Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the regional health authorities were dissolved and the one superboard was created in the Northwest Territories, I recall the message was to the Northwest Territories it was to streamline services, to share resources. And one of the main reasons was to be able to save costs. Well, Mr. Speaker, this is not proven to be the case.
Mr. Speaker, our health authority budget has increased every year since its inception, and it does not look like we'll ever be able to work within its budget. We have heard the Minister explain what the drivers are, and we see no way around these issues.
Mr. Speaker, we have increasing addiction issues. We have increasing mental health issues. We have increased the needs of CFS for our families, and our staffing issues increased where we have shortage of nurses, shortage of doctors. You know, we're turning to using agency nurses, which is a huge increase on our budget. Mr. Speaker, we as a government really need to look at this decision and maybe reconsider was this ever really a good decision. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Members' statements. Member for Nahendeh.
