Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, Mr. Chair.
Could the Minister please advise what section that could be found in?
Thank you, Minister. The Minister advises that that is found in the community social programs section. Do you have further comments to this activity, Mr. Thompson?
Yes, I do. Thank you. The next question: FASD and autism, is this in this section here? If it isn't, can the Minister advise us where it is? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, Mr. Chair, it's on page 187, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you. That would be in the diagnostic and therapeutic services. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm hoping this is right. The home support workers, is it this section that we need to be in here? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
No, Mr. Chair. No, I'm just kidding. Yes, this is the section, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
Right on. I hit the ball. In regards to the home support workers, can the Minister advise us the status of the new positions that were implemented last year and if those positions, especially in my riding, were for home care support workers? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm pretty sure the Member asked this question in oral questions and the other day I said it was seven positions filled, four not filled. I think two of the ones that aren't filled yet are in the Deh Cho, but recruitment is taking place.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I did propose the question to you, but not on the floor. You're working on the two that are not filled, are they actually being filled in casual positions right now or is it just vacant right now? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as I said before, there are 11 new positions. Seven of them have been filled. We've got four that are currently being recruited for. I can't say why we were unsuccessful in previous recruitments, but they are currently out for recruitment.
Two of them that are out for recruitment are Nahanni Butte and K'aagee in the Member's riding. We've also got one that we're trying to fill in Lutselk'e. We've got one that we're still trying to fill in Inuvik. The rest of them have been filled. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Does Wrigley have their homecare position filled right now? A full-time position or indeterminate half-time position? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm not certain of the mechanism by which the authority chose to fill it, whether they chose to fill it on the term or an indeterminate. I do know it's a half-time position and it is currently filled. I will endeavour to get more information for the Minister on whether they've been hired as terms or indeterminate. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister for that. We've given these positions to the authorities and they make a decision if it's on a casual basis or indeterminate position. Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The funding for these positions is base, so it's part of a core funding. The positions have been created, but yes, authorities, as all employers in the GNWT do, have some freedom to choose whether they want to attempt to fill the positions on term or indeterminate. They will do an assessment of the region community, try to get a sense of who might be available, and go out that mechanism. These are full-time indeterminate positions. They are not going anywhere. How to staff them, the authority does have some freedom of choice based on what they know about the region and whether they think they can be successful in staffing. I do know that, with the two positions in Nahendeh and Kakisa, the authority is reaching out to the community to see if the community can help identify somebody who might be appropriate. With these positions, it is absolutely critical that we find local people to do the work. I think, for the home support workers, it would be great to recruit local trained, if necessary. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you. I appreciate the answer. I guess the biggest concern I have is I know in Wrigley, as the community has told me, it has been based on a casual basis, and they are really concerned with trying to understand why it is not being indeterminate half-time positions, so I guess that is a question I ask the authority. Or do I ask you, as the Minister, to find that information out? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Mr. Chair, I will get that information for the Member on the five half-time positions that were created in the Nahendeh riding and get back to the Member.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
I appreciate that, and I thank you very much. Kakisa, though, is in the Deh Cho, and I think the member from Deh Cho might get mad at me if I try to take that community away. My next question, and I do not know if this is the area, here is the cessation planning regarding smoking and that. I heard the Minister talk about a new program that they are implementing right now, so is this the area that we talk about this program right here? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Yes. Thank you. Yes, the Member is correct. This is the right area; it is under population health. Just going back to the other question, yes, I have met the Member from Deh Cho. He is a pretty reasonable person. I am sure he won't mind me sharing a little bit of information with you, but I will also share some information with him. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, this is the area where population health is located.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that clarification. In regard to this area here, in my reply to the budget, I talked about the Butthead campaign, the process. I can actually say that it worked really well, from what I've seen. Has the department looked at using this, or are we using the new system or the new program that we have that the Minister talked about today? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we have moved forward with a number of programs. The program that I mentioned earlier today in questions from the Member from the Deh Cho, one that was just released recently. During business planning, I did make a commitment to have the department look at the older program Don't Be a Butthead to see what opportunities exist. It retired a number of years ago. At that time, we heard that many of the students were not connecting with it the same as they did when it initially came out. It might have been a timing thing. It might have been it just grew a little tired. We do not know, so I asked the department to do some investigation into whether there was any opportunity to explore revitalizing it. We are going to get that done, but it has not been done. We will be going out and reaching out to some of our stakeholders to see if there is an interest in revitalizing in anyway.
Thank you. Nothing further from Mr. Thompson. Next I have Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think this section of the budget is where the Minister indicated there were going to be three people hired to help with implementation of the agricultural strategy. Can the Minister tell us what those individuals are going to do generally? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there are a couple of things happening. The first thing that we are doing is we are looking forward to putting regulations in. We are almost done getting those regulations ready to go for the sale and distribution of low-risk foods, so that is things like vegetables and other things that can be grown, potatoes, this, that, and the other. If those items are going to be sold by local producers, we need to make sure that the food is inspected, the food is safe, and that it is meeting certain criteria. Those would be outlining the regulations.
To operationalize that, we need a few people to make that happen, which includes an epidemiologist in Yellowknife, an environmental health officer in Hay River, and I am forgetting the title, but an environmental protection officer, I think, in Yellowknife, so three positions that will be doing that work. They will be helping our producers make sure that the food is meeting standards so that it can be sold in stores. They are also anticipatory as well, because in 2018-2019 we are looking at moving forward with regulations on any other work that needs to be done on higher-risk foods, which includes meat and other things that may be harvested, so it can be sold in stores as well. A couple of different things are happening; round 1, low-risk vegetables, fruits, if you can figure out how to grow them in the North, and things like that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think I can teach the Minister a few things about growing carrots, if he is ever interested. Well, we have fruits, too. I have raspberries at the side of the house, but we can have a separate conversation about that. Okay. That all sounds all right. There is, I think, a 5 per cent reduction of locums used in the business plan here, and that is supposed to save $900,000. Can someone just explain to me what this is about and how we can anticipate that somehow these locums, their work is going to be reduced by 5 per cent? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Mr. Chair, I am pretty good at growing carrots and potatoes. I have a hard time with fruit, even raspberries; the wild ones do not work so well, so we will take any advice the Member may have.
The $900,000 is as a result of work that we have already done. We have brought all of the medical professionals under a single authority, and we have been able to get some economies of scale as far as recruitment. We have actually, I think, done better than we have in the past under recruitment. We have more stability in Hay River and Inuvik than we have had in many, many years, and as a result we have seen a decrease in locum use, but we are always going to need locums, Mr. Chair. I mean, there are times when our staff go on holidays or have to go out for training, or sometimes, unfortunately, they do retire or leave and we have to back-fill in a short period. We are still struggling in some areas. There is no question. We are having a hard time finding permanency in places like the Deh Cho, the Sahtu, Fort Smith, but we are hoping to continue as a single medical system. We are hoping to see some benefits there, but we have already recognized savings and do see them in this budget. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank, Mr. Chair. How is that going to be tracked and reported on? Is that something that we are going to see in the business plan next year? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
