Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, each teacher has a curriculum with an evaluation process, and each student in the Northwest Territories has certain markers that they have to meet in order to graduate in the Northwest Territories, certain courses that they have to take. I do want to acknowledge the Member's concerns with education in the Northwest Territories and the action plan that stemmed from the concerns that were raised by the OAG in the previous Assembly. Those concerns did stem from education outcomes in the Northwest Territories, and that action plan identified 30 action items and the Government of the Northwest Territories has completed 25 of them, many of which spoke to things like multi-aged classrooms in small communities as well as working with and affording additional training to principals in small communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back in about 20, 30 years ago, when a student needed help, there was a special needs class that they were placed in so that they can receive this help. I would like to know if the Minister would look at developing a program for the select few students. We have very limited students who are capable of going to post-secondary school but they're kept in classes where they're distracted and kept back. And I'm wondering if the department will look at developing a program for the select few students who are capable of going to post-secondary institutions and providing them with proper level of education without any distractions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have so many students that are capable of achieving education through post-secondary. We have so many students that have so much potential in the Northwest Territories, and I would want so many students to be able to achieve that potential and continue to work towards it. Part of that action plan that I spoke of did have some deliverables in it for things like training afforded -- additional training afforded to our classroom and education assistants. And that puts more people in the classroom able to work specifically with students that either are struggling or need additional supports and services. And that is something that we did, I've spoken in this House before, about the 24 graduates that we saw through our partnership with Douglas College. And ensuring that all students have access to not only post-secondary but access to knowing they can is incredibly important to me. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A few months ago, the Minister was able to come to the Mackenzie Delta to do a Minister's tour but when we arrived in McPherson, there was a death in the community, so we didn't actually do very much within the community. I was wondering if the Minister would commit to a tour of the Mackenzie Delta while schools are in session and see how the students interact together and students and teachers interact within the classroom setting? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the hospitality of the Member and his community leadership was bar none. Having the opportunity to return to the Mackenzie Delta would give me great pride and great pleasure, and I would love the opportunity to have that conversation with the Member to see when our schedules might match up. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. The first question is, does the Minister acknowledge that the way the primary care reform has been carried out has led to negative impacts, both on continuity of care for patients and negative impacts on practitioners' efficiency, morale, and ability to see patients? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with no added resources in primary care, the delivery model has been reorganized with the intent to deliver a more equitable access to service aligning the restructuring with the transition to Liwego'ati proved to be relatively a seamless process. The ten teams involved in the relocation would primarily be absorbed to fulfill the additional staffing requirements resulting in the potential dissolution of several teams. Blaming the way the reform and operation changes that are happening for all the negativity and reduced efficiency overlooks the historical context and the challenges of moving services into the new building while staffing the downtown clinic without adding any new services. Throughout this process, all team members were kept informed, engaged, throughout numerous meetings, discussions, as much as leadership could manage that. And so therefore, you know, I understand with any change, comes -- you know, there might be -- there may be questions and there may be things that people don't agree with and don't like, but this is a new change. They only moved into the -- just recently moved into the Liwego'ati and they are just recently starting the four teams. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is the Minister monitoring the rate of physicians, nurses, MPs, LPNs who have been terminating their contracts with the health authority over the past year, and is she taking steps to find out why they are leaving? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, the Department of Health and Social Services, the Hay River Health and Social Services, the NTHSSA, and the TCSA, all complete quarterly vacancy reviews to identify current and future active vacancy needs in the budgeted positions.
Mr. Speaker, along with the vacancy review, exit interviews continue to be conducted with staff across the health and social services system. Data metrics and trends based on their feedback have been used to synthesize into six overarching themes and drivers. The results have been used to inform the creation of the employee engagement strategy and development of the employee retention programs and initiatives. And as of June 30th, 2024, the vacancy rate for physicians within the NTHSSA was 48.6 compared to March 31st which was 48.7. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My next question is just can the Minister commit to providing data to this House on the rate of health care practitioners, so that's physicians, nurses, NPs, and LPNs, and other staff, who have been terminating their contracts with the NTHSSA over the past year? And I would emphasize that I'd like to see the stats for primary care in particular but then extending to other units. Can the Minister commit to providing this data in written form? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure of how detailed, like, the vacancy -- the vacancy information that we have, but I can commit to providing the most recent vacancy information that we have. But I'd like to say, however, Mr. Speaker, that in doing exit interviews, you know, staff are choosing to leave due to many different issues in primary care. Many are departing for sick family members that live outside the NWT that they've disclosed or reasons related to family and child care. Mr. Speaker, there have been two NPs that have left primary care since the move -- or there have been no NPs that have left. We actually hired two NPs in the prime care since the move. But the largest group that we're seeing that move around in the health care are the program assistants, and they are entry level positions in that team, and they have more options to move around in the system and take different roles as they see they arise. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The final question is are steps being taken to reduce the administrative burden on practitioners, such as physicians, which the burden has unfortunately increased due to the primary care reforms, so that they can work to their full scope and do what they do best which is caring for patients? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a lot of effort has been put into improving efficiency, and everyone is part of this work. Physicians are on the new YK primary care reform regional committee which is guiding the reform efforts. This committee has created two working groups, both including physicians. One group is focused on clinical information management, and this -- and is working to reduce administrative burdens and streamlining process allowing practitioners and nurses to spend more time with patients. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, residents are concerned about ice roads given changing climate. How is the Department of Infrastructure currently mitigating the impacts of climate change on our winter and ice roads? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the last several seasons of the ice road certainly have been very challenging. They're starting later, and the roads are deteriorating sooner. As a result, the department has taken a number of measures. For one, and in fact I believe the Monfwi riding is one where they are leading in terms of having studies and better studies done of the permafrost of exactly what's going on to understand what's going on with our roadway systems. We are trying to get out and get the roads in earlier. They are able to try to build up faster so that they can move more equipment, more fuel, more things on a shorter season. And, Mr. Speaker, I can say that, particularly in light of what's happening in the Sahtu right now, we're also -- wanted to make sure we are doing everything we can to maximize the efficiency of the drivers and the trucks, so wanting to improve our working relationship in the private sector, reaching out to the mines -- we've obviously been doing this for many years -- all in an effort to make sure that we maximize the road time that we do have to get resupply in. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the information. So what is the average cost of building and maintaining the winter road to Gameti from January through March annually? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't know the per kilometer cost of the winter road offhand. I certainly can get that. There's different costs for some of the different roads as well, so I'll make sure that I'm getting the one for that stretch, and I'll commit to get that back to the Member here quickly. Thank you.
Thank you. What planning has occurred to begin to develop an all-season road to the community of Gameti by the Department of Infrastructure?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, an all-season road to Gameti is not currently in the Infrastructure acquisition plan for the immediate future for the Government of the Northwest Territories. I'm certainly alive to the concerns the Member is raising and, again, you know, we're seeing what kinds of challenges we have but at this point, Gameti is not in line for an all-season road. They are still relying on the winter roads system and air freight as a backup. We are right now working with the Tlicho in terms of trying to make sure that that winter road gets put in, and the costs of that are, indeed, quite significant. So for now, we're just going to try and make sure the systems that we do have in place are actually working to the best of the abilities that we have. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With that in mind, what she just said, can the Minister commit to a feasibility study or cost benefit analysis for an all-weather road -- access road to Gameti? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I'm not going to make that commitment here today. Again, I'm live to the challenges of transportation infrastructure in the North and the fact that we are challenged with our transportation infrastructure in the North, but doing a feasibility study at this point, given the challenges that we're having and given that we're right now trying to get the Mackenzie Valley Highway done, it may well be that we're in a situation where we want to get one thing done and then we can move on to looking at the next. But at this point, that's not a project that is on the near horizon. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And further to my Member's statement, I have questions for the Minister of Infrastructure. On the Deh Cho Bridge, what caused the damage to the Deh Cho Bridge? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, back in August of 2023, it was noticed that there appeared to be a broken cable on this particular bridge. They had engineers on site within 48 hours, and they were able to identify fairly early on what they thought was happening was in fact a metallurgical problem, a problem with the materials themselves. So a number of -- they took the materials out. They pulled the cable off the bridge, took it for testing, wanted to of course to make sure that they knew for sure what had gone wrong, and it was confirmed that there was no defect in the design or the engineering or the construction; there was something wrong in the metal that was actually used to cast this particular piece. And so as a result of that, not only did they fix that one, Mr. Speaker, but they fixed all 24 bars just to be sure since they were all cast from the same bit of metal. Thank you.
Thank you, thank you for that. Yes, there was different -- people were saying maybe a truck hit it or something but I didn't realize this happened. So why is the repair to the bridge taking so long at this point? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to speak to this question. I think there has been a lot of concern and rumor and frustration on this but in fact, as I said, it's -- we're really only just barely over a year since the issue was identified, and what they've done is gone back to the original constructor of the bridge. Rather than try to find someone new to fit themselves in, they've gone back to them to recast these pieces again. They had to, in fact -- well, to recast the entire 24 bars. So that's now been done. It's been happening by this other company. At the same time, Infrastructure did go out, we simultaneously procured the part of getting it built back in. And so with that, they've actually -- by doing it that way, they're able to speed up the overall process of getting folks on site. There was a bit of a delay in terms of getting the material -- or the bridge components shipped here. I am told that they are due here -- they're en route, they're due here in early November. And the best I can say is in terms of a delay, I think early on, Mr. Speaker, people were saying an estimate of having it rebuilt this fall. Fall, of course, can be September. But, really, there's only been a slight delay in that delivery, and so I'm happy to say that they're en route, they're expected to be here in November. Thank you.
Thank you for that. Thank you. So the cable -- the cable will be repaired in November. When will the bridge be fully functional? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was just looking for an exact date in any of my materials, but I can say that if it's here at the beginning of November and, as I said, we're looking to mobilize the construction at the same time, folks should be able to be using it this calendar year. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Final supplementary. Member from Deh Cho.
Thank you. Well, okay, so might have to wait until next year though. Maybe, hopefully not. What is the total cost of the repairs to the Deh Cho Bridge; what is the total cost expected to be? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I expect that the total cost of this will come in in and around $7 million. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's one further area I wish to raise with respect to my earlier statement and my questions, and it's built around transparency. And first, I want to highlight and acknowledge the effort to put something in writing by a concerned citizen. It is a difficult undertaking putting your name on something, forwarding information that you believe to be honest and true, and I want to acknowledge that. But at the same token, as well this matter's being discussed in the fray of public behind the scenes and those people who will be questioned is this true or untrue when the facts eventually emerge one way or the other, what type of transparency is going to be given once some type of determination of result after the investigation is done to ensure that all those who are talking behind the scenes or in front of the scenes or during the scenes, or whatever the case may be, are treated fairly and respectfully? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, you know, if this is a CFS -- if there are any CFS investigations, those are children that we are talking about. Those are highly confidential, sensitive investigations. If there are criminal -- you know, things that go forward, then they go to the RCMP and criminal charges would be filed, and those would be in the courts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, when people in the public are talking about this particular matter and when it's been investigated but there's no result in one way or the other whether the matter has been assessed and found not wanting or the matter has been assessed and found wanting and further steps, there's no public airing or clarification on this particular issue. So to be clear, Mr. Speaker -- and the last point I want to hone in on -- no one wants any names issued in this particular case, so that's not what I'm after. I'm saying how do we clear the air by ending the conversation by saying it's been investigated and it's been found not wanting or wanting and further steps will be -- as required will proceed. So how do we clear the air? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do not air or disclose private matters. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, when you're a funding agent and you're doing an investigation under the public guise of the public service in the process of -- you know, that falls into the child and family services area, don't you think there's some level of responsibility for clearing the air at the end of an investigation? Would the Minister comment on that? Thank you.
