For a couple years I’ve been asking about providing an opportunity to build a new hospital or at least a new fully independent wing attached to the hospital, because it makes better sense to make new than to renovate a hospital while it’s in full operation.
The Department of Public Works has always said, well, if that’s the choice of the bidders, then that’s the one we’ll examine, of course, and the best value for Northerners is the way we’ll go. It’s been my understanding that that has been taken off the table, and the three bidders, I was speaking to one a couple days ago and they said that option was taken off the table.
So, why is that the case that the government wants to renovate a hospital that’s up and running, rather than building a new wing and attaching it to it, which would make the most sense to build new, rather than renovate? Thank you.
The budget that we were looking at for the hospital at the point when we had gone out to RFP, looked like in order to bring that in on the budget that we were looking at would be to renovate, renew the hospital while the hospital is in operation. If one of the proprietors is able to come in at a cost that was equal or lower for a new site, new building and everything, then the government would take a look at that as well. It’s not off the table. Thank you.
In speaking to two of the three invited contractors as well as speaking to a number of people in the construction industry here locally, they have all estimated that renovating the hospital while it is in full operation could run anywhere in the range of 20 to 30 percent more than what the project should cost.
These are estimates now, granted I know that, but why is this government so fixated on renovating a hospital that it costs us so much more than just building a new additional wing to it? The fact is that is the truth of the reality, we are going to spend a lot more than necessary. Why is the government fixated on this?
Finally, Mr. Speaker, have they ever been given advice, their own advice, that it would be cheaper to build an addition on it than it would be to renovate it while it is in operation?
Part of the reconstruction of the hospital is to add a wing or a section onto the hospital while we are doing the hospital. So the hospital will actually expand in size by an additional 30 to 40 percent. That does include a wing to the existing hospital, if that is what is most efficient. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Industry has told me that it could run anywhere between 20 and 30 percent more because we are going to renovate and build while it is in full operation. I want to understand, does the Department of Public Works realize and accept that additional costs of this project, which we all know is going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, is the department proceeding with that full knowledge and appreciation that additional costs are unnecessarily being borne by the taxpayer when we can’t even afford it? I am not going back to the Finance Minister’s statements, but he has illustrated quite clearly that the cupboard is financially bare. Thank you.
If the proprietors were able to come in with a new hospital, new construction, 30 percent bigger than what we have in place, 30 to 40 percent bigger than the current hospital, with a more reasonable cost than renovating and expanding the hospital, of course we would go with a new hospital, but at this point we were thinking that this would be the most efficient way to go. Once the proprietors are able to look at the project and cost the project out, we would have a better idea of which direction to go. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. What are the current rates of smoking in the Northwest Territories? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can’t remember the exact rates off the top of my head but I do know that we have some of the highest rates in Canada. Thank you.
What is the Department of Health and Social Services doing to help people quit smoking cigarettes? Mahsi.
There are a number of things that we are doing to encourage people to quit smoking or to reduce the amount they smoke, preferably quit smoking. We are promoting some services, resources, tools to help people quit smoking, such as the NWT Helpline, we have tobacco cessation aids, we are continuing to promote things like National Non-Smoking Week, and we are also promoting World No Tobacco Day. We are putting together some new websites, building upon the good work that was done with the Don’t Be a Butthead campaign. Those resources or tools still exist and we will continue to hand those out until we are out of them, but we are working with some of our community health reps in the communities to tailor make programs for each individual community as well. Thank you.
I want to thank the Minister for his reply. One of the experiences that I have had is that you could approach your family doctor or physician in trying to assist you in terms of quitting cigarettes. They could offer a smoking cessation program. One of the examples of what kind of services that the people could find through their doctors is the patch, the Nicoderm patch, and that is what I personally use.
What is the department doing to reduce the overall impacts and costs to the health care system caused by chronic illness caused by smoking cigarettes and tobacco use? Mahsi.
One of the best ways to reduce the amount of smoking is to ensure that new people don’t start smoking, which is why we are working with the schools and the community health reps in the individual communities to tailor programs to suit, match or meet the needs of individual communities.
With respect to individuals that are already smokers, we are providing the NWT Helpline, and we also encourage them, if they need additional support, to talk to their physicians or health practitioners in their communities, who will be able to point them in a path of tools that might work for them on a cessation program. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Part of the initiatives in trying to educate the public is prevention strategies, and the department should be commended in terms of doing the public campaign in terms of informing citizens of the facts of smoking.
What are some other healthy living initiatives that the department is undertaking to combat the overall costs of cigarettes and cancer, and so forth that affect people in the NWT? Mahsi.
We have a number of different programs that we are working on. We do have a chronic disease prevention promotion program that is underway and we have programs like BETTER and other tools that are available in individual communities to residents across the Northwest Territories. In every one of those programs we talk about the value of not smoking, eating healthy and getting lots of exercise. Healthy people will be more productive, they will contribute to society more, they will be living better lives and, obviously, that will result in lower overall health care costs in the long term. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As indicated, we participated in the buy local, buy Great Slave Lake fish. One of the questions while we were there was, are we putting the cart before the horse? How do we promote? We have a new logo and launch, but we actually don’t put that fish in the store.
I would like to ask the Minister of ITI, how are we going to put fish into the stores and prepare that product for the stores? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Part of our plan is to have a marketing assistance available for fishers to get that product into stores. I want to thank MLA Bouchard and MLA Groenewegen for their efforts in Hay River on promoting fish from Great Slave Lake. I know we have an effort here in Yellowknife as well. At the end of the day, it is up to store owners whether or not they put the fish into their store for sale. I know, here in Yellowknife, that happens at the Yellowknife Co-op store and down in Hay River. Again, it speaks to the importance of us putting a new export grade processing fish facility in Hay River, and I think that is something that the department and the government is certainly intent on seeing happen.
We have had discussions with both the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation, when they were here recently last week and, as well, during NWT Days in Ottawa I had the opportunity to sit down with Minister Shea from Fisheries and Oceans and also explained our case for some support from CanNor with Minister Aglukkaq when it comes to supporting our $1.5 million that we have to put towards a new fish processing plant in Hay River. Thank you.
Obviously, the Minister is answering some of those questions, but the $1.5 million that the government has committed, have we got any commitment from the federal government to leverage any of our money to build this fish plant? We know it is going to cost more than $1.5 million. Has the Minister been able to obtain any financing from the federal government? Thank you.
In order to get a quality fish processing plant constructed in Hay River, it is probably going to cost just north of $5 million. We will need partners. CanNor, the federal government, Fisheries and Oceans and even Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation are the partners that we’re speaking with. We want to see this happen. We are committed to seeing this happen. The discussions are ongoing and hopefully they will, I’d like to say bear some fruit, but bear some fish.
Obviously, we have the $1.5 million in this year’s budget, so we’re looking to do this. Does the Minister have any plan going forward on when we would actually have a date to break ground on that plant?
With our discussions currently ongoing with CanNor, Fisheries and Oceans and FFMC, our hope is we’ll have some answers here shortly. I certainly would like to see ground broken on the new facility by the end of this year.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I talked about getting the fish into different agencies and I’m wondering if the Minister could talk to the Minister of Justice and get it into our correctional facilities. Is that a possibility?
I’ve been accused of talking to myself before, so yes, that could happen.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke about the issue surrounding our lack of progress on withdrawal management services. Clearly, the department has been given guidance and reporting to make realistic changes in its approach for Northerners. We are constantly reminded by our Health Minister that the economies of scale prevent us from finding a made-in-the North solution when it comes to withdrawal management and treatment addictions as a whole. This argument is used far too often as a means to justify bureaucratic policy. In essence, nothing would be done in the North if one used the economies of scale defence, as all services would be cheaper done down South.
My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. As mentioned in my statement today, the Minister has had a report in hand since March of 2014 clearly spelling out opportunities to enhance our withdrawal management services in the Northwest Territories.
Can the Minister indicate what progress or timelines were made with those recommendations?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The report identified that the department is offering a continuum of withdrawal management services, although there are some gaps and there is room for improvement. One of the areas of improvement is mostly around awareness. We need to do a better job of making sure that our nurse practitioners, our nurses, our physicians and other practitioners throughout the Northwest Territories, as well as outside stakeholders like RCMP are aware of the program. We’re working on information to get out to these individuals so that they understand what is available and how we can refer our clients in. There is also a requirement for some additional training for individuals on the actual intervention process and helping individuals target people that need to go in there. Those are the types of things we’re doing now. We’re doing some training programs and we’re creating some awareness around the types of access points that do exist.
The Minister just pointed out just one of a very broad range of recommendations that have yet to be implemented in the Northwest Territories. One of the recommendations of interest was the department being asked to develop policies, standards and guidelines in common language that are to be used across the system to establish a common assessment tool to assess withdrawal severity, stages of changes and addiction severity.
Can the Minister indicate if this has been done yet?
The work has begun but it is not concluded.
One year later and it’s still not concluded, as we’re hearing from the Minister. We know our first point of contact folks such as nurses, physicians, mental health and addiction counsellors, social service workers, child protection workers and RCMP require ongoing training with withdrawal management best practices, harm reduction and the use of a full range of assessment tools, not just awareness from what we heard today.
Can the Minister affirm that this is indeed in place?
That is work that is currently being done. That is what’s being designed and created at this time.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, we’re hearing in progress. You know what? This is just ridiculous. All Northerners were led to believe that our use of southern facilities for withdrawal management and addiction treatments were to be temporary. The Minister is even quoted in saying, “We have not lost sight of the need to develop NWT-specific options of our approach to addressing addictions.”
Can the Minister elaborate as to when we can see and expect a NWT-specific residential addictions treatment facility based in the North and run by Northerners?
At this point in time there is no intention to build a territorial treatment facility in the Northwest Territories. We will continue to utilize the incredible facilities that we use in the South that are giving a wide range of programs and services to the people of the Northwest Territories; we will continue to deliver on-the-land programming through our Aboriginal partners, which the money has been put in the budget to do so; and we are continuing to pursue the mobile treatment options, which I would be happy to discuss with Members more.
With respect to withdrawal management, that is in the Northwest Territories. When it comes to a medical withdrawal management, individuals can go to Stanton Territorial Hospital or Inuvik Regional Hospital.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In a brief preamble in follow up to some of the discussion today on post-traumatic stress disorder, I myself experienced a traumatic event as a child which has carried over into adulthood. I’m almost 60 years old and I still have claustrophobia because I was in a building that was struck by a tornado when I was a child, and I did not see it coming. I heard it but I did not see it. To this day, I want to see what’s happening around me, and that’s why I don’t like being closed in and that’s why I sit beside the door. No, seriously, these kinds of things, at the time, my parents said, okay, everybody back to work, like nothing had happened, but there are people who are dealing with all kinds of trauma that happened to them, probably far worse than being in a building that went up in a tornado, and there isn’t help for them in the communities.
I floated this idea past the previous Minister of Health and Social Services and today I’m going to put it past the current Minister of Health and Social Services. Would it not be possible to bring professional, renowned services into the Northwest Territories on a tour to the communities where they would meet with the people and develop a relationship? Then they would go back to wherever their practice is in the South and those people could make appointments to talk to that person on the phone, so they could look forward to that, so they would know that if they were in difficulty or they wanted to continue on with their counselling that all they had to do was talk to that person on the phone. Is this not a model of care for things like post-traumatic stress disorder which would be helpful?
We, obviously, are not going to get professionals in this type of treatment and counselling in every community in the Northwest Territories. We probably couldn’t even get that kind of specialized treatment here in Yellowknife, but I know there are contractors out there that would go into our northern communities, that would develop the relationship with the client, would be there for them, come back on an annual basis, something like that.
Is that a model we’ve considered? Could we think about it?
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not actually aware of any programs like that, so if the Member does have some information she’d like to share, I’d be happy to read it and share it with the department
There was a young doctor that came to Hay River as a locum that did a practicum when he was receiving his medical training who went on to become Canadian known and an internationally renowned doctor who specializes in stress disorders and mood disorders. He has come back here to the North since. I am sure there are other people besides him. His name is Dr. Grant Mullen, and that is exactly what his practice does, and I did convey that information to Minister Beaulieu at the time. This is a doctor with an extreme interest in the North. Like I said, it doesn’t have to be a sole sourced thing. It could be other people, but could we put out a request for expressions of interest of people who specialize in those areas that would be interested in serving our northern communities?
Once we have a better idea of what the program is and what it offers, it’s something we may be able to do, but at this time I just don’t know enough about it to say yes or no.
