Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I am definitely game to sit down with the Minister any time. One thing that I routinely have heard lately from my constituents is that the government seemed to very easily find the extra million dollars to cover the taxation error for the Stanton Territorial Hospital. It was a very expensive oversight that could have almost doubled the amount of funding that the mandate proposes to include to close the municipal funding gap over the next four years. I am wondering if the Minister will at least commit to including the rate of inflation in the $5-million mandate commitment for closing the funding gap? Thank you.
Unfortunately, I will have to follow up with the Member. Looking at the $1.5 million that we had paid out for a grant in lieu of property taxes, that came across as a surprise as the Stanton Hospital was constructed, but we did not forecast and we did not budget for that increase in property taxes. However, I will follow up with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. The medical travel expense claim form in its current format is not user-friendly, and it has been reported to me that they are hard to understand and to fill out, causing unnecessary delays. I have it here in front of me, and I am looking at it. I walked through with one of my constituents. It was a very difficult process. I think it would have been far easier to go take their claims and go to H&R Block and go fill it out, but I don't think we want to do that with our constituents to do these forms. I think we should make it more user-friendly and easier to go through and streamlined. My question to the Minister is: can the Minister commit to having this form reviewed and redesigned? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Member for asking this question. Medical travel in the Northwest Territories, it is a big program. The medical travel office has not previously heard concerns about the expense claimed from clients, however, the form serves two purposes: number one, the medical travel office needs certain information about the expenses being claimed to ensure expenses align with travel to an approved appointment in order to authorize payment. That is number one. Number two is: the Department of Finance also needs that form as part of the backup payment under the government's accounting system. I am open to meeting with the Member to hear any suggestions he may have to simplify the form. However, the information on the form needs to be collected in enough detail to be financially accountable to standards and to satisfy also the requirements of the non-insured health benefits program, as well, as well as third parties. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you for the response from the Minister. Again, not quite what I wanted to hear, but at least I am glad she is open to some dialogue to listen to my suggestions. I do have some suggestions, but that will be for another time. You did mention a new accounting software. I believe that she is referring to SAM that a lot of departments are moving on towards. I know that a lot of my constituents are complaining about some of the delays that are happening with this new software. With this new transition, how long can the current claimants expect to wait for their claims to be reimbursed?
The Member is correct. On January 27, 2020, the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority had transitioned to the GNWT service accountability and management, which is called SAM. This brought six of our different financial systems carried over from the previous regional health authorities to align to a coordinated system. Prior to this change, payments were processed from within the health authority, and now, the GNWT's financial and employment shared systems, FESS, centres with the Department of Finance process payments. The centres provide Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authorities with a convenient one-stop shop for processing all its financial transactions. This is the same system used by other departments within the GNWT. This change is meant to provide more consistency in the payment processing and better financial information across the Health and Social Services centre.
As with any system implementation, the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority and the Department of Finance are currently going through a period of change as with this move, there are 1,500 employees that have transitioned into this new system. New process, new systems take time to refine, and staff to require time to adjust this new way of working. During this adjustment period, we expect there are going to be delays, but our staff is working hard to ensure that the target time for processing meets within the 30 days.
Thank you, Minister, for that very detailed answer. On the form here, it says, four to six weeks. I guess I didn't really quite get an answer. In addition to this four to six weeks that it states on the form, is there an additional delay for claimants?
Sorry. Is the Member asking if the process is within the six week period? Can I just ask for clarification, please?
My apologies. I will just repeat myself here again. The form here says, four to six weeks in its current state. With the new implementation of SAM, is this going to be in addition to the four to six weeks on top of this that claimants will have to wait? Another 30 days?
As I slowly glance over to the Minister of Finance to just seek clarification as the processing now comes through the Department of Finance, I don't believe that is correct. From the time that the claims get into our system, it is within that 30 days. If that is not correct, I can clarify with the Member.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is: this form was quite difficult to get, and it wasn't readily accessible. Will the Minister commit to having this form in electronic form, easier access for the public because I didn't see it, and that is for potential claimants and also have a quick tutorial just to make sure, probably a start to our dialogue to make it a little easier, so have a quick tutorial to how to use this form? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to thank the Member again for this suggestion. The form is usually provided prior to travel as it is required to be signed by the clinician as confirmation proof of attendance to their appointment. The form is available at any medical travel office or at all health centres throughout the Northwest Territories. However, based on the feedback, I will advise the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority to post the medical travel expense claim to their website to ensure that there is one available online. In addition, if clients have difficulty completing their expense form, I would encourage them to reach out to the health centre or to the regional medical travel office for support. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed towards the Health Minister. I am not certain that the health Minister is aware of ongoing problems with healthcare in the small communities. However, does the health Minister have any aspirations to fixing the healthcare system? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Member brings up a concern about the health, in general, across the Northwest Territories. I do want to talk about a program we are doing. It is a primary healthcare reform, so it is an initiative that is advancing culturally, safety, and relationship-based care as priorities of the Health and Social Services system where clients have better access to services closer and in their communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Does the department conduct annual evaluations of healthcare services provided by each health centre?
I am not aware of whether we provide evaluations on each of our health centres, but I can look into it and get back to the Member.
My final question to the Minister: does the department conduct investigations into complaints made against health centre staff in terms of the treatment received by patients?
Absolutely, we do. I can get back to the Member on the process of being able to have this looked into.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement earlier, I said that I hope by the end of four years I can go renew my driver's licence on an evening or weekend in Yellowknife. My first question to the Minister of Infrastructure is: what are the current barriers to extending the hours of the DMV? I know that nothing is simple around here, but can she just identify some of the barriers?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member's acknowledgement about the difficulty of sometimes changing a process that has been going on a while. They have tried in the past to change some hours or to privatize the office here, and it didn't work well.
Some of the issues in which they were saying was the problem was that the timing and having people working late was leading to situations of harassment and even stalking. If that was to occur, there needs to be a response team available to the office that is located there. That would then mean extending security hours and others. It would also mean to extend the hours of people who could do the special approvals or overrides and authorizations. It is not just those three people sitting at the front or one person sitting at the front; there is other staffing that would have to be amended.
There were things around even just the building maintenance that would then have to change in order to have the extension of the hours. A big one was also in dealing with the union collective agreement, which I am not the Minister for, so I won't speak to. However, there would need to be negotiations and changes to that contract in order to extend the hours. Currently, we only have two funded issuing positions and one supervisor position. Any of these issues would not allow a six-day-a-week issuing without hiring additional staff, and as we have all heard many, many times in the last little while, we have no money. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
That was quite the list of challenges to simply being open for evenings and weekends. I do believe there is a solution here, and I do believe that I can work with the Minister to find one, even if we were to close Mondays and open Saturdays. That would be the exact same amount of working hours. Perhaps that is one of the solutions.
I am going to spend the next four years trying to work through each of these issues. I would like to begin with the collective agreement. The Minister is correct that collective bargaining is the department of the board of management, of which she is a member, and it is chaired by the Minister of Finance. Ultimately, each department brings towards to form the GNWT's bargaining mandate, which then meets with the respective union.
My question for the Minister of Infrastructure: is she willing to write to the Minister of Finance that the Department of Infrastructure, in the future, would like the flexibility to extend those hours at the department of motor vehicles?
It is my understanding that it is not my place to be lobbying my colleague, the Minister, in that manner, so my answer to you would be no.
That is completely the role of a Minister in their department. There are a number of schedules in our collective agreement, specific cases for corrections and nurses. Yesterday, we had a conversation about homecare workers and allowing them to work more flexible hours so that they can serve elders outside the hours of 9:00 to 5:00.
The Minister of Finance does not know the on-the-ground operations of every department. I am not asking that the Minister of Infrastructure commit that she can do this. We can't commit anything to change in the collective bargaining agreement. That is why it is bargaining. I am asking the Minister of Infrastructure to write on behalf of her department to the Minister of Finance asking for the opportunity for more flexible hours at the department of motor vehicles to be pursued during bargaining.
The Member is correct in that there is a lot of conversation that will go on within the Cabinet and which I would very much be okay with having a discussion with my colleague about your email. I have to say I was actually quite intrigued when I received your questions and did look at this as maybe an opportunity of something we could change. However, as I learned the processes of the GNWT, I understand that there is a process that has to be followed. Yes, I want to streamline and change processes so that they are more efficient. However, at this point, with the knowledge I have, I do not want to say that I would put a formal writing request in to my colleague.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. In my statement today, I spoke about the work that the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation project, or CAPE, has done to look at ways to reduce alcohol harm. CAPE identified a group of best practices, and I wonder for the Minister could tell us what role, if any, the GNWT had in developing this work. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member. I was able to print out the CAPE report. Unfortunately, the Northwest Territories scored very low. We only have 33 percent. As part of the report, it came under 11 policy domains. I want to speak a little bit about the report, because it is very disturbing, and it is something that our department needs to improve on. I do want to talk about some of the things that we are doing.
In 2016, the GNWT created an opioid task force, and recently, under the mandate, the task force group has been expanded to include alcohol and drugs. That is one part of it. Last month, the group renamed as the territorial committee on problematic substances. Its mandate is to develop a comprehensive response to the ongoing issues related to substance abuse in the Northwest Territories.
One of the deliverables for the Northwest Territories will be in the form of a whole-of-government alcohol strategy. It has already been identified in the CAPE, as it is an evidence-based review, as having a specific territorial strategy to discuss alcohol-related harms in a coordinated approach that will have a measurable impact.
The whole-of-government approach is 11 policy domains, as I mentioned, as part of the CAPE report, and many of them fall just outside of the Health and Social Services, hence the importance of having a territorial approach.
The plan is for the committee to report to the chair of the deputy minister's committee on child and family. As this is an inaugural meeting, it was identified to the committee that the development of an alcohol strategy would require community input through active engagement and determine the scope of work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the Minister was able to share some good information there. I just wondered, in particular, to repeat my first question, what role the GNWT played in the development of the CAPE report.
Yesterday, I mentioned that there was a research RFP out. This is a preliminary research and discussion paper towards the development of an NWT alcohol strategy and was recently tendered. The results of this discussion paper will be presented in the full-day workshop that is held next month, March 12th, at the Chief Drygeese Centre. The purpose of that workshop is to set the direction for a whole-of-government approach towards the development of an NWT strategy. This will be led by our Department of Health and Social Services.
The next step during that process is to be able to talk about the CAPE report, as there were recommendations under the 11 domains.
I am going to give up on that question, and I am going to go on now to the failing grade the Minister has referenced, that we got a failing grade, as most jurisdictions did. What are the barriers that government is facing right now to developing better alcohol policies, as outlined in the CAPE report?
There are a lot of barriers as a result of this report. I mean, it basically told us we are failing under the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation. Our department is working with and receiving funding from Indigenous Services Canada so that we can support this problematic substance abuse, and we are looking at hiring a special advisor for this substance abuse. We will continue to be tasked with looking and coordinating the alcohol strategy in the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At times in the past, when a new alcohol policy has been discussed that would change pricing, change accessibility, and so on, there has been pushback from the public. My question for the Minister is: how is she going to create public support for better alcohol policies? Thank you.
As I mentioned, we are doing the research now. We will be coming together and hiring a position to be able to oversee this project. It is right, you know; we talk within this government that it is not just a government approach. We need to reach out and involve our Indigenous partners and other stakeholders in the Northwest Territories to be able to have positive results as we work through the alcohol strategy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] There is a major bridge on our lands. It is called Frank Channel Bridge. Without that bridge, we know that we won't be able to transport a lot of things, and it is really old. I have questions for Infrastructure. [End of translation]
[Microphone not on] ...part of the North Slave highway lifeline to the rest of the territory, and also to the south. It is 50-plus years old and badly aging. A question to the Minister of Infrastructure: where does a new Frank Channel Bridge rank in the capital plan of the Minister's infrastructure department? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Infrastructure.
