Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank all our hardworking Pages over the past week, especially my two Pages from my hometown of Tuktoyaktuk: Melody Teddy and Theresa Cockney. Thank you for all your hard work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize Blake Lyons, a constituent in Yellowknife Centre, as well as Murray McMahon, another constituent from Yellowknife Centre. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, when we talk about hard work of people in the Chamber, I think we have to recognize our hardworking interpreters and, with that, I’d like to recognize Lillian Elias, our Inuvialuktun interpreter from Inuvik.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize Mr. Murray McMahon, who has a home out at Cassidy Point and spends a lot of time in the Weledeh riding. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. If we’ve missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions today for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Obviously there was much anticipation on her Minister’s statement from earlier today. I’d like to begin by asking the Minister, obviously she’s been getting a lot of questions about the advancement of this 2007 policy up until today and the decision that Cabinet has made to rescind that policy. I’d like to ask her, in going forward, how exactly is she going to engage Regular Members on any of the proposed changes and the implementation of those changes, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will do that, as we have done all along. This is a consensus government, and contrary to what might be spoken here, Members here know that we work together on any of the major changes. So, Mr. Speaker, I will continue to do that as we move forward. Thank you.
I’m just wondering why sometimes it might take two years for the Minister and the Cabinet to realize it is a consensus government. It took two years of work by all Members of this House to turn this policy around. It took outrage by the public to get this policy turned around. Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, it took two years.
I’d like to ask the Minister, maybe she could comment on that. Why did it take two years for the current Cabinet to make the right call on this policy? Thank you.
I think the important message today is that we have moved this program forward. The Cabinet announcement is based on the Joint Working Group work and Joint Working Group report, and that document will be tabled later today. It has a number of suggestions on how we should improve our Supplementary Health Benefits Program and I think it’s important for us to move forward.
As Member Groenewegen suggested, there are a lot of things that we need to do, and that Members on the other side agree on, with respect to the Health Benefits Policy. I look forward to working with the members of the Standing Committee on Social Programs and everyone else on the other side and my Cabinet colleagues to get the job done within the remainder of this Assembly. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to have faith that the Minister and Cabinet can get this done by the end of the life of this current government. I’d like to ask the Minister how she intends to accomplish this feat in 10 months. Thank you.
The discussions that I’ve been having with the Members on the other side with respect to this issue is that Members want us to get some stuff done that were suggested in the Joint Working Group report.
In my Minister’s statement this morning, I talked about the fact that we need to look at health benefits, a program not being the first option but encouraging people to get private insurance first, parity with the NIHB program, the pharmaceutical strategy to include generic drugs and drug pricing and efficiencies and the elimination of grandfathering. So there are a number of very specific items that the Joint Working Group is recommending and the Members on the other side agree on. So I will be making an announcement about the process by which we will get the job done within the life of this Assembly. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the last two years, one of the criticisms that was levelled at the department was the fact that it was hard for information data, research to get into the hands of Members so we could make informed decisions. As this moves forward, maybe the Minister could comment on how sure she is that she has the ability inside of the Department of Health and Social Services to actually get the information that is relative, that’s relevant, that is going to be required for decisions to be made as we move this forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
With all due respect, I categorically reject any notion that our department or myself as the Minister are not giving out the information. All the information was out there. The issue with the changes with supp health is that people just didn’t want it. It wasn’t the lack of information. So, Mr. Speaker, we will work as we have always with the Members on the other side and give detailed information.
We need to do more work on how we are going to implement the pharmaceutical strategy. We need to do more work on how we encourage people to get third-party insurance. We need to work on how we encourage employers to offer third-party insurance. We need to do more work on how we make all our programs equal and equitable.
So there’s a lot of work to be done. So we are going to do that work and we will bring that back to the Standing Committee on Social Programs, because I believe all the Members agree that these are important programs, but changes need to be made. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement was on the inadequacy of fire equipment in the communities. Mr. Speaker, considering that the communities have inadequate community infrastructure, they need a complete overhaul. Considering the cost to upgrade them, even a fraction of southern standards is very costly. Will the government commit in replacing all inadequate equipment by the end of this government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We appreciate the Member’s frankness when he asks a question. He just gets straight to the point. The community governments are responsible for the firefighting infrastructure. They are given the money through the capital investment and they do have the responsibility. Our department will work with the communities in identifying some of their needs and possibly help out with the cost to them and finding out where they can access some of this equipment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Considering all the small, remote communities are most sus, sus --
Susceptible.
---Laughter
Yeah, susceptible -- through these house fires and the highest number of deaths per capita over Canada, will this government work with the local fire marshal’s office and various funding sources to develop a real capacity for each community all over the Northwest Territories, not just Nunakput? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
With the new public safety division coming onboard, that is one of their mandates. I have had commitment from the assistant fire marshals that they are more than willing to work with each community in identifying some of their needs, some of the training that they may lack. There is talk of going to more of a regional type of training so we can get more people in. So the commitment is there to work very closely with the communities.
We understand that it’s a very difficult job they have, especially in some of the smaller communities. It’s a very difficult job. So we will do our part as the department to see how we can best assist communities. Thank you.
Considering our volunteer firefighters, Mr. Speaker, are risking their lives to service and protecting our communities, will this government implement a comprehensive checklist of systems like the Minister is saying such as proper valves are functioning, breathing apparatuses, heated fire truck facilities, proper safety gear and training will be listed on the checklist? I think the best place to get the training would be down here in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We are currently conducting a community fire department capacity assessment. That’s us working with the communities and coming up with a needs analysis that will do for each community. Some of the items that the Member pointed out would be part of that. Obviously, we can’t have volunteer fire departments, especially in some of the smaller communities that are untrained and unable to operate a lot of equipment that’s expected of them. So with the new public safety division and the commitment made by the fire marshal’s office to work with each community, I think we are going to see a dramatic improvement that’s available to the communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This past summer we had a fire up in Tuk, a dump fire. We had volunteers going out there, chemicals burning, breathing apparatuses were insufficient because they were cracking at the seams of the masks. Your bunker gear, it’s just right worn out. I know that he’s saying it’s the responsibility of the community, but I think the fire marshal’s office... It’s been nine months I’ve been asking this to happen. Should it take nine months for a person to jump on a plane and hit the communities and go check? Mr. Speaker, all I’m asking is the government try to commit extra dollars for the communities to get proper breathing apparatuses and bunker gear for the safety of the firefighters in harm’s way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My understanding is there were a couple of members of the public safety division office up in Tuk just recently. We’ll continue to work with the communities to identify their needs. If they have equipment that needs replacing, as I stated earlier, we will work with the community in trying to identify the best places.
There’s also, and I saw it firsthand at a public meeting that I went to amongst the Beaufort leaders, where one community had offered equipment to another community free of charge. So there’s that opportunity there. It’s just equipment that they had a surplus of and they felt one of the smaller communities could use it, so they donated it to the community. So there are many different ways that...
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’d like to follow up on my statement and her statement as well.
I noted in the Minister’s statement that there were no words that I read or understood which referenced that coverage would be extended to those residents of the NWT who do not currently have either chronic conditions coverage or catastrophic drug coverage or supplementary health benefits coverage. So I’d like to ask the Minister, is it the intent of the Minister and the department to do that? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated in my Minister’s statement, I will be coming back next week with more information on the work plan or the time frame within which the recommendations made in the Joint Working Group report need to be reviewed and considered, so I will be looking into that. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. I’m afraid her words don’t give me much comfort. She’s mentioned that she’s coming back to announce the process to talk about implementation. I have several concerns there. The coverage of people who are not currently covered is a very basic need and it’s one that certainly all Members have agreed upon. It was not one that at the Joint Working Group there was any kind of disagreement on. So I need to know from the Minister, in terms of these announcements of process and implementation, will there be an opportunity for the public, I guess, to have input on those? I know she’s mentioned the Standing Committee on Social Programs, but will the implementation plans and suggestions be out there for the public to comment on?
I do agree with the Member that the most important pillar of the Supplementary Health Policy that we rescinded is the fact that we would have been able to expand the coverage to the working poor as of next Monday. That aspect was the most immediate and present Anti-Poverty Strategy that we had that we are not able to implement. I agree with the Member that we need to look at that. We’re going to look at that in a package with all the other suggestions that the Joint Working Group had asked us to work on and Cabinet is committed to looking at that.
Of course, in any changes, we work with the Standing Committee on Social Programs. Standing Committee on Social Programs and every other committee can give and invite public input. We have a process in place. I’m making a commitment in today’s statement that I will be coming back with a time frame and what we are planning to do in that regard. We will have lots of time to review those and follow the regular consensus government process.
Thanks to the Minister for her comments. I appreciate, I think, Standing Committee on Social Programs will certainly take advantage of the Minister’s comment that we can go for public input. I imagine there will be certainly some of that.
The Minister mentioned the 2007 policy, which has now been rescinded. It kind of leads into my question. I guess two things: I don’t think we need a policy to extend coverage to people who are not covered, but in the absence of a Supplementary Health Benefits Policy -- which I presume we now have -- what will govern extended health benefits, Metis health benefits and any other sort of catastrophic condition benefits?
Whatever she wants to do and she’s suggesting these policy changes. As it is now, the Supp Health Policy that would have come into effect on November 1st has been rescinded. Everything is status quo until we change anything. If we need to include anything or change anything else, that’s a policy change. So we need to do more work on that and I’m making a commitment, as I did in my Minister’s statement, that we are working to come back with a proposal on the recommendations made by the Joint Working Group and anything else. Until we bring in new policies, the status quo remains.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I guess we have to agree to disagree. I’m puzzled that we need a policy change or a new policy in order to implement some of these efficiencies and changes to supp health and chronic conditions coverage.
The last thing I want to ask the Minister is whether or not... There have been a number of changes that have been mentioned in her statement. I have to assume, I’m hoping these are not all the changes that are being proposed. Are these the short-term changes and are there medium- and long-term changes coming?
Those are the changes that I will be coming forward with next week with a time frame and short-term, mid-term and long-term implementation plans, what we need to do and work together on in order to implement the changes that were suggested in the Joint Working Group and where we could move forward.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we heard over the last number of weeks and the press release that has gone out to media advisers from the Gwich’in and Sahtu, statements by the Tlicho and the president of the Dene Nation, Mr. Bill Erasmus, that we do have a disconnect between the aboriginal leadership and the aboriginal community regarding how this devolution process will affect them. I would like to ask the Premier about the olive branch handed out to formulate a meeting between yourself as the Premier of the Northwest Territories and the federal Minister of Indian Affairs and trying to find some solution to these outstanding issues that have been raised. I’d like to ask the Premier what we are doing to try to engage the aboriginal leadership and try to find resolution to this standoff.
