Debates of October 26, 2006 (day 16)

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize councillor-elect to the City of Yellowknife city council Lydia Bardak.

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And as well, Ms. Arlene Hache.

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Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. At this time I’d like to recognize two Pages that I have with me from Fort Liard: Mr. Tyre Timbre, as well as Mr. Lindsay Berreault, and I’d like to thank them and congratulate them for their hard work this week. Mahsi cho.

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Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we have missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the House. Always nice to have an audience in here. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize the best CA in the business, Ms. Denise Yuhas from Fort Smith.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to direct my questions to the honourable Minister Brendan Bell, Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister in terms of could he provide this House and the people in the Sahtu who are listening on the status of the Dodo Canol Heritage Trail issue in terms of it being a national-territorial historical park? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bell.

Return To Question 195-15(5): Cleanup Of The Canol Heritage Park Trail

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. There’s a lot of work underway in this regard to make the Dodo Canol Park Trail more of a regional focal point. I think we’re doing some good work. We’ve struck a committee with the help of the Member, who really reinvigorated efforts in this regard locally. There’s a lot of interest now in getting this park created. We have our next meeting, I believe, in November with the committee. They will be talking about this summer’s walk on the trail that both the Premier and the Member participated in. I think it raised a lot of attention and profile for the trail and I think it was very worthwhile. I hope we do future walks, Mr. Speaker. Their next meeting is in November and we’ll discuss that issue and a number of others, including how we get the land transferred from the federal government. There has to be a park plan in place and we’re working through that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Supplementary To Question 195-15(5): Cleanup Of The Canol Heritage Park Trail

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the people in the Sahtu region, especially in the Tulita and Norman Wells region and I think in other communities within my region, certainly congratulate the Minister in terms of his commitment in getting the committee off the ground. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister in terms of continuing on with this work, would the Minister commit to working with the committee on terms of cleaning up the old telephone wires that were laid down in the 1940s? I think there’s over 1,600 feet of old leaded telephone wires that are doing some damage to the animals on the trail. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 195-15(5): Cleanup Of The Canol Heritage Park Trail

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I can see from the Premier’s applause that he as well has seen this first hand, the telegraph wires and other left-behind articles from the ‘40s. It’s important that we get this cleaned up. Obviously we want to have this issue addressed before we talk about land transfer. We think it’s a federal responsibility. We’re making that argument and that case that they in fact should clean it up. So we’re in discussions in that regard. We’ll have more of those as we meet in November. I can say that before we take over transfer of this land, we want to have that addressed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Supplementary To Question 195-15(5): Cleanup Of The Canol Heritage Park Trail

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had mentioned this to the previous Minister of ENR and unfortunately the situation couldn’t be dealt with at that time. However, Mr. Speaker, I want to say to the Minister that the trip was truly an experience that the Premier and I had with the youth from the Sahtu region and I ask the Minister if he would consider looking at this as a national or a territorial leadership walk. I think that’s a real good initiative to encourage our leaders, encourage our youth, to spend one week on the land and just talk about life’s important issues that they face, and that the Minister would work with the other departments to see if this could be a territorial initiative for all northern youth to participate in. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 195-15(5): Cleanup Of The Canol Heritage Park Trail

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member has made the case for this. I think the Premier obviously came back with great things to say about the initiative. I certainly appreciate the Member taking it on himself really to drive this walk this year and make this thing happen. We’d like to do it in future years. I am, though, of course cautious. We have a committee in place. We want to sit down in November and talk to them, do a bit of a debrief on the walk, talk about how it went and talk about priorities for the coming years. So given committee’s support, Mr. Speaker, I see no reason why we wouldn’t do more of this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Supplementary To Question 195-15(5): Cleanup Of The Canol Heritage Park Trail

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the youth walked, the Premier of course walked, yours truly walked, even though I had real sore feet, but I still kept going. Now I want to ask if the Minister, the good Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, if he would come along and walk with us, join in this initiative. He believes in it. I think he does. I think it would be good for the Minister to show leadership and come for a walk. Would he come for a walk with the rest of the boys and girls? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 195-15(5): Cleanup Of The Canol Heritage Park Trail

Mr. Speaker, the Member I think has sufficiently shamed me into, as he’s saying, taking a hike. So yes, I would love to join him for that. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to direct my questions today to the Premier. Probably just going back in history a little when our government had a lot more wealth than it does now and the concept was that people got together and they sat around the table and they had little horse-trading sessions and they decided which communities and which regions were getting jobs and programs and capital projects, and they divvied up this big pot of money and everybody went away from the room relatively happy. Well, as we all know, that’s not the way things really work around here anymore because we don’t have that much money. If you want to have jobs and programs and capital infrastructure in the community, it’s usually a long planning process that was brought forward by a capital planning team. It’s brought programs that are brought forward in a way that I believe would guarantee some level of fairness and equity to how things are distributed, how the wealth is distributed throughout the Northwest Territories.

But being a consensus style of government, each one of the Members who sit in this House are all independent and we’re free and we don’t have any party kinds of disciplines. We’re free to stand up and express our opinion on every subject that comes up. We can raise subjects, we can respond to subjects, we can respond to what Cabinet Ministers say, we can applaud them when we think they say something good, and we can criticize them when we think they do something wrong. For that, in this style of government, there needs to be an understanding in the public that this government would not condone any reprisals when a Member is not supportive of something the government is doing, and I’d like the Premier to confirm that for us today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Return To Question 196-15(5): Speaking On Matters Of Accountability And Integrity

Mr. Speaker, I think things have changed a lot since the old days that Mrs. Groenewegen refers to because we do not do business that way. It’s a very well laid out process and there is fairness to everyone. There will be and has been, to my knowledge, no reprisals from our government and we will police that very carefully if we ever hear anybody starting to make those kinds of threats or whatever, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our obligation as a government is to provide fair, equitable service to everybody regardless of where they live and regardless of what their MLA may have said or not said. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 196-15(5): Speaking On Matters Of Accountability And Integrity

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate the Premier’s confirmation of that fact, because I do think that there are people out there who think to the contrary. The other thing is, in the distribution of the work that we do here in the Assembly, some are Regular Members and some are in Cabinet. Again, another perception that’s out there in the public is that somehow being at the Cabinet table is beneficial to your riding more so than the rest of us who sit around here. I have said many times, I see us sitting around here as equals. We assign certain responsibilities to Members of the Cabinet, but again there are some constituencies here in the North which are feeling a little vulnerable, particularly right now, and I don’t think people should feel that way, because, again, I don’t think that’s the way the government does their business. That’s not my observation. So to the issue of Cabinet versus Regular Members, again I’d like the Premier to confirm that there’s not special consideration given to the wishes or the asks or the plans brought forward by Cabinet Ministers. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 196-15(5): Speaking On Matters Of Accountability And Integrity

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can confirm for the Minister that there is no special privilege given to a Minister’s constituency over that of someone else. Some may disagree with that sometimes, I don’t know. But, Mr. Speaker, I can say that in my experience in fact it has been a disadvantage to be on Cabinet because sometimes you can’t represent your constituency the way you would like to because it conflicts with your role as Cabinet Minister.

Mr. Speaker, on things like capital plans and so on, we review those, we go through them with the committees, we welcome and are waiting for committee reports and recommendations to us. So, Mr. Speaker, everybody is treated equally here, whether you’re on Cabinet or not. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

That’s it, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions will be for the Minister of Health and Social Services in regards to Stanton. Mr. Speaker, Stanton is the main hospital in the Northwest Territories and provides, in my opinion, a very high level of service, and we’ve worked very long and hard over the years as a government to try to improve those levels of service. I think that’s important that people hear that from this House as well so that we can be clear that, yes, this is a complex organization with over 500 staff and a $50 million-plus budget, and yes there are challenges. But there’s also been a number of significant successes. What I’d like to ask the Minister is if he could indicate to this House some of the circumstances as they pertain to our staffing circumstances with doctors and nurses and the type of accreditation that we currently hold them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland.

Return To Question 197-15(5): Stanton Territorial Hospital - Accreditation Of Staff

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, we are faced with challenges across the whole jurisdiction, whether it’s the smaller communities or larger centres, when it comes to providing health care for people in the Territories. But we have as a government over the years tried to address this through a number of factors, whether we talk about our Graduate Nurse Program, Social Worker Program, and other areas that we focus on in ensuring that we can provide a level of service that is adequate to all people across the Territories.

There are a number of factors involved and I’m at a bit of a disadvantage here, I guess, in the sense that the Member is quite familiar with this file, but we have done a number of things to ensure that the territorial facility here in Yellowknife is providing an adequate level of service, although we are, as I stated earlier, faced with a number of challenges. But we worked with Stanton in ensuring that the services provided meet the requirements of the people that it serves. We’ve adjusted programs a number of ways. We’ve dealt with the Aboriginal Wellness Program. We have the Northern Nurses Grad Program, as I stated earlier. There’s quite a list of things that we do and at this time; for example, the vacancy rates at our facility here in Stanton are down to about 16 percent at this time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Supplementary To Question 197-15(5): Stanton Territorial Hospital - Accreditation Of Staff

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the irritants that has arisen as a result of our attempts, or attempts in the past, to address the fact that we couldn’t get OR nurses and nurses to work in ICU because of the pay and a graduated level of payment was set up for nurses. Now one of the irritants that has come to light is the fact that in some cases you’ll have nurses on the same ward doing the same kind of work but at different pay levels. I’d like to ask the Minister what the department is going to do to address that particular issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 197-15(5): Stanton Territorial Hospital - Accreditation Of Staff

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the whole issue of ranking of our nursing staff has come up a number of times over a number of years and involves the union, ourselves, the nursing fraternity, and we’re trying to address this. When the Government of the Northwest Territories went through a job evaluation process and ranked its employees, initially we had come to a conclusion that a nurse is a nurse is a nurse and they were all paid at one level. That was implemented and put in place. The nursing groups challenged that, appealed it. We then went through the process and accepted that we had to redo that work. Looked at again a whole evaluation process for our facilities and the nurses and then came up with a ranked system of specialties. That was implemented and, as well, just as we have to proceed, the process of staffing and service levels in the hospital have been put in place and we’ve now had, for example, two of those levels combined on one ward from time to time. We are now going through the process of making some changes so that those nurses that work on one ward are paid at the same level. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Supplementary To Question 197-15(5): Stanton Territorial Hospital - Accreditation Of Staff

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister confirm that that will be, I’m assuming it will be worked out with the union and with classification so that there’s no nurses taking a pay cut on this one? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 197-15(5): Stanton Territorial Hospital - Accreditation Of Staff

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we have in the past, in this scenario we’ve worked cooperatively with the union and staff and any changes that are about to occur, as we have in the past, we will protect individuals and positions. But I haven’t seen the full layout of the plan. I’m aware that we are putting it in place to address the concerns that are there today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Supplementary To Question 197-15(5): Stanton Territorial Hospital - Accreditation Of Staff

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Finally, just if the Minister could quickly elaborate on the issue of the Dialysis Program. This is an area of significant growth across the North. Stanton is the main site for dialysis, but we’re looking at pilot, not pilot units, but we’re looking at subsidiary units out in the communities like Fort Smith, Hay River, eventually Simpson. If the Minister could touch on the pressures and expansions planned for that particular program. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 197-15(5): Stanton Territorial Hospital - Accreditation Of Staff

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess changing gears a little bit from our staffing levels to the actual program side, dialysis is something that has been affected, we have been affected by, and the demand for services can no longer just be delivered out of the Stanton facility. We are looking at expanding that in our other regions where we have high demand and we’re trying to work cooperatively with a number of other departments as well to ensure that we get that in place so people who are affected can get the service closer to home. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance and it’s in regard to a statement that he made in the House last week in the development of a macroeconomic policy division. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to start by saying when the government goes out and develops some policy framework, I think they should keep reality firmly in mind. What I see in the development of this macroeconomic policy shop is the fact that it is based solely on hypothetical scenarios. I mentioned in my Member’s statement we have no resource revenue deal, we have no devolution deal, we have limited ability in the areas of resource management or development, debt management, taxation, investment, and not to mention the 2,000 or so migrant workers who take $200 million out of here annually. So I’d like to start off by asking the Minister of Finance where exactly did the direction come from to develop this macroeconomic policy shop. Mahsi.