Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we had some money in the budget last year for transition into the new hospital that was a one-time funding to help us through the transition period. It is now gone. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you. That is what I suspected. I will wait until the next page to ask about those positions. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Nothing further.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Any further questions for page 195? Seeing none, we shall move on to 196, information item. Questions? Mr. Simpson.
Thank you. I see the increase in two full-time positions in the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority and an increase in two part-time positions. Can the Minister explain what is going on there? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. An increase of four positions for maintaining HH Williams, that is a chronic long-term care aide, housekeeping aide, dietary aide, and cook one; and an increase of two positions for Woodland Manor, a dietary aide and a housekeeping aide. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Simpson.
So there is the loss of two full-time jobs, and there is a gain of two part-time jobs. Is that all explained by what the Minister just said? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, these changes are as a result of having to keep Woodland Manor open while constructing the new long-term care or extended care facility, so we had to double up some of our resources for that period of time. They will be moving in in this fiscal year, so we don't need to continue to double up those positions, but there are some new positions that are required for that. So it's the two new positions that are required for the new Woodland Manor, but we do not need the ones that were hanging around in HH Williams as a result of the transition period. So it's a move from a temporary situation at HH Williams to a full-time situation in Woodland.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you. I am pretty sure that extended care unit has been in HH Williams for decades. I mean that long-term care unit has been there for a long time. It was not temporary. Woodland Manor has been there for a long time. So now we have a new place and we are losing two positions, and so it doesn't sound like anything temporary was happening. It sounds like we are losing two positions as a result of the move. Is that correct? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Abernethy.
So, we had to keep HH Williams open, Mr. Chair, during the transition, which, yes, it always existed, but that building was supposed to be abandoned a while ago, but we did not plan for long-term care in the community and we had to come to the table and fix that problem. We fixed that problem, so we had to keep people in HH Williams for a short period of time, recognizing that we did not want to discontinue the services during the construction of Woodland Manor. So this is to help us transition for that short period of time, where we had to keep the old hospital open, to the point where we could move into a permanent facility of Woodland Manor, and some positions did go over to the new hospital, as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Simpson.
Nothing further, thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Anything further on page 196? Seeing none, we shall move on to page 197. Questions for 197? Seeing none, page 198. Questions to page 198? Mr. Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I see there is non-insured health benefits on here, and so, if you have non-insured health benefits and you go to the dentist and the dentist says you need a crown, there is a good chance NIHB will say, "No, we'd rather pull it," but, if you go and you need a crown and you have Blue Cross, there is a good chance they will approve it. That is the difference, and that is what has come up in my constituency. NIHB, I guess there are three levels of appeal that you can go through. The patient actually has to go and explain why they need a crown, you know the dentist recommended it, why they want to save their tooth as opposed to pull it, and that is the first level of appeal, so that is the issue. From my understanding, it's rarely appealed by people. I think people just either suffer or get the tooth pulled instead, and so there is a bit of a disconnect between the Blue Cross and the NIHB services, so does the department do anything to raise awareness or assist people when it comes to the appeal process with NIHB? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Our staff do provide advice, guidance on how to maneuver the system to approach the appeals process. The issue that the Member has raised, I do not know for sure whether that is true. I hear the Member. We need to look into that if that is the issue the Member is talking about. I am happy to look into that to find out if that is happening. We mirror NIHB, and, if Blue Cross is not doing that, then we need to deal with that, obviously. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you. No, the issue is the Blue Cross is offering more or it's a better service, essentially, and so I guess the question was about helping the people who have NIHB, but I don't want a response to that. I will talk to the Minister after. I just wanted to bring that to his attention. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Further questions to page 198? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just want to ask some questions about non-insured health benefits. We have heard some concerns from the other side of the House about how the federal government is now approaching Indigenous governments directly to fund various services. This money here, so we just essentially deliver these programs and then invoice the federal government for it. Is that how this works? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We pay up front and then seek reimbursement from NIHB. I would suggest that we do not always get everything that we think we should, so we usually end up coming out of pocket for this, as well, to some degree. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Okay, thanks, Mr. Chair. So, because of the concerns I have heard from the other side of the House in terms of federal government sort of going around territorial government to fund Indigenous governments directly, how does this play into that concern, and what is our government doing to try to ensure good working relationships with our Indigenous governments around programs and services and accountability and transparency, all of those good things? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that is specifically what the deputy minister was talking to in response to, I believe it was, Ms. Green's questions. We have hosted a round table working with our Indigenous partners and the federal government to address those types of concerns, make sure that everybody is on the same page and working together and that the issues of the clients are being brought forward to the ultimate funder, recognizing that we are a delivery agent in this one. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I think I understood that. So, at this two-day workshop in January, was more than just NIHB discussed or were there other health and social services programming areas discussed? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that meeting was very focused on NIHB. I have been working to set up meetings with our Indigenous partners on a regular basis. We try to do it annually. Last year, it kind of did not happen because we couldn't get everybody together at the same time, but we are planning one for this spring, where we can work on shared priorities, issues that we need to work on together with the federal government but also things we need to do here, in the Northwest Territories. That relationship is very important to us, and we are looking forward to reconvening those meetings. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Mr. Chair, I know this has not happened yet, but is the Minister prepared to share some sort of summary or report from the meeting with the standing committee? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Yes, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks. That's all I've got for this section, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my question is about page 201. I see that the GNWT has an agreement with Health Canada to fund the Toll-Free Tobacco Quit Line. Can the Minister tell us a little bit about usage rates here? Is this a useful way of helping people who are trying to stop smoking? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't have the actual usage rates in front of me, but I will endeavour to get that to the Member as quickly as possible. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can appreciate that that's a level of detail that he might not have at his fingertips, but it leads into my next question where I note that the agreement to fund this quit line ends at the end of March. Is this agreement subject to renewal? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's March 2019, so we have a year to continue to review this program and make sure it is adding the value that we hope it's adding. Look at the usage numbers, as the Member wants, to see to make a decision whether or not we wish to renew it or not. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
