Robert Hawkins

I'm okay, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the Minister of health said she has conversations with the Minister of health, I hope she wasn't having an out of body experience. And that's meant as a joke, Mr. Speaker, okay, in the nicest way. Because I believe in the health Minister. As a matter of fact, I know the health Minister has the ability and knowledge, rah, rah, rah, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I didn't talk about any of that stuff about people running around. I'm talking about being efficient with our money, Mr. Speaker. I'm talking about value for money. Instead of sending people daily to Edmonton for...

Oh, that's okay. I mean, what I'm getting at is there's a big division there, and it seems like five people are there, and they're working with a bunch of people. And I would almost go to say is would the Minister agree that policy and regulations could be worked on, designed, reviewed, and talked about anywhere in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With two CFOs, dozens of managers, directors, even bookkeepers for goodness sakes I'm sure, it's not a policy issue. It's a numbers issue. Why doesn't the department look at hiring someone specific to identify efficiencies with respect to costs? If health is so expensive, you'd be thinking health would be leading the charge to find the most efficient way to do things. And, Mr. Speaker, I believe in the department of health. Thank you.

Does the office work in isolation by itself as a nuclear unit, or does it have a support team that it works day to day with, say, like, for example, a specific division in headquarters?

Mr. Speaker, equitable access to health care is in the front of minds of all Northerners as we look to our families, and we always want the best for them. This includes specialized support services, such as specialists to get testing and treatment, Mr. Speaker. We all know delays cost lives, they cost money, they create frustration and inefficiencies, and this trouble Northerners far and wide. So whether you're in the Mackenzie Delta or you're in the Sahtu, Mr. Speaker, people get frustrated.

For example, delays in specialized services because your government chooses to send our team of experts...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just for the record, how many people are currently working in that office in Inuvik? Because I was there on the weekend. Although it was the weekend, so it was closed, but the sign sticks out like a sore thumb.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to build off in a different direction than my colleague for Inuvik Boot Lake and on the last question or the last matter he raised.

Mr. Chairman, I think in some ways, maybe, the question should be what trigger or what needs to change to reestablish those positions there? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I want to take a different approach with this. And so if I remember correctly, there was a correction facility built in Inuvik even when -- and it was targeted for youth, in other words. And it might have been a good project from its inception, so the genesis of the project is, hey, let's provide some stuff in Inuvik. And that's okay, and that's good. But then if I remember correctly -- again, I'm stressing if I remember it -- the Youth Justice Act changed and the facility at the time was called Arctic Tern. So they marched ahead even though they knew...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To kick off debate, I'll keep my comments short. Everything I said in the motion was a collaborative approach from my colleagues. We are united in the context of understanding that we know our communities need more help. Some have not got the funding they've been struggling with despite the challenges they must step up and deal with. At this point, I'll close my comments early, and I'll use my chance at the end of the motion to be much further detailed. But that said, I want to thank my colleagues to date for their insight in getting behind the motion, recognizing how...