Thank you, Honourable Premier. As the second question was a clarification, I will give the Member for Kam Lake another question, her final supplementary.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I absolutely agree with Madam Premier's comment about how we need to leverage our partnerships, especially with people here in the Northwest Territories, and go to the federal government. How has our government worked with Indigenous governments to make sure that the NWT is getting its fair share of the federal government's very ambitious national housing strategy, which is offering $40 billion to Canadians for housing? Thank you.
Again, in the last Assembly, it was more of a little bit of competition, feed the money through us. That didn't work very well for us. I try to learn. We are politicians. I think one of the Members had said we are not God. Absolutely, we are not God. The best thing a politician can be is humble enough to admit when they need help. The worst politician, in my opinion, is somebody who thinks they have all the answers.
What we are committed to doing: we have already been talking with our Indigenous governments. We are talking about having a strategy, not only around housing but all of the issues that impact Indigenous people. We are working on that now. We are working on the strategy. We just put the feelers out.
I have had one meeting with our intergovernmental counsel. I have had three meetings with Indigenous governments since I have been here in the last few months. Even though some people think I am not doing a lot, I am doing a lot. We brought forward the idea of going to Canada together with a united front. I have talked to them seriously about divide-and-conquer. When we all go individually, it does not work best for us. We have agreed that we will be doing that. Not all the governments have been approached, yet. The ones that have are in agreement that we need to have a strategy and go forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thought you might have forgotten me. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. As I said yesterday, and again today, there have been a number of issues related to the new hospital building. Also, last we heard, there was a shortage of nursing staff.
Today, let's start with the nurses. In June, there was a 13-percent vacancy rate, equal to 37 nurses. What is the vacancy rate now, and particularly, what is the net gain of nurses in the last six months when you account for those who have been hired and those who quit? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. It is very hard to forget you. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As of December 31, 2019, the vacancy rate across the NTSA, which is all the regions, all positions, was 12.3 percent. This represented 178 of 1,450 positions. The vacancy rates for some specific job types across the NTSA include 25 percent nurse practitioners, 15.5 percent registered nurses.
As of December 31, 2019, the vacancy rate across the NTSA, which is all regions, for frontline registered nursing positions was 17.1 percent. This represented 55 of 322 positions.
As of December 31, 2019, the vacancy rate across Stanton for frontline nursing positions was 10.3 percent. This represented 19 of 185 positions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate that answer from the Minister. It is a surprising answer to me because it was my understanding that the Stanton nursing workforce was 280 individuals. The Minister is saying 185 full-time equivalents is, in fact, the total number. There is some mismatch there, which we need to get at, which is: what is the total workforce, and what is the vacancy rate within that? I realize the Minister may not have that information to hand. Let me move on with whether the number of new hires has allowed nurses to reduce their overtime and to plan for holidays and vacations. Has overtime cost gone down?
Yes, efforts are under way as part of the overall recruitment process to ensure that Stanton hospital has enough nursing staff to cover holiday leave and reduce the demands of overtime. As summertime approaches, that is what the department is looking to now.
Thank you to the Minister for that. I know that was a point of unhappiness as last summer holidays came around. There were not enough nurses to allow people to take time off. There was a commitment by the previous health Minister to expedite the recruiting system and to get job offers into the hands of nurses more quickly. Are you able to say whether, in fact, that system has been expedited?
At this time, I am not aware. I will commit to getting back to the Member on whether or not the efforts are in place.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Finally, I want to talk about the heat regulation in the building. It seems to be a significant problem, and it affects both patients and staff. What actions have been taken to figure out why some of the rooms and hallways are so cold and how to make them warmer?
The Member is correct. During the months of December and January, it was extremely cold here in Yellowknife. The building was not maintaining temperatures, parts of the building. Cold air was being sucked into the building. Metal doors on the exterior of the building were frosting. In order to resolve these issues, Dexterra investigated and resolved air supply issues. Additional investigation is scheduled for spring of 2020. An additional heater was added in the emergency entrance. There was resequencing to the two sets of sliding doors. Those are a number of the issues that were done, and I respect that the staff up at the Stanton hospital had to go through this. I went up there and was able to speak to some of the staff, not all of the staff, but just to reassure them that this is something that the department is looking into. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I just have one question, and it's for the Minister of Justice, if I may. In response to an earlier question, she did commit to consulting with the standing committee in looking at how the public would be engaged in the future around regulation making. That is great, but she did not say anything about co-drafting and whether she would be consulting with standing committee on that. I just want to remind her that, in the last Assembly, the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment developed a whole report around co-drafting, with lots of recommendations, ideas about how to improve that process going forward, including the involvement of standing committee. I would like to know from the Minister of Justice whether she is prepared to work with the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment moving forward in looking at how Indigenous governments are going to be involved in co-drafting of regulations. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, I did not speak specifically to co-drafting in terms of how that would look and what commitments might be made. Quite frankly, the reason is that, if I make a commitment in this House, I am going to take it very seriously, and I understand that co-drafting and the involvement of the Indigenous governments, the involvement of the intergovernmental council, involves EIA, involves Cabinet, involves more than just the Department of Justice, and so I was not prepared to stand up and make that specific commitment here. Nevertheless, I can certainly commit to working with standing committee, making sure that I am personally briefed and aware of what is in that report, and so, to that extent, we will move forward, but that is about as far as I am prepared to go today, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I have questions for the Premier. Mr. Speaker, the last five months, basically, we had nothing going on in regard to short-term planning for any kind of jobs that we could create or what's happening with any projects going on because, once you leave Yellowknife and you head into the Delta, we have nothing going on in the Sahtu, nothing going on in my riding. What are her plans on the go-forward to stimulate the economy and jobs in the short term? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have heard a number of times from the Member that nothing is going on in this Assembly since we have been elected. I want to remind the Member that this Cabinet has only been elected since November, so it's only a few, it's not six months that I have heard many times. We might have been campaigning six months ago, but the Cabinet has only been around since November. I take offence at saying nothing is going on. We are working on our mandate commitments based on the priorities of the 19th Legislative Assembly, but I need to say that the priorities are only what is extra. Day-to-day business within government programs goes on every day. Whether we are here sitting in this House or whether we are back in our constituencies or whether Ministers are upstairs running their departments, day-to-day government business goes on. There are projects in his riding. I believe there is a bridge going on. I hear there is a health centre being built right now. So there are projects that go on besides the extra things that we have identified as our priorities, besides the extra things that we decide as our mandate. If we did not even have priorities or a mandate, this government would still provide services to the residents of the Northwest Territories.
Those jobs are being given to an Inuvik company. There is nothing in regard to that bridge, which they stopped work on, so I want the Premier to identify which companies are working in my riding. That's the first I heard of a hospital being built. There are no hospitals being built. Give me clarification. All I am asking is what's happening in the short term. All the government jobs are taken in our communities. Nothing is going on. That is why we have such a big income support problem that we have going on, because there is nothing going on.
It's a good thing we have Ministers all around us talking to things. I believe the Member had mentioned not only his riding but the Sahtu in his statement. The health centre is going into Tulita at this point. Inuvik is having a long-term care facility built at this time. To have a whole list of every project and every contractor, that, I do not have. It probably is something that he should give notice of so that we can compile that information. However, I will commit to getting a list of every major project -- not every small project; that is too cumbersome -- every major infrastructure project going on in the riding and, the list of those contractors, I will supply.
Madam Premier, you brought up a 48-bed facility going up in Inuvik, which takes our elders out of our community. I need help in regard to keeping our elders home, because we want to take care of our own elders. We don't need them just shipped off to Inuvik, where my people, the people who I represent, can't go see their loved ones. The only time they are going to go see them is if they are on medical or somewhere, because cost of travel is too high, and then when they bring them home for a funeral. That is the problem. I need help in regard to getting a long-term facility in Ulukhaktok, so would the Premier commit to that instead of putting 48 beds, which we already have 25 in Inuvik, taking elders out of our community?
I believe it is almost two sets of questions, but I will reply to you on the question. I am not going to stand here and commit that I will have a long-term facility in every single community. I would love to see that, again, just as I would love to have a house for every person. In honesty, I would probably put the house first: Maslow's hierarchy; food, clothing, and shelter. Our seniors are important. Our elders are important. We recognize that. We have a shortage of health professionals; we know that. We need to look at a recruitment program; we know that.
I can't stand here and say that, within this government, I would guarantee that there would be a long-term care facility in every community. What I can say is that this government is committed to looking at whatever policies we can do, that we can change, so that we can make it better for elders to stay in our homes. Because we do know that the most humane thing that we can do for our elders is to keep them close to their families and their friends as long as possible, but there are situations, times, when elders have to be shipped from homes because the care is not there in the communities.
Again, I wish we could do better, but at this point, in this economy, I think that we have to be realistic and honest and say that we don't have the staffing, and we don't have the funding at this time, so we are willing to look at whatever we can do in the meantime.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Final supplementary, Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All I am asking is for the government, I guess, to relook at the 48 beds in Inuvik. They have 25 beds. We have a need in our smaller communities, such as Paulatuk, Tuktoyaktuk, and Ulukhaktok. Ulukhaktok is a priority. I have elders sitting in a long-term care facility who are not seeing family, and it is hard on them. Too much hardship going on, all the time. Everything is fly in, fly out, on the coastal communities.
The people of Ulukhaktok, Paulatuk, and Sachs Harbour need to have something to grasp on instead of taking them and pulling our elders out. I'm just urging the Premier and the Cabinet to relook at that Inuvik facility. They have 25 beds. They don't need another 48. That's 200 more jobs they have to try to fill, which is good for Inuvik, but not for my riding of Nunakput. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Unfortunately, I can't commit to saying that I would stop the project in Inuvik. I mean, it would be very inappropriate for a Premier to stand here and make a commitment when there has been no research or assessment on the need, so I will not make a commitment to stop a project without the research done.
Like I said, there is not a Cabinet Member here who wants to take seniors or elders out of our communities. Every single Cabinet Member understands the needs of our community, our seniors, and our elders, but we have limited resources. Resources, not only money, but also capacity of staffing and qualifications. We have to look at all of those as a holistic view before we make decisions on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "2019-2023 Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, honourable Premier. Tabling of documents. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following documents: a letter dated January 16, 2020, to the Honourable Premier from Chief Wilbert Kochon of Behdzi Ahda First Nation of Colville Lake, regarding problems in current self-government negotiations; and, in addition, a letter dated January 17, 2020, to the Honourable Premier from the president of Nihtat Gwich'in Council, Jozef Carnogursky, regarding implementation of UNDRIP.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that the Speaker be authorized to set such sitting days and hours as the Speaker, after consultation, deems fit to assist with the business before the House.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Any abstentions? The motion is carried.
---Carried
Orders of the day for Monday, February 10, 2020, at 1:30 p.m.:
Prayer
Ministers' Statements
Members' Statements
Returns to Oral Questions
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Acknowledgements
Oral Questions
Written Questions
Returns to Written Questions
Replies to the Commissioner's Address
Petitions
Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills
Reports of Standing and Special Committees
Tabling of Documents
Notices of Motion
Motions
Notices of Motion for First Reading of Bills
First Reading of Bills
Second Reading of Bills
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Report of Committee of the Whole
Third Reading of Bills
Orders of the Day
This House stands adjourned until Monday, February 10, 2020, at 1:30 p.m.
---ADJOURNMENT
The House adjourned at 11:58 a.m.
