I would like to thank the Minister for that. To me this is something we need to be concerned about: the drop in the market and whatnot. It worries me that we have put a lot of our direction into the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline and the diamond mines. I’m not suggesting that we stop; I think that if we can develop a pipeline in an environmentally responsible way and get the benefit such as hydro and roads out of that, that would be brilliant. But I noticed that we have not spent a lot of time focusing on other economic opportunities in the North, such as fishing, agriculture and tourism. These things are a lot more sustainable. I think that for our future we seriously need to look at those as ways to increase our economy and employ Northerners.
I was wondering if the Minister could tell me if we are going to be spending any more time focusing on those types of industries to create a more sustainable economy in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, through the Strategic Initiatives committee there is an awareness and recognition that there is a need to expand our economic base so it is not totally reliant on the non-renewable resource sector. As we come forward with the initiatives and the business plans, it will be demonstrated that we are making an attempt to provide better support for those areas.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Members’ statement I talked about the work that is being undertaken to look at the review of boards and agencies in the Northwest Territories. My questions today are for Minister Miltenberger.
I would like to ask: how much consultation has already taken place? What’s the status of the work being done? This is something that people in the public are very interested in having input into. I’d like to know where we are in terms of the consultation and the development of a plan.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There has been work underway now for the last eight months. We have briefed committee, as was noted. We’ve had some meetings and discussions recently with the DECs and the board chairs as well as the health folks. I will be coming into the House, hopefully this week, with a more detailed report to the House about what’s being proposed.
So there is work underway. There has been consultation, and there will continue to be consultation as we continue to carefully move forward with this large, complex undertaking.
We know that the North is small and people like to have input into how the services are provided in their communities and their regions. I would like to ask Minister Miltenberger if any of the actions undertaken by this government could be characterized as a centralization of that kind of either governance through input on an advisory basis or a management basis.
Mr. Speaker, the plan is to have an integration of service at the regional level to bring together and to tune up the legislative pieces that are needed to be there to allow things to function more appropriately, to bring together the administrative and finance systems, which are now scattered and often disjointed and unconnected. The intent is to keep the decision-making at the community and regional levels.
I wonder if the Minister could speak to the issue that was raised in my Member’s statement about the diversity of the different regions. Certainly some regions, like the Tlicho area…. There’s kind of an obvious way for that to work. That’s why the community service board is always held up as a prime example, and a good example, of how the integration of various social services — housing, education, health, social services — has worked in the past. That’s a very unique scenario.
When you look at communities in the South Slave, for example, you have two relatively large communities and a number of small communities. Some of the history we’ve seen with the governance of education, for example, with the District Education Council…. Has the Minister got anything he could share at this time on how the government is going to deal with that diversity issue?
Mr. Speaker, the Member raises a point that we’re very cognizant of and sensitive to. That is that while recognizing there is a need to better plan, to do case management, to integrate these fundamental services of housing, education and health at the community level so we can be more effective in our planning and integrate service delivery, we need to tailor these to the specific regions.
In the South Slave, for example, it’s anticipated that we will have moved toward a regional board split between Fort Smith, Hay River and Fort Resolution. The services on the ground will still be there, so the decision-making can be made in a timely way. The board function and management oversight will be provided through that type of board.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s been reference made to the efficiency and effectiveness, but I’d like to ask: is there an underpinning to this exercise? Because this has to do with saving money.
The intent, clearly, is to put as much money as possible toward program delivery at the community level. We know the money we have currently as a government is insufficient. As we look at things like reductions and revenue options, we’re also looking at how we’re structured. Are we structured to best deliver the programs that are needed? If we’re more efficient and effective in terms of administration, would there be more money that could then go to the program delivery area? That’s the approach we’re taking.
The money that’s in the system will stay in the system, but we’ll try to put it as close to the community as we can to focus on programs if at all possible.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on the statement by the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. I’d like to briefly start by saying that this is like a breath of fresh air. I think our public is totally ready for this sort of thing. I’ve had a lot of feedback that people do listen to us in the House. They’re interested in what we say. I’d like to pull a little bit more information from the Minister.
I notice in the second paragraph that there were almost 550 applications for new home heating appliances, mostly that they’re more efficient and so on. Has the Minister estimated what the greenhouse gas savings are from these 550? I notice he did that for the ten mentioned below. What was the payback time for these appliances? I think the public would be interested in knowing that.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All good questions of a fairly specific and technical nature. I will commit to the Member that I will get that information and share it with him and members of the committee that he’s a member of.
Thank you to the Minister for that commitment. I hope he shares it publicly in the House with us, because, again, I know the public would be very interested indeed.
Another question I had. One of the bottlenecks I think our public experiences is the installation and services for these new appliances. It’s often very difficult to find somebody in a timely way. We don’t have homegrown expertise here. Is the Minister working with Aurora College and other arms of government to try to get some progressive educational programs going to ensure that we have in all our communities expert renewable energy and energy efficiency technicians to help our public?
The Member is correct that there is an economic opportunity here as we look at moving to alternative energies. The whole support, installation and monitoring was raised in the House last week — the need, for example, for simple things like having qualified local people to be able to do inspections of pellet stoves and wood fired woodstoves.
Yes, there is an interest, as we move forward and start planning the value-added to this whole operation, in building the economy and being able to sustain, implement and repair and upgrade this whole type of new industry we’re going to be creating in the North.
Thank you again to the Minister for those comments. I think the Minister mentioned the economy. That’s an important part of what we’re about, I think, trying to build and strengthen our local economies. Having the local expertise available will really assist that.
A huge one for me is that we’ve started to see the light and moved into the new Medium Renewable Energy Fund. Now we’re starting to get into some of the bigger projects where some of the biggest gains are to be had. I’m wondering: is the Minister establishing the concomitant level of expertise within this department to enable us to be efficient with this? In this case I’m thinking we’re so far behind in North America. Europe and other countries are really the standard. Are we getting some European level expertise for staff to deal with this sort of situation?
We have some knowledgeable staff who are thoroughly engrossed and up to speed in this area. As well, we’re making use of local resources like Arctic Green Energy and the other folks who have developed their own expertise.
We recognize that there is a huge amount to be learned from Europe. As we move forward with the planning exercise, with the business plans, the need to go and take a look at what’s happening over there in terms of biomass — for example, to generate things like electricity — is what we’re committed to trying to pursue. We’re working, of course, very closely with the appropriate committees.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question, and thanks again to the Minister for those comments. I’m glad to see we’re being progressive here. Some of the technology out there is pretty new and perhaps a little bit untried in the North.
I think it’s great we’re starting to test those systems and so on, but an important aspect of that is establishing a monitoring program on them to make sure we know how much the gain is and what the full benefit is to us with our dollars and to the public. Is there a program to ensure that some monitoring, especially on the relatively new technologies out there, is paired with these projects?
First let me comment that the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Members of Cabinet — the Premier on down — are all fully supportive of this approach and the investments we are making. I know that Public Works and Services has done work to do the monitoring the Member speaks of on some of the larger schools across the North.
I picked up a copy of a document when I went to the wood pellet fair that was held here a couple weeks ago. Clearly, we are going to have to develop all those types of support services and expertise in our own government and across the North in the communities as we move into alternative energies in a very significant and serious way.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my statement today I talked about a woman who had to wait 34 hours in order to be let into a room and suffered from a stroke. She was sent down to Edmonton, as I talked about in my Member’s statement. I felt that this was a disgusting way for government services and funding to show that the standard of health is completely unreasonable and unfair.
My questions will be focused on the Minister of Health and Social Services and specific only to this incident. I want to be very clear. I’d like to know what happened in this situation. I want to know what the Minister is doing about it. And will this Minister be willing to put a written apology in place and explain why it happened and why it won’t happen in the future?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. A couple of questions there. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member’s question. Yesterday we happened to be out of session, and I was in my office all day. I spent the better part of my day addressing this specific situation. I talked to the husband of the patient myself. I know my deputy minister has talked to the patient’s husband in Yellowknife. We had a nurse in the department mobilizing the key people in the department to move this patient along into a room as quickly as was possible.
This patient had a stroke. She had to be sent to Edmonton. It was a decision made by the doctor here. She had to be near cardiology and neurology services so that she could be monitored. Capital Health’s Edmonton Clinic hospital is right now under what’s called full capacity protocol. They are completely full, and they have waiting lists. They have 50 patients in emergency rooms. It was safer for that patient to stay in the emergency room until they got a bed and she was able to get that. There were a few neurology patients, and it was really important for her safety and for the best practice of health. The doctor here and the doctor there thought that she had to be close to that hospital.
It is really unfortunate that she was not able to get a bed, but for reasons of traffic and volume of work required at the Edmonton Royal Alexandra Hospital, that was what they had to do.
Waiting 34 hours for a room is completely unreasonable. I would not describe that as a reasonable level of care that we pay for with our tax dollars. Two weeks ago this Minister knew there were problems down there. The husband called me to say that they knew this in this department and they understood this in this department.
I want to know what the plan was, because there appears to be no plan if they sent her down there with no room. And is this Minister prepared to put an apology in writing to this family that explains, “Sorry this happened, and it will not happen again”?
I’m not aware of this two week ago communication the Member is talking about. I did talk to the husband of the patient yesterday. I let him know that I was taking this issue very seriously and that I was using all of my powers and authority available to me to help this NWT resident who is being cared for in emergency without being able to find her own room.
We use Capital Health services because for services like neurology and cardiology, we don’t have those services here. The doctors here felt it was better for her to be sent there than to stay here. She was being taken care of and monitored, and I believe that I as the Minister and the department did everything we could. I was on the phone all day yesterday to do everything within our power to move her. I’m glad to know she has finally moved into a room of her own.
The Minister just doesn’t seem to understand the question. I’m not asking or stating that the problem was in sending her to Edmonton. That’s not the problem. The problem is that she had to wait in emergency 34 hours to get a room. There seems to be no concern about an apology to this family. There seems to be no concern or thought as to saying: well, maybe if this hospital is full and if there are no rooms in this hospital, why could we not have sent her somewhere else, be it in Edmonton or Calgary?
I asked that very question, and I was advised that the Capital Health authority decides where these patients go. Doctors consult with each other when we’re sending patients South and when they’re receiving. On the basis of what the doctors know, they decide what facility and what expertise this patient needs.
This patient needed neurology and cardiology treatment. Royal Alexandra is where she had to be. Before she could be placed in a room, she had to be in emergency. There were two other Alberta residents with neurology conditions. They were all being monitored. They had a bed; it’s just that they didn’t have a room.
We use the services in Alberta. We do not control the capacity issues at the hospital where she was being taken care of. We are all aware of NWT residents who go to Stanton hospital and wait for hours for service. Unfortunately, sometimes we have to wait for service, but I want to tell you that this patient was given the best service we were able to provide. I know it wasn’t the best, but I was on top of that all day long, and so was my department.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, the issue seems to elude the Minister. It’s not that she needs to go to Edmonton. It’s not that she needed to go to emergency. It’s that she spent 34 hours in emergency. That is ridiculous.
Mr. Speaker, why are we sending people to Edmonton if they have no rooms? I know the hospital care is the level that we’re concerned about, but why are we sending them to that hospital if they don’t have any rooms? Why did we send her there, and where is this apology that I think this family deserves?
The doctor here decided that she needed services we didn’t have here. Capital Health doctors decided that she had to go to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton. We had inquired about other capacities, and I understand that the emergency units in Calgary, as well as in Grande Prairie, were also at full capacity.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today in my Member’s statement I talked about Housing Corporation programs. I have questions for the Minister.
Can the Minister advise this House if he is willing to create or revitalize programs that are more congruent to smaller, non-market communities?
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We just went through an exercise and review and a whole program change to look at our programs to see how well they are delivered and how well the communities understand the criteria and what is being provided. We reduced our programs to four programs. We think they’ve been targeted to a wide range of the population of the Northwest Territories.
The Member has indicated in his statement that one size certainly doesn’t fit all, and we agree. We’ve got programs that are targeted to low income families and communities. We have targeted programs for families who want to own their own homes. We’ve targeted programs so that we can assist people who are above the threshold and can’t receive financial support from us. We can work with them to work through the system to the financial institutions and help them with some of these designs.
Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure where the Member would like us to go with it. I believe and I think most communities would believe that our programs are geared toward all the population of the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise this House exactly when the next needs survey will be completed? When can we advise communities of the results of the next needs survey?
We’ve had a community needs survey completed and presented in 2004. That was shared with Members of this House and the general public. We also had in 2006 a housing data census. The next community housing needs will be done in 2009. Mr. Speaker, that’s the information we use to allocate our budget, based on this information.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise this House if he’s willing to look at an allocation model that is based on percentage of need, and not on the number of people who need housing, community by community — in effect, allocating to communities most in need?
I’m pleased to sit down with the Member and discuss the concept he’s presenting. We do currently provide housing allocations and housing budgets based on core needs, and we look at the national average. We also look at what is the core need in each community. I fully recognize that the two communities that the Member represents are above the core need average, so I would be pleased to sit down and talk to him about it.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I mentioned that houses built under the current allocating system in the communities are now being sold in the private market, because there are no people in need in the community who fit the program. Can the Minister ensure that the allocation of money and proceeds from sales of any units, NWTHC units, anywhere in the Northwest Territories are allocated on a system that is agreed to on this side of the House — in other words, using the percentage system, the aforementioned system?
I would have to get more clarity on the Member’s comments on how we allocate the units. We certainly feel that our current system is fair. We base it on core need, and we try to balance the investment between public housing and home ownership. However, I would certainly need to have more discussion to fully understand where he would like us to embark with the new allocation.
