were, and continue to be, puzzled and disappointed by the lack of confidence of the lenders, Sunlife Financial and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, in the project. Their financial interest and that of their shareholders and beneficiaries was never in jeopardy.
Mr. Speaker, the investments and plans we have put in place to date have served as a source of stability during the economic downturn. We will continue to proceed carefully through the uncertain economic times ahead, but will also continue to ensure that the important work we have started in this Assembly is completed. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to announce today the official launch of the Small Community Employment Supports Program made possible under the Reducing the Cost of Living Strategic Initiative.
Smaller communities face many employment challenges. Youth unemployment rates in smaller communities can be double those of regional centres. Through this program, youth gain valuable work experience and develop the essential skills they need for taking advantage of rewarding employment opportunities.
This program supports the goals of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and the priorities of the 16th Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories for sustainable, vibrant, safe communities and a diversified economy that provides all communities and regions with the opportunities people need for reaching their full potential. Through this program, employers in small and remote communities are eligible for wage subsidies for hiring and training summer students and youth.
The new program is modelled after the highly successful Youth Employment Program, and Education, Culture and Employment staff are currently promoting it to eligible employers and receiving applications. The department anticipates that this program will see similar success and expects that 45 youth and 20 employers in 27 communities will receive support through this program.
While this program is limited to small and remote communities only, the department has other similar labour market programming available to youth employers in all NWT communities. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Status of Women, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is with a strong sense of loss that I rise in the House to acknowledge the passing of a great northern woman and leader, Bertha Allen. Bertha is known throughout the Beaufort-Delta, the NWT, Canada and the world as a strong yet soft-spoken Gwich’in woman who lived and worked for the advancement of aboriginal and northern women and social change.
In 1978, Bertha founded the Native Women’s Association of the Northwest Territories. It was her goal to ensure indigenous women of the North were not left behind in the fast-paced development of the day.
She saw that women needed to get involved in all areas of community life, particularly in economics.
She recognized the value of traditional art, encouraging women to create themselves and train their daughters with their skills.
She saw the future of women in business and industry. The Native Women’s Training Centres delivered training in business management and trades training for future oil and gas development.
Her strong sense of justice and equality for all women was tempered with her compassion and love of and belief in people. Her spirit and laughter was contagious. In her presence, women worked hard and laughed with her.
Bertha was elected as president of the Native Women’s Association of Canada and met other women throughout the world, talking of the common ties indigenous people have with each other.
She has been honoured nationally with:
the Order of Canada;
the Governor General’s Northern Medal, and
the Aboriginal Lifetime Achievement Award.
Bertha and her husband, Victor, raised seven children. Bertha’s strong heart suffered a massive blow with the 2008 tragic loss of Victor, daughter Delma, and granddaughter Asta. It was the survival of Peyton and the love of her children, grandchildren and friends that helped her through those dark days.
I know Members of the House feel a deep sense of loss with the passing of this substantial woman and her leadership. On behalf of all Members of this House I would like to extend our condolences to the family.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the brief emergency session in March I had the opportunity to make a statement on the proposed changes to the supplementary health benefits. Like many of my colleagues, I am feeling completely frustrated and very uneasy about the direction that this government is taking with supplementary health benefits.
Why is it so easy for this government to state that they want a system that is fair and equitable when this is just not a reality? Why is this government so good at upsetting people? Again today we saw another protest in front of the Legislative Assembly protesting a decision of this government. Does the government care? Apparently not, seeing that Minister Lee has been given her marching orders by Cabinet and she is being too arrogant and too ignorant to see that by pursuing this direction she is doing untold damage to her reputation as a people’s politician.
I worked with Minister Lee on this side of the House for four years. She took no prisoners when defending her constituents’ interests. Why now that she is in Cabinet does she continue to ignore the people? Perhaps Members in this House should look at putting Ms. Lee back on this side of the House. I’d be very interested in seeing just how fast Ms. Lee would run from her stance as Minister.
A politician who does not listen does not care. It is becoming very apparent that Minister Lee requires a wake-up call from Members of this House, to remind her that she is listening to neither the Members of this House nor the public.
Why make those who are most vulnerable pay when they need help the most? Make no mistake about it, this is a tax on the sick and the elderly. It is a gross misrepresentation of the laurels of this government to be fair and equitable to all they serve. All of this for what? To divide people on racial lines, to save $2.5 million a year. Mr. Speaker, it’s just not worth it. Our values, our relationships, our social fabric is far more important than $2.5 million a year.
I do believe we need to address those who have no coverage. This should be done. These costs should be paid out of tax revenues or other revenues the government generates on a year-to-year basis. Why can’t this be a solution, Mr. Speaker?
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
It is Cabinet’s responsibility to manage these decisions, and given Cabinet’s track record of decision-making, it’s little wonder people outside in the public are so upset, again, at another decision this government is making. It’s the wrong decision. We need to park it. We need to find a new solution, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]
Earlier this year, in January, I gave a Member’s statement on the deplorable condition of the playground equipment at the Echo-Dene School in Fort Liard. The community is very concerned about how the existing equipment is beyond repair and the pressure treatment used on the wood does not meet current national standards for safety. As well, the playground site itself needs to be backfilled and re-levelled.
Last month I was very pleased when Jackson Lafferty, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, visited Fort Liard. During an Aurora College community tour, Minister Lafferty got a good look at how bad this playground was, with its outdated equipment and unsafe conditions. A few days later, Mr. Tom Beaulieu, the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Programs, along with members of his committee was in Fort Liard. They too saw the condition it is in and why it is not used by the children. Needless to say, the condition of the playground has not been improved.
Mr. Speaker, we know that children who participate in active recreation are at an advantage in regard to health and academic achievement. Mr. Speaker, we have agreed on priorities in this, the 16th Assembly, that include promoting healthy choices and enhancing early childhood education. The playground offers both. Our priorities also include working with communities and schools to improve the physical and mental well-being of our youth. Let’s keep our promises and provide this playground for the children in Fort Liard, beginning this summer and fall.
The community has raised about $26,000 towards this goal. Our government has yet to make a contribution for much needed school playground equipment. In January I was advised that ECE is working to identify the funding in this year’s budget and, Mr. Speaker, I continue to implore the Minister of Education to provide funding for this playground so that it can be worked on this summer and put in place for this fall. Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Citizens of the Northwest Territories expect their government to handle private and confidential medical records with a high degree of responsibility and respect. Today, CBC North told the people of the Northwest Territories that maybe we should be afraid, afraid that this government does not understand that confidential medical records must, in all circumstances and at all times, be treated with a high degree of professionalism and confidentiality. Private and confidential records must be kept private and confidential. If employees aren’t able to understand that, then why are they are our employees? Would anyone in their house make the mistake of faxing the most intimate details of their spouse’s medical records to a news media? I think not. We would be darn sure that with 100 percent accuracy we would be sending documents to the right place.
In my mind, this shows simple sloppiness. It would seem to me that, perhaps, what we have here are people who just are so used to walking over to a fax machine, punching in the numbers and they forget the high degree of professionalism required of them. If that is the case, I would have to say that I don’t want them to handle my medical records, nor my wife’s medical records, nor anyone in my family, nor those of anyone in the Northwest Territories. I will have questions to the Minister later on today, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Members of this House and the general public know that the Standing Committee on Social Programs is currently conducting a review of the Child and Family Services Act. I want to provide some of my comments on a very successful round of community consultations which committee undertook last month.
Over a period of three weeks, we visited 10 communities: Ndilo, Lutselk’e, Hay River, Fort Liard, Fort Simpson, Inuvik, Fort McPherson, Ulukhaktok, Tulita and Yellowknife. We held 10 town hall meetings. We had the opportunity to meet community leaders and discuss their concerns, to tour community facilities, schools, health centres, a library and a treatment centre to name a few.
We had the opportunity to support the local economy with our shopping. But more than that, the reason we were there in each community, we received input about the Child and Family Services Act, its effect on the lives of that community’s families and we heard suggestions from them on how the system could be improved or strengthened.
All the meetings were well attended, but especially so in Ulukhaktok. The Standing Committee on Social Programs was the first committee of the 16th Assembly to visit their community and they were thrilled. Some 10 percent of the community came out to the meeting to express their concerns about all manner of government programs and services. One little guy about three years old who watches the Assembly TV all the time knew all of our faces and names and spent the night going from one of us to the other saying hello over and over.
After the meeting, we were entertained by three young men, Justin Memogana, Chad Memogana, and Fred Kataoyak, who gave us an excellent demonstration of Inuit drumming, their skills learned from the late Jimmy Memogana. Even with 10 meetings in 10 different communities, it was intriguing and fascinating to me that each community meeting was different from every other one. The attendees varied every time, but we always had a very diverse group of concerned and dedicated people. In every case, we had excellent discussions.
I want to say thank you to all of the people we met during our tours; the cooks, the drivers, the people who spoke during the meetings, the community leaders we met with. You all contributed to the success of our consultations for this Child and Family Services Act review. We would not have learned as much as we did if not for your assistance.
I feel blessed to have had the chance to see parts of our Territory that I have not yet seen and to meet caring, committed residents working hard to better their communities. Thanks also go to the local MLAs who assisted us in their communities within their ridings and to the staff of the Department of Health and Social Services who accompanied us.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
I would like to thank everybody that helped us out and I hope our report, the product of our consultations, meets your expectations, responds to your concerns and improves the lives of you and your families. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to review current conditions and trends that I believe are important considerations for informing the responsible decisions we in this House must regularly make. As our work in this fiscal year advances and we begin deliberations on our final year’s budget, we find ourselves in a world faced with even more uncertainties than when we began our term.
The impacts of the global recession linger. Fiscal stimulus funding is nearing its end, and given Canada’s need to begin servicing national debt, we can expect declining federal support programs in an ongoing federal withdrawal from housing responsibilities.
Energy prices, already high, will continue to climb while the world oil supply becomes more reliant on ever more expensive and problematic sources, as the recent experience in the Gulf of Mexico has shown.
In our NWT economy, we continue to pin our hopes on vague and distant solutions like the Mackenzie Gas Project. Developing the lasting and sustainable local economies that would secure our future still takes second place. We face enormous challenges, but opportunities also. We must begin shifting our energy supply to local renewable biomass and hydro; the work over years that must begin now, our environmental challenges are clear. As a nation and a territory, we have yet to take vital action to reduce our carbon emissions even though the damage of climate change and its impacts on our people and our land grows yearly, as yesterday’s News/North story amply demonstrates.
Drastic action to protect caribou was taken this year and the co-management regime to revive the herd is proving hard to create. This is our food, Mr. Speaker, and a keystone of our environment. Meanwhile, even well paid citizens are struggling to get by and our poorest poor citizens are amongst the poorest in Canada. The latest review of our electrical system has put us no further ahead in providing affordable, sustainable power. We’ve urged the government to proceed with an anti-poverty strategy, yet we await the public outreach this requires. Changes are proposed to the Supplementary Health Benefits Program, changes that will drive away taxpayers, families, transfer payments, volunteers and purchasers, while making the NWT a less attractive place for new residents. These changes must not go ahead. With a little more than a year left in our term, my priorities remain the same but the urgency is greater.
Mr. Speaker, I see unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Mr. Speaker, we must prove our talk with action on a fundamental shift to affordable, sustainable energy that protects us from world markets, with clear targets to cut carbon emissions. We must shift focus to support local and lasting business opportunities, especially biomass. Our greatest efforts must focus on meeting our citizens’ most basic needs. Cutting living and energy costs, sustaining our health programs and educating our next generation of citizens are our obvious greatest priorities.
As we turn now to the business of implementing policy and legislation that is good and responsive to our citizens’ concerns and to planning our final year in office, let’s show we clearly understand these responsibilities and let’s get it done. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on April 7, 2010, I attended a presentation veiled as public consultation conducted by the Department of Health and Social Services on the upcoming changes to their extended health benefits.
Based on the Minister’s response to questions asked in this House and in response to the motion passed in this House of March 2009, the Minister indicated that the department would be going back to the beginning on the proposed changes, that the department would openly consult stakeholders and conduct research into options presented by these groups, that the Minister would present Regular Members and the public with options for considerations, options and alternatives that would allow us, as politicians representing the people of the Northwest Territories, to make informed decisions in the best interests of all residents.
Unfortunately, upon receiving a briefing on the proposed changes by the Minister in February 2010, this proved not to be the case. Although a stakeholders group was established, it was never asked to provide input on alternatives for consideration. Further, key stakeholders, the individuals whose input would have been valuable such as the medical and pharmacy associations of the NWT, were completely excluded from the process. Worse, during the April 7th meeting the departmental representative made it clear that he had been directed by a Cabinet policy to constrain the discussion which ensured that it would not be opened-ended and that we weren’t dealing with a blank slate. It was definitely not an opening up of options to the plan desired and supported by the Minister of Health.
I must say I was surprised to learn that the departmental representative was working from an existing Cabinet policy. You would think that a transparent Minister would have shared that information with Regular Members during the discussion and debate on the motion in March 2009. If we had known of the Cabinet policy that the Minister was committed to, which, for the record, was approved by Cabinet on September 30, 2007, the day before the election of the 16th Legislative Assembly and the same day as that Cabinet approved the consolidation agreement on the Deh Cho Bridge, we would have adjusted the motion to request changes to the policy itself.
The policy is very clear. It indicates that the Minister will recommend to the Executive Council income tests, income thresholds, and benefit formulas necessary to the implementation of this policy. Everything the Minister said with respect to going back to the drawing board and considering options and alternatives is completely inconsistent with this policy where only one option is laid out.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Based on this policy, no options other than income-tested models could or would ever be considered. How could the Minister go back to the drawing board if the final income-tested product was already agreed upon and supported by Cabinet?
We must do something to help the low income families who do not have insurance through their employer. It’s the right thing to do; however, this is not the way. Minister Lee’s redesign of the Extended Health Benefits lacks credibility, transparency, or sound evidence to help justify it as the only model worthy of consideration. It’s not right, it’s not just, and it’s not in the best interest of the people of the Northwest Territories.
The Minister of Health and Social Services must take this policy back to Cabinet and set a new, more responsible direction for future amendments.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]
Today I would like to talk about an elder and a friend who passed recently. Louis McKay passed away on March 19th in Fort Resolution at the age of 78. Louis was born in Fort Resolution in 1931 and from a very young age began working and didn’t stop until he was forced to retire at age 65.
Louis first started working when he was a young man, by selling blocks of ice to the Hudson Bay Company and the Ministry of Transportation. Later he started working for the Hudson Bay Company as a stock boy and then became a forest ranger and firefighter, and then moved on to work for the Northern Canada Power Commission for about five or six years. At around that time, the Pine Point Mine was starting up, so Louis packed up his family and moved to Pine Point to work for the mine. He spent the next 17 and a half years there and that’s where his two daughters, Margaret and Dolores, were raised.
After the mine shut down in 1988, Louis and his wife, Mary, moved back to Fort Resolution where he started his career with the local housing authority, working as a tradesman until his retirement. With only limited formal education, Louis managed to become proficient as a painter, carpenter, electrician, and plumber. Even in his retirement, Louis kept busy around the house and helping others with small jobs here and there. He was always fixing things.
In his spare time Louis enjoyed playing the fiddle. He taught himself to play at a young age and perfected his playing throughout his life. Some of today’s younger fiddlers say that Louis’s style was unique and that the way he played was very complex, his music is very difficult to cover.
Louis is survived by his wife of 53 years, Mary, his son, Donald, his two daughters, Margaret and Dolores, and he had 15 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews and in-laws.
I would like to thank the family for allowing me to do this. It’s comforting to know that Louis’s legacy lives on through his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk about the proposed changes to supplementary health benefits. Canada is a shining inspiration to the world. It continues to make great strides to represent itself as a beacon of hope, opportunity and fairness. I don’t believe the proposed changes to the supplementary health policy mirrors those principles in any way at all.
By taking away supplementary health benefits, this will go down as a great case study many years from now when people watch and wonder what happened. Why did the GNWT start acting like Ottawa? If the Minister and this Cabinet continue to circle around this policy, it will truly be a dark day for consensus government.
Let me be clear. Could our health care system benefit from a fiscal review? Absolutely. However, should a policy on supplementary health benefits passed by the last government tie the hands of this Assembly? It should not. If you will notice, some of the major distractions of the 16th Assembly have all been around what was signed off by the last Premier and Cabinet, then this Cabinet continues to circle around them and protect them without any question. I believe they have lost their way, and at times I wonder if they can think on their own.
May I remind this House of some of those brilliant policy decisions this Cabinet has been following. Remember the butchering of the board reform? What I like to call now the Deh Cho Bridge-gates? And certainly now the bitter pill served up as supplementary health benefits changes? All things that are important and certainly need to be discussed in their own way, but not at any cost and certainly not to our residents.
When will this Cabinet work to develop territorial policies with a vision of the 16th Assembly and not the ghosts of the 15th Assembly that keep haunting or lurking in the halls upstairs? If you ask the Minister, she’ll say it’s not about the money. But let’s be serious; who is she kidding? Of course it’s about the money. But when I ask her to hire an efficiency expert to look at how the department does its business just like big and small companies out there, it got brushed off like it didn’t matter.
The Ministers say it’s about the working poor. What’s stopping her? If this government really cared about the working poor they would have stopped dragging their heels over three to four years ago to provide coverage immediately to those working poor who definitely need it.
I view this Territory as a family, regardless of their background.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
I don’t see one opportunity that the government has taken to revisit this, other than cutting benefits to the sick and elderly simply down racial and cultural lines. No, because there of course has been no direction from the 15th Assembly to do that. That’s why.
I question if this policy was reversed if it would stand the test of fairness. I’d say no. This policy is about division, not about unity. It preys on people’s differences by splitting our Territory down cultural lines and I believe it’s truly not fair and extremely hurtful to a lot of people out there.
In closing, the Minister has not gone to the doctors who want to provide solutions. The pharmacy association has been begging to provide input. This may not legally be wrong, it may not be technically wrong regarding human rights, but I can guarantee you it’s morally wrong and our constituents are suffering.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently I was approached by a constituent about a matter that I believe has been lurking out there for a while and I have given the Minister of Health and Social Services a heads-up that I’m going to be raising this issue.
We value greatly our physicians and surgeons and medical practitioners in the Northwest Territories. We have had difficulty in the past recruiting and retaining people in this profession. I want to state clearly from the outset of this Member’s statement that this is not about the 99.9 percent of people who take up this profession. However, I have some serious concerns about a physician who has been practicing here in the Northwest Territories and about a process that would call his conduct and credentials and past experience and history into light.
Like every other profession, even physicians and specialists need a process in place that allows their credentials and conducts to be reviewed when irregularities occur. It is sad when one or two people of questionable motives and ethics can bring their own name and that of their profession into question. The public interest and safety of NWT patients needs to be the business of this government and this Minister.
I have reason to believe that there is a doctor in the Northwest Territories who has continued to practice in spite of safeguards such as a panel of peers by way of the College of Physicians and Surgeons’ best efforts to hold him accountable through a complaints process. I believe that constituents of mine have been harmed by the practices of this physician. Everyone deserves their day in court, but the court has failed to hold this doctor accountable.
I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services today about the process of complaints and the disposal of those complaints when a certain physician continues to practice when these complaints are outstanding against them.
I’ve been known to have the odd fight and I’ve got to tell you, this is an issue that has me very, very upset. I understand this physician has hidden behind, while he has harmed people, the threat of suing people. If he’s listening today I’d like to say bring it on, because he’s going to be dealing with me and I know people who have been hurt by him and I’m going to get to the bottom of this. I tell you, I have the skill, the ability and the experience to do that. If he thinks he can sue me, bring it on, but he’s going to be coming into the light of day.
I’m sorry, Mr. Speaker, I thought the Clerk was going to read it. I have a return to oral question asked by Mr. Robert Hawkins on March 4, 2010, regarding radiologists contract status.
In 2009 the Diagnostic Imaging Pictures Archiving and Communications System, known as DI/PACS, was implemented in the Northwest Territories. The DI/PACS allows for radiology examinations to be stored and retrieved in a digital format. The DI/PACS also allows for X-ray images to be sent over a secure Internet connection to other health care providers. With the addition of this technology the NWT had an opportunity to look at the service delivery model used in the Northwest Territories to see if there were opportunities to enhance radiology services.
In mid-2009 the decision to change the service delivery model was made to have one locum radiologist on site -- one currently provided 26 weeks of the year, and the balance is covered by repeating locums -- to provide on-the-ground support for the physicians and diagnostic imaging staff.
A second radiologist service provided remotely uses the DI/PACS technology. This service allows for 24-hour/seven days a week, 52-weeks of the year, thereby providing better radiologist coverage for the residents of the Northwest Territories.
A request for proposals was issued for remote radiology services in late 2009 and the contract was awarded to Radiology Consultants Associated Organization located in Calgary, Alberta. The remote services started in January 2010 and the feedback on the service being provided has been excellent. Stanton Territorial Health Authority is not aware of any dispute regarding this contract or any previous radiologist contracts.
I have another return to oral question asked by Ms. Wendy Bisaro on March 24, 2010, regarding wait times to see medical specialists in the Northwest Territories.
As I stated in the House, the topic of wait times is a national issue. The international physician shortage and changing population demographics impact wait times around the world. Our medical director is working with health care providers and the chief executive officers of the health and social services authorities, constantly monitor wait time lists both here and in the South. Wait times are generally the same length down south as they are in the North.
While we do not have wait time standards per se, I can provide the following information:
People who need emergency surgery or treatment receive it without delay.
Specialists are a territorial resource and serve the entire NWT.
As part of the Territorial Service Plan, the feasibility of expanding specialist services by using a mobile team to the Inuvik Regional Hospital is being considered.
Over the past few years, the Stanton Territorial Health Authority has taken steps to increase the volume of surgical procedures through the better management of patient and existing resources.
The adoption of innovative technologists will allow local and distant professionals to assess patient needs and better provide specialist services. This will enhance the efficiencies, lower costs related to travel and fees for specialists, and potentially reduce wait times. Most importantly, this will provide a tool for seamless case management for patients using specialist services at Stanton and for southern referrals.
By effectively managing this costly service at a territorial level, we can maximize efficiencies to ensure we are getting the best value for our resources.
Wait times as of March 2010 are:
elective consult for general surgery: one year;
elective consult for internal medicine: nine months to one year;
urgent consult in a permanent specialty area: one week to one month;
urgent consult with a visiting specialist: depends on the next visit, ranging from monthly to quarterly depending on the sub-specialty;
the two visiting specialists with the longest wait times are neurology and urology;
non-urgent consult: one to two years;
non-urgent endoscopic procedures such as colonoscopy, gastroscopy, and cystoscopy: two years;
non-urgent endoscopic procedures such as colonoscopy: two years;
knee or hip replacements: approximately one year.
As a way of historical background I’d like to provide you with the following:
The number of patients seen by the internal medicine specialist at Stanton Territorial Health Authority’s medical clinic more than doubled in three years. Patients seen increased from 1,682 to 3,612.
The number of patients seen by the general surgery speciality at Stanton Territorial Health Authority’s Medical Centre increased by 46 percent over the past three years. Patients seen increased from 2,625 to 3,834.
The year-over-year growth for colonoscopy performed between 2007-08 and 2008-09 increased by 21 percent. Stanton Territorial Health Authority’s internal medical specialists and general surgeons performed 2,189 colonoscopies in 2008-09.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize a constituent of the Great Slave riding, Ms. Lena Pedersen, who is also a member of the Elders Parliament and a former Member of this House.
