Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for obliging. I raise these questions because members of the public do have concerns about these P3s. So is there a way we could make P3s more transparent? I was really encouraged by the Minister of Public Engagement and Transparency's statement today. Is the Department of Finance working on a way to bring more of this information to light and allow the public to have a better sense of why we use P3s and why it's an effective tool for this government, and that they are being held accountable for the millions of dollars we're investing in them? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we do have a P3 policy that's readily available online. We might have to make it a little more accessible or put it right on the front page, because sometimes you have to navigate your way through the system to get at number of these policies. So we'll ensure that the policy itself is readily available if people want to have a look at it. But I think their big concern is not so much the policy, but the fact that this government wants to stretch our investments out a little further, get more projects for the communities across the Northwest Territories, because a lot of these people want to work. So, you know, we'll continue to do what we can to allow our infrastructure money to go a lot further.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. As I said in my Member's statement, I understand there's some good work under way developing the new Disabilities Action Plan. My questions are more by way of an update. Can the Minister confirm the status of the actions reported on in the reply to our disabilities motion, and whether we're on track to have a new plan in place by March 31st? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in March there was a motion that all Members of the House supported, including Members on this side. We have moved forward, we have begun the development of the plan. We intend to have it done March 31, as originally indicated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for that reassurance. Of course, having a plan is one thing; but if the plan is not to suffer the fate of the last one, we'll need deliverables, evaluation, and reporting. Can the Minister commit that no plan will be produced without these features, including a mandatory annual reporting to this Assembly and an evaluation framework?
That is the intention. We intend to have a plan outlining the services and whatnot that are provided today and identifying any gaps in services we need to provide, as well as an opportunity to have mechanisms to evaluate as we move forward.
To break out one of the multiple questions there, could the Minister commit to annual reporting to the Assembly on the Disabilities Plan once it is delivered?
We'll certainly work with committee. We will keep them updated both with the review and the report, as well as moving forward.
Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Finally, on this point, I'm wondering whether the Minister will deliver with this plan a costed implementation plan and the assignment of the resources needed to deliver on it. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I knew the money question was coming. The Member has asked pretty much for money on every initiative that we're working on, which I appreciate, and obviously we would love to put money into these initiatives. The problem is, we have an expenditure versus revenue challenge here in the Government of the Northwest Territories. Any money that we put into new initiatives, new programs, is going to cost money, and that money has to come from somewhere.
As I've committed on the other questions the Member has asked, we're going to look carefully at how we're spending our money to make sure that we're getting maximum benefit for the dollars. If we have to re-profile how we're spending the dollars in order to get maximum benefit, we're prepared to do that. Once that's done, if it turns out we need some additional dollars, I'm prepared to work with committee and Members to try to find those dollars from within existing resources so that we can make appropriate investment, but it's going to take the will of both sides to find areas to reduce in order to invest in new areas. So I'm not going to commit to having a fully costed plan at this point, because I think we have to have a lot more discussion on where our future investments are going to go, but I'm prepared to push for it.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A couple of days ago I was asking the Minister of Health and Social Services some questions about medical travel, and I'd like to follow up with a couple of questions that I didn't get to ask that day. With the different authorities, with Hay River and Behchoko or Tlicho, does the medical travel policy still apply to that community, the ones that the department has developed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
I'm not sure I understand the question 100 per cent. If a resident of the Northwest Territories is given a referral to a community outside of their home community for a service, if they are required to go to another community to receive services, whether it's somebody going to Fort Resolution for an appointment or somebody from Simpson going to Edmonton or Yellowknife, medical travel will apply, and if there is a legitimate need for an escort, those needs will also be met. So I'm not sure I understand the question 100 per cent.
I thank the Minister for the answer. He kind of answered the question. What I was asking, though, was: is that policy, the medical travel policy developed by the Department of Health and Social Services, applicable across the territories? I think the Minister answered the question, saying it does.
So my second question, and maybe he can answer this one. I shouldn't say can, I know he can. In regard to non-medical escorts, when people move from a small community to a larger centre, sometimes they lose that support system. So what is the process to allow people to get non-medical travel that are not in that community? So if I move from Fort Simpson to Hay River and I don't have the support system there and I need a medical escort, what is the process so that people from the community that they live in can help support that patient?
This does happen from time to time. But to be clear, a medical escort, non-medical escort, still needs to be referred or supported by a practitioner. It's not a choice that the individuals get to make; they still have to have support. If there's a legitimate need, an escort will be provided.
I understand the situation the Member is describing. If Jane Doe lives in a community, has to go to Edmonton, but their daughter, spouse, whatnot, happens to live in a different community, how do we get the right people together? It's usually done through an exception request. This is something that an individual can request. It usually has to be escalated up further than the administrators who are actually doing the day-to-day administration of the program. But it is something that happens; it is an exception request.
I thank the Minister for clarification on that; that's very helpful. Now I can work with the people in my riding that may be moving. That's very helpful.
The other big question, from what I've been hearing from the patients, does the department have a policy or a process that ensures that their information from the doctors or from our regional health centres are to the doctors down south? Or vice versa, the information is brought to the patient so they make sure they have everything there, so that, you know, it's not a waste of time, but so they get the treatment they needed? So can the Minister please explain if they have a process and how it's followed through?
Mr. Speaker, in the Northwest Territories we have a Health Information Act that dictates how we protect an individual's privacy and share information with individuals involved in a circle of care, and there's certainly information that may not need to be sent out to a southern practitioner. It's usually done through the protocols that have been established that allows the information that's relevant to the particular situation that someone's going down for a doctor's appointment, so not necessarily everything would have to be sent.
In the Northwest Territories we have electronic medical records that allows practitioners to be involved in the circle of care, regardless of what community they live in, can have access to the files. Some of these things are still rolling out. We're still streamlining and making sure everything works perfectly, but we are moving forward with folks on respecting our residents and ensuring their information is kept private and confidential where appropriate.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister responsible for Human Resources what the intention is for providing whistleblower protection for our public servants. Previously, the department has committed to both standalone legislation and to updating the Public Service Act to contain this provision. So what is the intention? Are we going forward with a standalone Whistleblower Protection Act, or are we simply making changes to the Public Service Act? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Human Resources.
That legislation will be part of the Public Service Act.
Thank you to the Minister for clarifying. When can honourable Members expect to see a legislative proposal or some work on that? I, of course, assume that will go to committee, but when can we start to see progress on that? I think it's very important that we allow our public servants to feel protected when they see concerns, and also that they can speak their minds to elected officials whenever they have a concern.
It's a massive piece of legislation, and we can expect to see that, the LP, during the third quarter of the 18th Assembly.
Thank you. Just for clarification, was the Minister referring to the third quarter or the third year of the Legislative Assembly?
It's the same thing. Yes.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, and thank you for the clarification. Given that this is a massive piece of legislation and this is a really important step in the transparency commitments this government has made, is there any way to split this work out and move it ahead on its own?
I'm concerned that, if there is a legislative delay, sometimes these very large bills take a lot of time from our government and are delayed until future Assemblies. So is there a way to expedite this process by moving the whistleblower protections out into their own legislation, and is the Minister willing to -- sorry, that's two questions, so I'll just go with that. Thank you.
As far as splitting it out, the legislation is all connected. So we can do it quickly or we can do it right, and we want to make sure that we do this right. We will come forward to committee with an LP probably by about the third year of this Assembly, and they will have an opportunity to review it and we'll go forward from there.
If the Member is concerned about the safe disclosure, my understanding is there is a Safe Disclosure Policy that was done, I think, in concern with the UNW, so that is there. So we'll continue to work on the LP, and when we have it ready to go then we will have a conversation with committee and seek their input as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to make full use of question period today on our last day. I have some questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. A letter was tabled by the honourable Member for Frame Lake from the City of Yellowknife that indicated that the department is now working with the City of Yellowknife on forming a work plan for making the necessary legislative amendments to various pieces of legislation. Can the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs update honourable Members on the progress made to date and when that working group or that work plan will be completed?
Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last evening, ironically, I just met with the NWT Association of Communities and they also had some concerns regarding the recommendations from the City of Yellowknife, so I have agreed to also work with them. So at this moment we are just in the process of pulling together a meeting so that all communities' municipal governments have a say in where we're going with the recommendations from the City of Yellowknife. Thank you.
When will this meeting occur?
Since the meeting that we had last night was my first meeting with the NWT Association of Communities, we never actually set a date. We did agree that we would meet, and so as soon as I know more when the date is confirmed, I will let the honourable Member know.
Has the City of Yellowknife, who was previously told work plans are being developed, they would be full partners in this work, have they been informed the plan has changed or are they still expecting the department to come back and work with the City on these amendments?
Unfortunately, the mayor for the City of Yellowknife was not at the meeting last night. We are still committed to working with the City of Yellowknife; however, we have an obligation whenever we make any legislative changes that we actually consult with all of the concerned parties, all of the municipal governments concerns. So we will abide by that.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know it's important to consult with our stakeholders, but it's also important to make decisions here in this House, and I know a number of honourable Members who have raised this concern that we want to see these amendments roll forward. So is this more delay from the department, or are we still committed to getting these changes done before the end of our term? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I do recognize that the Members have issues that they want to ensure that I push through during this Legislative Assembly, but the Members have also asked for transparency and accountability. So within that, in trying to honour the wishes around transparency and accountability, we need to do due diligence, and that does mean consulting with all stakeholders when any major legislative changes are to be made.
Masi. Oral questions. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to Commissioner's opening address. Item 11, petitions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm seeking unanimous consent to return to item 5 on the orders of the day.
---Unanimous consent granted
