I would also like to recognize today Mr. Tony Whitford, a resident of Weledeh, as well as Amanda Mallon, also a resident of Weledeh. I would like to add my voice in recognizing Mr. Stu Duncan, who was on, I think, one of the very original boards of Ecology North back in the 1970s. It’s great to see him visiting our fair city once again. I hope he sees a good difference. Mahsi.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I spoke about dental issues in the North and how I wanted to find out more about how dentists are funded to go into the communities.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if he can give me a little bit of information on how dental services are provided to the smaller communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Mr. Menicoche indicated in his Member’s statement, dental services are not an insured service by the Government of the Northwest Territories. However, we do work with the dentists, and the dentists go into the communities.
What happens is, during the year the dentists have a program where they’ll contract with the various authorities, and based on those contracts, they contract a certain amount of days that they are to be in each community, and then they are paid according to the amount of days they would spend in the communities. Then they do what they can in the communities just for the dental services, not for therapy and stuff like that.
Like I indicated, the health was transferred in 1988, and it seems like some of the health care is being provided by non-insured health services. Maybe the Minister can just explain about how that is still a federal service and why we’re not taking care of that.
I think that some of the acts of the dentist have to be revamped. Some of the acts are very old, so we are looking at revamping the Dental Profession Act at this time. Although the dental services remains a non-insured service, the department does get support from the federal government through the THSSI funding, or the Territorial Health System Sustainability Initiative. They provide us about a quarter of a million dollars in this area to pay for the dentists to go in there.
The specific details of why it was not included in a complete transfer in 1988, I don’t have that specific detail here with me today.
I’m not too sure. I was just quick to listen about the particular report that was on the news this morning and that the dentist had spoken about. It addresses that there are shortcomings in the smaller communities, shortcomings in providing dental services, as well as dental awareness.
I’d like to ask the Minister if the department is doing enough in this regard and what is his strategy going forward in improving these services in the smaller communities.
The Department of Health and Social Services is working with the Government of Nunavut and the Government of Yukon developing a pan-territorial oral health strategy. We are doing the oral health strategy because of obvious reasons of health and all kinds of positive impacts. Within that health strategy, we are going to do an oral health promotion and prevention. We have listed many programs that we are looking at and together we’re hoping that, as indicated in the report, the only jurisdiction that had worse results than the Northwest Territories dental-wise was Nunavut, and we are working with them and the Yukon to see if we can develop something in the area of prevention in order that we turn that around. It starts before babies even have teeth, so we’re starting right from scratch in trying to develop a strategy that we think will be effective.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I submit one more time that I think one of the better strategies is to increase the visits, increase the number of days of service to the smaller communities. I’d like to ask the Minister if he will take that into consideration and look at that in his overall strategy. I believe that’s one of the musts that we should do.
Yes, I agree that some more visits by dental staff will be a good part of the oral health strategy. However, I think filling all of the dental therapist positions is also another strategy that we need to employ, and we’ll certainly look at the possibility of increasing visits as we did in other communities that requested that there be more visits. We will again talk to the dental people, within the bounds of our contract with them, to see what is possible.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I made my statement on the status of the Deh Cho Health and Social Services that affects my constituency. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Could the Minister explain what is the anticipated timeline for reinstating the board of management in the Deh Cho Health Authority? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We certainly had some discussions on the timeline on when we will go back to having a board of management. We need to do some consultation. There is some feeling by some Members in the Legislative Assembly that perhaps we could have some form of advisory board, but the plan is to have a board back in place within two years.
I’ve had this discussion with the newly appointed public administrator and he recognizes that his role there is to assist us in eventually bringing a board back in place for the Deh Cho Health and Social Services. Thank you.
It seems that there is going to be a wait period of two years until the board structured.
Within the current structure of the Deh Cho Health and Social Services, what assurances could the Minister provide that the level of public accountability to the residents of the Deh Cho will be held in highest regard, ensuring that the health care services will continue to be delivered at a scale that is fairly efficient and, at the same time, meets the needs of the public? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons we appointed a public administrator is that there are certainly some significant concerns with health and social services in the Deh Cho. We are hoping that we are correcting some of those concerns in Health and Social Services and also that the public administrator, along with our senior management, recognizes the need to consult throughout the whole process. I have agreed to do a full consultation with not only Members of the Legislative Assembly but the leaders within the various communities in the Deh Cho along with the public administrator. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there are fairly significant initiatives happening within my riding, including one of the biggest projects to date is the construction of the health centre. I want to pose a question to the Minister how he sees the public accountability will be maintained, ensuring that projects like the health centre will continue to be held in the highest regard, ensuring that construction schedules will be maintained and also, at the same time, the local input from people’s concerns regarding the health care system will continue to be addressed and remedied. Mahsi.
Certainly the mandate of the department is to do the best possible job it can in introducing infrastructure into the community. The new health centre in Fort Providence is on schedule. We’re proceeding with that piece of infrastructure. The timelines that we are looking at prior to moving to a public administrator is the same timeline that we are looking at now, so there will be no change in that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister had indicated and stated that there will be a level of consultation preceding, more likely, the advancements towards the discussion of reinstituting the health board.
Can the Minister provide an update as to what it is that he will be consulting and the term of the consultation period before the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Board is reinstituted? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, we are hoping to have one meeting soon. Aside from community meetings, we're hoping to get the MLA from Deh Cho and also the MLAs from Hay River as it could involve the new health centre in Hay River to provide services on the reserve, and also the two public administrators from Hay River and Deh Cho along with the chiefs from Deh Cho to sit down and make sure we are moving in the right direction and that people are happy with the direction that we are going in. Any medical services, as an example, the Member indicated that people in Fort Providence may find it easy to draw their service directly from Yellowknife. That is something we would certainly consider when we consider medical services in the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the observation made by Thomas Edison, who is a well-known inventor who had trials and tribulations before he got the incandescent light right. I want to talk about the issue of technology called hydraulic fracking. I will direct my questions to the Minister of ITI on this issue in the Sahtu.
No matter what we saw in the Bakken and the east corner of Saskatchewan, is the Minister looking at some sort of a checklist in the social, environmental, cultural and economics when we look at fracking in the Sahtu. Do you check that yes, we have the baseline, we have support from families, we have the economics, we have everything right and then we can proceed? Is there going to be a checklist, a go or no-go on fracking?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One thing is for sure and that is we have to do our homework, and part of the trip to southeastern Saskatchewan and into the Bakken was to do some of that homework, educate ourselves on the process of hydraulic fracturing, as was the case last year when we went to Calgary, went to a lab there and got time in front of the regulator in Alberta and also the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission that happened in Calgary last year.
We need to ensure that we do everything we can to make an informed decision as a government, as a people. I mentioned it yesterday, the aspirations of the people of the Sahtu, the aspirations of the people of the Northwest Territories, those aspirations have to be handled by us, not influenced by others who do not live in the Northwest Territories, do not call the Northwest Territories home and have really – other than an opinion – not much to add to our future economic aspirations as a territory and as a people, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
My earlier comments in my Member’s statement talked about the Sahtu being on the verge of the next energy driver in Canada. I want to say to the Minister, with this type of potential in the Sahtu, is the Minister working with his colleagues with regard to preparing the Sahtu to take on this initiative, that things are in place for training, for child care, for education and for the environment, for all these things that we can say yes, we feel comfortable that everything has been encompassed, that we can go ahead to the next stage in hydraulic fracking. Is that a project that he’s willing to consider bringing to the House and saying we have it done, we have it right?
Let me be as clear as I can be – and I’ve mentioned it before – without the use of hydraulic fracking, there will be no development in the Sahtu, there will be no jobs or opportunities. That is why it’s critically important that we get this right. I know other Members have mentioned this; we can’t afford to get it wrong. We have to do everything we can, and certainly from the inception of the development, the activity that’s taken place in the Sahtu, this government has taken that opportunity very seriously. We’ve met a number of times. I know through the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, we’ve had readiness sessions in the area. We’ve also had community sessions. We’ve done a lot of upfront work. I know I’ve impressed upon all of Cabinet what the opportunities are there, and I know we’re working as a team to ensure that we’re doing our best to get ready for what is coming.
We have to allow the exploration, the drilling of some of these wells to get a better determination of what is in the ground in the Sahtu, and certainly a lot of industry experts believe there are billions of barrels of oil in the ground in the central Mackenzie Valley and we need to let that happen so that we can get to a point where companies can make a decision and the people of the Northwest Territories can make a decision on whether or not we’re going to develop that resource.
Certainly the people in the Sahtu do realize the opportunity that lies right in their backyard on our land. What I’m asking the Minister of ITI is: Is there going to be some sort of a comprehensive checklist? Families who want to go work, there’s the high cost of living. So we need daycares in our communities, Deline, Good Hope, Tulita, Norman Wells, Colville Lake. We need to provide training opportunities in the Sahtu.
Will the Minister be coming forward to say this is a comprehensive checklist so that we can take advantage of the opportunity of hydraulic fracking in the Sahtu? We know that. I want to ask the Minister again, is that something he can look at within the life of this government and prepare our people for the opportunity that we see.
Thank you. Certainly the government in its interdepartmental exercise when it comes to preparing ourselves for the development in the Sahtu, that work has happened already. If the Member is looking for a checklist, we can certainly develop a checklist. But the most important thing here is the people in the Northwest Territories will be making those decisions on whether or not development happens in the central Mackenzie Valley, and central to that is the fact that the people of the Sahtu should have, should they choose to have the aspirations to develop those resources, the same, not people in Vancouver and Toronto. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was in Norman Wells over the weekend and I know that our people want to work. We are the ones on our land in the Sahtu. We’ll make that decision on frack or no frack.
Now, I just want to ask the Minister, regarding this checklist, is he looking at something this winter on the Mackenzie Valley winter road with the state of our winter roads. They’re going to be hauling out some chemicals on that winter road. Is the Minister going to look at some type of funding that would make sure that it will be safe so that these trucks can drive out and we’ll know that for sure there’s going to be no environmental impacts if there’s a spill on our winter roads? Thank you.
Thank you. We’ve had a long history of working with industry in the area. We will continue to work with industry so that we can get the requisite investment by industry to enable us to enhance the winter road. Through the Department of Transportation, we’ve done a lot of work on mapping. I know the Member and I drove the winter road last year. There’s a map that’s been developed. We’re improving the road itself, putting in a number of bridges and crossings there.
We will continue to try to improve the safety of that road, not just for industry but for the travelling public, and we continue to do that. Also, we are looking at some further enforcement and the provision of highway officers in the area this coming season. We are looking at the possibility of close to 80 to 90 million dollars being spent in the area this winter. So it’s important. There’s going to be a number of trucks traversing that road again this winter, so it’s important that we put all these steps in place to ensure that it is done in a safe manner. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to use today’s opportunity for question period maybe to probe into the workings of buffalo gates on the Deh Cho Bridge. It’s come to our attention through the media, but oddly enough, I’ve been hearing about the urban legend of buffalo crossing the bridge at Fort Providence, but I have yet to actually see the facts before us.
I’d like to start off by asking the Minister of Transportation how much did the buffalo gates cost and how much will it cost to fix them or repair them so the buffalo aren’t roaming up on that bridge. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The gate itself was in the neighbourhood of half a million dollars. The good news is that that gate does work. The bison that did appear on that bridge and in photos that appeared on social media didn’t go across the Texas gate that was installed. It in fact went around and jumped a guardrail and got onto the bridge. The Department of Transportation is currently looking at a remedy to see that bison can’t go down on the right-hand side of the bridge and jump the guardrail and get on that bridge again. So we’re taking steps to ensure that that does not happen again.
Again, the good news is, the gate works. Thank you.
Thank you. Well, I guess the next question is: How does the Minister know they can’t cross the Texas gates? Thank you.
That bison, to my knowledge, was observed jumping the guardrail and not going across the Texas gate. The Texas gate is utilized across North America as a way of keeping cattle out of an area. It’s certainly something we see a lot of in Alberta and it works. Thank you.
It reminds me of a joke my kid would say, is why did the buffalo cross the bridge.
---Laughter
Obviously, to get to the other side.
But in all seriousness, how much will this cost now to fix this new remedy or new hole we’re finding out in the Deh Cho Bridge process and system? How much more money is required now to keep the buffalo from jumping from the side onto the bridge, and what remedy does the Department of Transportation have in its pocketbook of plays to deal with a buffalo in the middle of the bridge while people are coming over it and while they have no choice? Something is going to happen.
Thank you. It wouldn’t be a great deal of money to get that fixed and that guardrail raised up. I certainly will make a commitment to get that figure to Members. We have to remember that where the Deh Cho Bridge is, bison that are in the area, that river is frozen six and a half months out of the year. They could certainly walk across there, and bison have been known to swim up to a kilometre at a time, so they could certainly swim across the river.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m really glad to hear what the Minister had to say, but he avoided my last question, which is simply: What is going to happen if there’s a buffalo on the bridge and somebody comes along and goes over the hump of the bridge and all of a sudden sees a buffalo? The buffalo has nowhere to go but on the side or jump over. Potentially someone could hit the buffalo; there’s nowhere to swerve. I mean, we know how narrow that bridge is. So the question essentially is: Is public safety being compromised with this failed solution to keep the buffalo off the bridge?
Thank you. No, it’s not and we are making every effort to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
