Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently, the -- I have the information before me, and I have -- I'm just in the process of reviewing what will be shared with the Members, and at that time I will table that in the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the council -- the public administrator has all the powers the governing council had. You know, and I think that's the one thing that the PA also has, is he has the expertise to be able to work and create the plan that everybody wants to see. And so the -- before what was happening was the governing council was expecting this plan to come, you know, and I've heard from many of the regional wellness council chairs that they, you know -- as this deficit grew over the last many years, you know, they continue to be wanting a plan on how they were going to deal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not familiar with the -- what the Member is referring to, but what I can say is that just even in this last few months I've had meetings with, you know, with physicians, with the medical -- NWT Medical Association. The PA has met with them, the CEO has met with them. You know, so we are trying to understand what, you know, some of the highlighted issues are with primary care reform and work with the physicians through that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within our system, I hear what the Member is saying, however, there are doctors assigned to the primary care teams that are in Yellowknife, so that's the structure that we work around now. You know, if we look back over the years of how health care was provided and basically clinics were -- we went from a private health care model where doctors set up their own private clinics and, you know, took on patients, whereas right now all of the physicians in our system are now contracted to the NTHSSA and they are -- you know, they -- within that department, they...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to take that question on notice. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I cannot commit to a date right now. Things change rapidly. I may -- you know, maybe it will be sooner; maybe it will be at the beginning. There might be travel issues. There might be -- you know, there might be more information that is required. So to be able to come up with a plan to be able to present timelines, I will -- as I said, I will follow up and I will get back to the Members, and I will hopefully have a plan before the end of March. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did say last week that I would -- you know, I'm meeting with the PA. I'm looking at, you know, his -- the timeline that he has that he's reviewing. You know, there's many regions within the Northwest Territories. He's here in Yellowknife doing the work that he's doing here. He still has to meet with the regional authority -- like, the regional health authorities. And so where I'm at right now is that hopefully we'll have a plan to bring forward to Cabinet and then to Regular Members in March. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as NTHSSA, you know, when we look at a lot of our different departments within our ministries, NTHSSA is arm's length and, therefore, the public administrator will be working with the NTHSSA with whatever the budget is for the next coming year. And then when we do have that, that's when that will be tabled. That is the process, and you know, I know that this year it seems like there's a different approach in the process and with part of the work that we've been trying to do within, you know, making sure that we're staying within our limits and spending...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I'm working with the PA, once I have -- what is he doing right now is he's analyzing, he's working -- like I said, he's working with the regional wellness chairs, getting their feedback. He is doing the work that he needs to do right now with the CEO, understanding the complexities of our organization, and he will be coming back with a plan. And as soon as that plan comes back to Cabinet, I will be sharing it and discussing it with the Regular Members so that we're all 19 members in this House moving forward on a better plan on how we are going to make...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I hear what the Member is saying, and I too have had these conversations as soon as I became the Minister. However, before there was this -- the bereavement pot of money that sits within the health and social services to assist with low income families, you know, to assist with caskets and some funeral costs; however, over the years, this has been sole sourced, you know, and so there were issues coming up about how in procurement that this is not fair. I guess I don't -- I wasn't part of any -- most of those discussions. However, now as the Health and...