Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Fort Liard health care issues that I spoke about in my Member’s statement. My question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
I had previously raised the issue about how the residents of Fort Liard feel that their health needs would be best served if they were able to travel over to the Fort Nelson, B.C., hospital. Some of it, Mr. Speaker, is just for tests, exams, even minor day surgery. Right now, they currently have to spend two days travelling to get to Yellowknife and return home and have to throw in the travelling over Highway No. 7, of course, there, Mr. Speaker.
I’d like to ask the Minister, once again, one of the biggest reasons, over time, that they wouldn’t look at it is because we had an agreement with the Capital Health Authority of Alberta. That’s not in existence anymore. I don’t know what the agreement is there. However, to me, and for my constituents, I think it’s an opportunity for us to talk with the British Columbia Minister of Health on a similar agreement for services in Fort Nelson, B.C., Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue on this, I don’t believe, has to do with an agreement with Capital Health necessarily. It is true that when NWT residents need health care not available in the Territories, we usually go to Alberta and Edmonton, and it used to be called Capital Health, which now is Alberta Health. The issue here about the residents of Liard wanting to go to Nelson instead of Simpson or Stanton and then Edmonton, if that’s required, is that we already have a facility in Simpson and Stanton that we are paying for. If our residents are going to Nelson, then that’s extra cost that we need to incur. I realize that it is much more convenient for them to go down the street, but from what we know of what’s offered in Nelson is comparable, or it is not beyond what will be available either in our health centre in Simpson or at Stanton. It is a question of us having to use, or should use, our NWT resources first. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I certainly have the confidence and acknowledge the confidence of our health authority and staff. However, residents of Fort Liard feel they are better served if they can just make the two-hour drive over to Fort Nelson, B.C. for some of the minor things. I am not talking about a highly complex arrangement with the ministry of Health in B.C. or else their northern health authority, just the ability to go to quick exams, X-rays, et cetera. Anything major will certainly be identified. Can the Minister at least analyze this? I am certain that there will be a cost savings, Mr. Speaker. Is the Minister at least willing to analyze it and see if it can indeed be a possibility? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I believe we did look into this, as the Member has brought this forward before. The variable in the cost that we need to look at is that we already pay for staffing the facility, the X-ray machine and we have just invested in DI/PACS and other electronic health equipment in Simpson, for example, for the entire Deh Cho region. Whether 10 people use it or 100 people use it in a month, there are fixed costs involved in this facility. It is the same with Stanton. If a number of residents decide to go down and use a B.C. facility, it results in us paying twice for the same service, so to speak. The second thing is that when you use out-of-town or out-of-jurisdiction service, the money B.C. charges us for same services are a lot higher than what they would charge their own residents.
Mr. Speaker, I would undertake to give the Member more information, but I just want the Member to know that there are many variables in doing the cost-benefit analysis. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I certainly would like to see some of the analysis that she is talking about, because I am not really convinced that a thorough analysis was done. If the Minister will share that with me, and also I would just let her know that that is something I would like to share with residents of Fort Liard and the band council, the Metis Council as well as the Hamlet Council and maybe advise me, too, what she doesn’t want to share. I don’t believe I have actually seen that analysis, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much.
Mr. Speaker, I will undertake to do that. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As well, the Minister spoke about enhanced services and enhanced equipment. I know that those are just new to the Dehcho Health and Social Services, new to Fort Liard and new to Fort Simpson. What would be a good time period for her to assess how well the new equipment is working and helping with the services in the communities and regions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, as the Member knows, we have busily rolled out the equipment into almost all communities in our Territories. We are training and we are introducing this new technology to staff and the residents because we need to get a buy-in from the people. I could assure the Member that we are evaluating the use of it. We are keeping track of data. I would be happy to share that with the Member in due course, hopefully three to six months after that equipment comes into use. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up from my Member’s statement earlier today when I talked about the relationship between the Minister and the standing committees on Social Programs and Priorities and Planning. How will the Minister include the Standing Committee on Social Programs? Perhaps, how is she including the committee and how will she include the committee in coming to a solution for priority funding and maintenance of respite services in Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member knows that we just went through a preview of the business plan process for 2011-12. That is the normal process. We reviewed those with the Standing Committee on Social Programs. Mr. Speaker, I do admit that THAF and THSSI funding worked in a different process, because, as I said before, it is one large transfer from the federal government outside of the main budget, it had to come through supplementary appropriation.
With regard to going forward on this territorial respite care program, I would be happy to meet with the Members as soon as possible to discuss that further, because we need to add the money to next year’s budget.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister’s comments there. Just for confirmation, will the Minister recognize Members’ advice on this, that it is clearly a priority and it needs to be treated as a priority, and will she commit to bringing some solutions forward when next we meet, I believe early in December? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we always do and we will. I would be happy to appear before the committee in December. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to pick up where my colleague Mr. Bromley left off, with some questions surrounding respite care again.
If you look at the Minister’s intentions, they are good, expanding respite care around the Territory. Mr. Speaker and Members around this room and in this House will agree that is a noble goal to expand this respite program around the Territory. It was included in the business plans that the committee went through just about a month and a half ago, Mr. Speaker, but something happened between those business plans and a decision to get rid of the funding, the $250,000.
I would like to ask the Minister, she mentioned THAF and THSSI funding being different, but did the department and did the authority not know during the business plans that the respite care program funding of $250,000 was not a target when the committee met with the Minister back in September? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t want to be rude, but the way this Member keeps interpreting what I am saying and me answering, it makes everything so confusing. I will just try to clarify this. As the Member knows, it is true we just went through the business plan process. There was a budget there for respite care. Yes, of course, I knew what was in there. The department knows what was in there. Like I said before, that money has nothing to do with YACL or respite care program for Yellowknife. I said that many times during the two weeks. That was money for respite care program for communities outside of Yellowknife. The money for YACL comes through THAF or THSSI. We just approved that two days ago for year 2010-11. The reason why it didn’t go through the main budget is because it is extra money we got from the federal government and they are being treated as a IV and V, which is accounting language that I don’t want to get into, but we had to get it in as a supp. We approved that for $250,000 for 2010-11. We just did that two days ago or whenever we did that, Mr. Speaker.
There is nothing confusing or unclear about this. We have two-year funding and we will work together, and I said that this morning, or this afternoon earlier, that we are going to come up with a territorial respite care program. We are going to combine the money we have. We are going to use the resources in the department to continue providing funding to the families. Thank you.
Yes, the Minister says $250,000, there was two years of funding, but the reality is the respite care program for $250,000 is only being funded for one year. I’d like to ask the Minister how she found out about the proposal to cut the $250,000 out of that program. Mr. Speaker, she talks about communication and coming back to the Standing Committee on Social Programs. I found out about this cut at my constituency meeting from a constituent. How did the Minister find out about it? Thank you.
The Member is right that we just approved $250,000 under a supp appropriation for ’10-11, because that’s how we do our budgeting. We approve one year at a time. The budget for ‘11-12 has not been before this House. Now, because we have gotten money, on a time-limited basis for THSSI and we found, like I said before, we pay for doctors, nurse practitioners and everything else, all of the authorities are working together to see how we transition and we exit out of some of this funding. So that’s under discussion and that hasn’t been before this House, Mr. Speaker. The authorities are working together with the department on how we transition those. Thank you.
The Minister didn’t answer the question I had. I mentioned in my previous question I found out about the funding cut at my constituency meeting. How did the Minister find out about it? Was it at her constituency meeting or did some of her staff actually tell her that this was in fact going to happen, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
As the Member knows, the authority communicated to YACL and said that this funding program was ending and they would like to work on a transition program and an exit strategy. They proposed to the association that we should work on doing an evaluation, which are all the things that the authority should be doing when a program is expiring. I have approached the association to see how we can work on this exit program and those kinds of discussions continue. The important point today is that we will continue to discuss with YACL on how we exit this Yellowknife program, because as a government we would like to work on one territorial respite care program and I will be coming forward with it to the standing committee on how we go about doing that. If we use THSSI money for ‘11-12, that’s an option. The important thing is everybody has made it clear to us that this is an important program not only for Yellowknife but for everywhere and if we make that decision, then that has to come through the main budgeting process and it’s a priority decision. That’s something I can only do with the support of the Members from the other side. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Time for question period has expired. I’ll allow the Member a final, short supplementary. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The THSSI money that the Minister talks about, somebody somewhere made the decision to spend all that money on the Foundation for Change and, Mr. Speaker, I’ve spoken many times about the government’s inability to deal with the root causes that are plaguing the health care system in the Northwest Territories, the unfunded positions and the list goes on. I’d like to ask the Minister who made the decision to spend all the money on the Foundation for Change, because that discussion never took place with the Members of this House. That was a decision by somebody else, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you. The Member is once again mixing up the message, misinterpreting. Mr. Speaker, we’ve had detailed discussions, and the Members and standing committee know this. THSSI funding is a major initiative by the federal government. We’ve spent medical travel out of that, we pay for our doctors, we pay for specialists, we pay for midwives, we pay for dialysis, we pay for diagnostic imaging. Mr. Speaker, should I repeat that 10 more times? The Member will not hear this. We pay a lot of money on that. It’s wrong when he says that we don’t know how we are spending this money, you’re spending on brick walls, you’re spending on Foundation for Change. Mr. Speaker, he has a right to ask questions, but he has no right to misinterpret and spread myth out there, Mr. Speaker. He has to stop. That’s just not helping the public.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 8, written questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
---Unanimous consent denied
Item 9, returns to written questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item number 7, oral questions, on the orders of the day.
---Unanimous consent denied
Item 10, replies to opening address. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item number 7, oral questions, on the orders of the day. Thank you.
---Unanimous consent denied
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to present a petition dealing with the matter of respite services in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, the petition contains 1,255 handwritten signatures and 552 electronic signatures. Of those, 1,756 signatories identified themselves as residents of the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, the petitioners request that the Government of the Northwest Territories commit permanent funding for respite services across the Northwest Territories before the cancellation of any existing services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents entitled 2009-2010 Results Report, Grant and Contributions Programs; and Growing Forward, Report on Contributions 2009-2010. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled Interim Report on the Public Accounts of the Government of the Northwest Territories for the Year Ended March 31, 2010. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled Aurora College, 2009-2010 Annual Report. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
