Mr. Speaker, I want to continue in my line of questioning for the Minister of Health and Social Services. It gets back to the $11.5 million accrued deficit that is currently at play at Stanton Territorial Hospital. I find it very disturbing to hear the Minister’s comments that FMBS has been stepping in to assume responsibility for paying the payroll at Stanton.
Mr. Speaker, this $11.5 million doesn’t accrue overnight. It builds up over years. I’m wondering: what has the Minister done and what has the government done to address the deficit at Stanton Territorial Hospital?
The Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Mr. Speaker, I can advise the Member that the accumulated deficit at Stanton has occurred over the last two years. In the last fiscal year their deficit was $5 million, and this year we’re predicting it will be about $6 million — that’s over two years — so it hasn’t been accumulating over many, many years. The government has been taking progressive steps to get to the reasons why so that the actions taken are in line with the issues at hand. I think we should be mindful of the fact that the authority provides very important health care services, and actions we take have to take into consideration the people that work there and the services we provide. I can also tell the Member that there will be a supplementary appropriation bill coming to this House where it will include an item to address the accumulated deficit not only for Stanton but for all hospitals in the Territories.
Mr. Speaker, I’m well aware that appropriation Bill 4 is going to be before the House. I wanted to ask some questions today about the $11.5 million. I want to find out what the government’s plan is to address that $11.5 million. The Minister has said it herself: they do have a plan. I know what that plan is. I guess we’ll leave it for further on in this session, to discuss that $11.5 million in the government’s plan. I do agree with the Minister: the hospital does provide a valuable service to the residents in the territory. I’m not debating that. I’m debating the management. I want to address the accountability that is lacking. I want to ask the Minister: how long has FMBS been paying the payroll at Stanton Territorial Hospital?
Mr. Speaker, I believe FMBS has paid about 12 payrolls.
I’m not a mathematician, but there are 380 employees, or thereabouts, at Stanton. With 12 payrolls that’s probably about six months’ worth of payroll that the department has been paying. That’s about $20 million. How is this transaction recorded between FMBS and the authority? How does it appear on the books? And where is this $20 million coming from?
I could get more detailed if the Member needs it, but my understanding is that the FMBS covers the payroll for the staff and for the authority, because we do want to make sure that everyone is paid. Then the amounts are marked as accounts receivable, and it is really a cash flow issue there.
Time for question period has expired. I will allow the Member a short supplementary question. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is the Minister proposing that somewhere down the line the government comes forward with a supplementary appropriation for 20-some-odd million dollars to bail the hospital out in terms of what they paid in payroll for six months? How long is this going to continue to be allowed to happen?
Mr. Speaker, we’re not expecting that we will be coming forward with a supplementary appropriation for that amount of money. We are working on stuff that would deal with the $11 million deficit, and at that time, I’m sure we could talk about some of the details.
I do appreciate that the Member is concerned about the accountability and the financial picture of the authority, and so am I, and so is the government. We have taken a number of steps to address that. The zero-based review is one of them. I have appointed a public administrator with a very broad mandate to look at the details of the management or the programs that we’re offering and what possible recommendations he could make. I have given him a three-month time frame to come back with that. I have discussed that with the standing committee. Whether it’s the master plan, human resources plan, the deficit situation — there is a lot on the table that I am working on and that I am working closely on with the Standing Committee on Social Programs.
