Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I actually can’t remember the exact number of clients that we had in there. I actually just talked about it a couple of days ago when we were having our budget dialogue, but it is about 100 adults and about 100 youth, give or take. We know it’s incredibly expensive. During the last round of supps, I asked for $2.5 million for youth and another I think it was $2.5 million or $2.6 million for adults. So there is a significant cost. There’s multi-millions of dollars a year.
I take the Member’s point from her statement where we need to dig into these files and review them and see if there’s any opportunity to repatriate and I’ve already directed that the department do that. They’re going to do a file-by-file review and where there are similar clients with similar needs and there’s a business case for repatriating a block of them, it’s something that we’d like to explore and I’m certainly willing to work with committee on that. Thank you.
The number of clients in southern placements, adult and children and the types of placements that they are in, I understand, are probably fairly varied, but I’d like to ask the Minister, and I know he hasn’t been in the department that long, but at his first analysis on maybe a high level, is there anything that jumps out, is there anything that stands out that may be a type of southern placement that could be repatriated to the Northwest Territories? For example, in Hay River we have the assisted living facility. A lot of the clients in that facility were in southern placements prior to this. So, is there a type of care that initially stands out that the Minister could identify where we, as Northern communities could think about accommodating? Thank you.
My initial discussions with the department, we’re looking for a similar type case where we have individuals with similar needs, but we do know right now that there’s a huge variety of residents in the Northwest Territories. We have some residents who require 24/7 care with multiple individuals and others that are more in the independent setting, but require significant medical supports. So at this time I’m not prepared to say that we have found a catchment, a group of individuals who have similar challenges that we may be able to repatriate up here, but I have directed the department to do a case-by-case review. As we do that, we’ll start to be able to see what, if any, similarities exist and where an opportunity exists we will certainly be having that discussion with committee and I hope to have the information available. We expect it to take about a year to do a review of every file. Thank you.
That was going to be my next question is when we might begin to see the results of the review of those files to see where there might be some economies and would make some sense to a business case scenario and, also, we know there’s a human factor to this, as well, to bring some of these folks home.
In the interests of decentralization and the fact that there may be communities out there that would be interested in accommodating, whether it be a group home or an assisted living facility or maybe something even more specialized, how will the results of this work be communicated so that if there are communities who would like to express interest in being involved in a plan to accommodate these folks, how will that be communicated in such a way?
Before any decisions are made, we do need to understand the caseload, the client load, and the individuals that may be able to be repatriated. I intend to share that information with committee and we can have a discussion on what might be the most appropriate location and how we, as an Assembly, decide where we want to invest our dollars, remembering that we want to keep people as close to home if we can find a way, and we have residents from all over the Territories, so there might be multiple opportunities here.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary. Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is exactly what I wanted to hear. There are opportunities, I think, for regional facilities and that would accommodate keeping people closer to home and it would also maybe create the need for smaller-type facilities but more home-like where possible. I really don’t have any more questions.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Just a comment. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What precipitated my Member’s statement today and my oral questions was as a result of a search on our government careers website. Recently there was posted an advanced territorial support medical coordinator and an emergency medical dispatcher. When you look on the job description, it does mention to help emergency medical evacuation services including medevac triage, coordinating dispatching and repatriation of services. This prompted me to talk about it in my Member’s statement today, but, more importantly, to have questions today for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
In less than three weeks, Med-Response is going to go live. Can the Minister indicate what is the research basis for this new program and how is this program intended to improve what I talked about earlier, our current situation?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Health. Mr. Abernethy.
Mr. Speaker, a significant amount of research has been done on this particular file. It started off with a different name many years ago, the Territorial Support Network. We’ve had physicians from across the North and we’ve had some real strong champions for this particular approach, and we have looked at other jurisdictions. This is going to give the community health care workers in the communities one point of contact for all medical emergencies, medevacs, all of those types of situations as opposed to what we’ve experienced in the past where every authority had their own plan, their own reporting mechanism, which often and was capable of leading to some real confusion out there with respect to coordinating all of these activities for the best interests of the patients. This will coordinate everything into one contact point.
Can the Minister indicate what the department’s position is on the provision of medevac flights to emergency extractions on our NWT highway system? Last time I asked this question with the previous Health Minister we didn’t have a clear policy. Can the Minister indicate, has this changed?
The Department of Health and Social Services, the Department of Justice, and the Department of MACA are working together on a ground and highway rescue strategy. This particular EMR response tool is with respect to direct contact out of health centres to the regional centres, and we can coordinate things like medevacs out of there, but they will be going to the communities where there are airports as coordinated by the on-site people, the coordinator in the EMR office and a dispatcher in the EMR office. It will not be dispatching airplanes or helicopters to highway situations.
In this year’s budget, the Minister noted funding in the amount of $790,000 to continue the implementation of the new Med-Response service. As he quoted, it was to “provide community health care practitioners with remote emergency clinical support, triage advice and help to coordinate NWT air ambulance services.”
Can the Minister of Health indicate for these funding dollars, what overall improvements to the medevac service can Northwest Territories residents expect to see? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
These dollars are intended to provide 24/7 coverage in the office for our staff who will be providing the services. The significant difference and benefits for residents of the Northwest Territories – and our focus is on the people, the clients and our residents – is when somebody is injured in a community and they are in the health centre and they need immediate response, immediate action or immediate medevac, the community health worker or the community health care professional in that community will be able to call one office and that office will give them links to physicians or specialists. If we need to medevac them, there will be a medevac dispatcher on the phone as well.
So, all the people who need to be involved in the discussions to get that person to where they need to be or to provide them care on-site will all be on the same line providing advice. All of them will be informed, all of them will be able to provide the best level of care and, if medevac is needed, the most timely medevac for that patient. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you to the Minister. Once Med-Response is launched, can the Minister indicate what plans the department has to monitor and evaluate this program ongoing?
We will be putting in and developing an evaluation framework around this particular model to see how it’s working, to make sure it’s meeting the needs of our residents, patients and professionals in the individual communities. I’ve said it before and I’d love to say it again, I’d love to invite committee out to see staff and see the operations once we get it up and running. I ask for a couple of months, but then I’d love to invite the Social Programs committee out there to see the operations up and running. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions will be to the Minister of Transportation on trucking issues. As he discussed an on-line service, has the department looked into putting truck permitting on-line?
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Yes, Mr. Speaker. The intention is to have on-line services for commercial vehicles within the next two to three years.
Also, another on-line service I’m wondering if we could implement is the bridge tolls. I know the bridge tolls are under review, but I am wondering if we will be putting that on-line as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think the bridge tolls currently are provided out of a company we have a contract with in the South. I’m not sure if we are putting bridge tolls on-line, but I think we will definitely look at that possibility. There may be some issues with the configuration of the vehicles that may be close to the border where some Members have indicated that they may or may not need a toll permit to go across. It is a possibility, but I’m not 100 percent sure if that is in our plans right now. Thank you.
The other trucking issues that I have discussed in this House are the commercial vehicles and the requirements for a regular pick-up towing a trailer to have a Class 3 licence.
Has the department looked into this difficulty? Many of the businesses in my riding are having difficulties with this. Has the department looked into a solution for that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Our transportation system is harmonized with all the other jurisdictions that have interconnected highways into the Northwest Territories. When we consider removing the requirement for somebody to have a Class 3 and certain size vehicle, we do have to consult with other jurisdictions. So, currently there is a regulation that certain size vehicles need a certain class of licence. At this time, we’re pleased with the way that’s going and it fits in well with the other jurisdictions.
We can look at it to see if there is something we can harmonize with the other jurisdictions, but we can’t make a change and not advise the other jurisdictions that we’re making changes and so on. We can look at it but it would probably be more of a national discussion than just us making changes to the regulations here in the Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m having difficulty with the harmonization concept. The Minister is telling me there’s harmonization when I know, in fact, in Alberta a pick-up is a pick-up. It doesn’t matter if you’re towing a trailer or not, it’s still not required to have a Class 3 licence. As well as the issue of licence plates, in Alberta they need a licence plate on the front. When you cross the border now, you have to put a licence plate on the front. So I don’t know how the harmonization is working.
Can the Minister commit to look at these regulations and the fact that they aren’t harmonized and try to harmonize them with Alberta, which is the main transportation province we deal with? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This is a national issue. Alberta does have its own regulations. We aren’t exactly similar. We are trying to become part of the transportation system. We do harmonize with the other provinces. Harmonization is the ability for vehicles to move across the country and into the Territories without switching loads or being ineligible or eligible of driving a vehicle of that size. So we would look at everything, not just one province and just harmonize with a province where the most commercial vehicles are coming from. We’d look at everything. Like I said, if that was the best possible solution, was to do the same thing Alberta was doing, we’d probably look at that, but at this time we have our own regulations and we’re following what we think is best for the Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I made a statement on the idea of a junk food tax. My question is to the Minister of Finance.
What level of taxing authority does the GNWT have in implanting indirect taxes on goods and services sold or bought in the NWT? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have the authority, listening to the Member’s statement, to set some taxes in place as they pertain to some of the substances that the Member was talking about. We also do things like liquor, tobacco and those types of things as well. Thank you.
Earlier I also made the comment that some provinces, such as Quebec and Ontario, are seriously taking the lead in terms of implementing taxes as a deterrent to the lifestyle of their citizens because they realize the significant costs it incurs down the road to the health care institutions.
Would the Minister of Finance agree to follow the lead of those provinces and begin examining the idea and concept of perhaps coming to a point where you could come back to the House with a proposed idea of maybe putting a tax on junk food? Mahsi.
We, as a government, have been trying to use taxes as a way to encourage, in effect, behaviour, especially as it pertains to cigarettes and alcohol. We have some of the most expensive cigarettes and alcohol in the country. We’ve just recently raised the price of loose tobacco, and our smoking and drinking rates, unfortunately, across the board haven’t shown a lot of bending the right way. We haven’t bent the trend, as they say. We continue to monitor through it that way.
If there’s an interest in committee to look at some type of tax on sugar, I’d be prepared to have that discussion. It’s much more complicated than it sounds on the surface, on junk food, but we’d be prepared to definitely engage in that discussion.
Thank you. It seems that at this point – you know, sugar is a candy – and recent studies have indicated that if you consume it, at least for diabetes, and we have a high rate of diabetes here in the Northwest Territories. Recent studies have indicated that sugar intake on a daily scale could lead to some forms of cancer.
Would the Minister, perhaps in the next session, indicate to the House whether it could be probable for the Minister of Finance to categorize the junk food tax as a form of sin tax? Mahsi.
The definition of sin, of course, is one that’s been debated for centuries. The issue of classifying sugar as a tax similar to tobacco and liquor… I mean, junk food similar to tobacco and liquor is a discussion we can have.
Once again, if you look at the literature, the debate and the complexity you get into in trying to define your term very, very precisely for taxation purposes is not without its challenges. We’ve been spending a lot of time as a government trying to look at active living, productive choices, Drop the Pop, Don’t Be A Butthead, getting people and young people to make the right choices, babies born healthy. Taxing the way to good health I don’t think has shown to be that successful, but once again, we’re not averse to having that discussion with committee. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Would the Minister agree that a tax on junk food could be a possible source of badly needed revenues? Mahsi.
Given the prodigious appetite we have in the North for things like junk food, if there was a definition that was agreed to and a tax that was agreed it, it would maybe generate an initial spike of revenue, but if the Member’s rationale proved out, then the demand would drop off precipitously. But it could be, if all the stars aligned. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier in the day I spoke about the difficulty my constituents had, the long-term employees advancing as well as new employees that want to get in with the Government of the Northwest Territories. I want to ask my question to the Minister of Human Resources.
In our 20/20: A Brilliant North, NWT Public Service Strategy Action Plan 2012-2016, how is the Minister and this government planning to advance our Aboriginal employees in management and executive? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are starting to employ the Regional Recruitment Strategy as one of the strategies that we’re hoping will bring the Aboriginal numbers up across the GNWT. Also, as far as trying to advance more Aboriginal employees in the GNWT to senior management and management level, we are using the Aboriginal Development Program, which is we are placing associate superintendents and associate directors, Aboriginal employees, into the system for them to take those jobs on. Also, we are now developing associate managers so that people from lower than managerial positions, such as officers and clerks and so on, can be advanced into manager positions. Thank you.
One of the issues raised was when they created a new financial shared services division, a long-term employee with many years of experience and training applied for a management job and yet that person wasn’t qualified. Once again, I question the government’s ability to over-qualify jobs and not giving enough attention to many, many years of service. How is this plan addressing that? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Aboriginal employees are all employees that were affected by the financial shared services. Regionally there were 16, and 15 in headquarters, so 31 people were affected by the position, and the majority of them were placed into jobs with the government. I think there is a possibility that a couple of the specific cases where individuals may have been applying for the positions that would have been considered an advancement did not get the jobs, but my understanding is that there were some discussions held with these individuals. I don’t have the specifics on the individuals that may have been looking for advancement and didn’t get it, but my understanding is that most people who were affected were placed in other jobs within FS, financial shared services, or retained in their own departments. Thank you.
