Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, I have to admit, I think the contradiction in two answers still lies before the House. The Minister will tell us that she is looking for suggestions. It is almost as if she is pointing at us for those suggestions. Mr. Speaker, time and time again Members have said, as well as the public who is here today have said, consider this. Additional taxation, look for efficiencies, find another way.

Mr. Speaker, where is the analysis in answering those questions? Where is the proof to show that they have been considered? Where is the proof that the Minister has taken the time to listen to...

Thank you for that, Mr. Deputy Premier. Mr. Speaker, will the Deputy Premier be making a recommendation that this is an initiative that binds this Cabinet as well as potentially binds the future Cabinets from making those types of substantial decisions going forward? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my Member’s statement today, we have the legacy of the Deh Cho Bridge, the legacy of the board reform, and certainly the legacy of the direction that is applied to supplementary health benefits. As I said the day before, these are all issues that need to be discussed and reviewed; that is not the issue. The issue is substantial directions, as I have said today. Mr. Speaker, when can we expect the government to move on this initiative beyond the point of discussion or review or thinking about it? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With a quick glance coming into the Assembly, I can see a constituent, Mrs. Ruth Spence in the gallery and it looks like we have a recent addition of Mr. and Mrs. Larry and Cappy Elkin. Welcome to the Assembly today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 8 on our agenda, oral questions. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent denied.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at one time there was a Compassionate Travel Policy and it was stopped. It could well be suited for particular cases like this. Would the Minister reinvestigate it from that point of view, from a compassionate point of view? I mean, all I’m asking her to do, and I want to be absolutely clear, Mr. Speaker, is I’d like her to do an analysis and we could cost it out and take it from a compassionate point of view when these situations are very dire, as the old Compassionate Travel Policy allowed. Would the Minister reconsider this under that circumstance? Thank...

I’m not sure that’s necessarily right. The reason I say that is because one policy is great when the questions are simple. But in this particular case and other cases that have been presented by this House, our questions aren’t typically black and white. They require a lot of melding and forming to and fro. The Health Minister is correct, we do have a Medical Travel Policy, but people have been refused even with doctors’ notes. That’s why I’m suggesting that could an analysis of this particular situation, which has not been done, be considered at this time and we could examine what the true...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to use my Member’s statement today to further talk about the transplant policy I raised before. The reason I want to talk about it is because certainly things aren’t going very well. I think our Territory, I believe in it very strongly and I believe in the passion people have who work here and develop policy, but as I talked about it before, we need respite for mothers or perhaps fathers that are sitting by their child’s side through these horrible processes, but we don’t have a policy that occasionally unites the family through those special visits.

I can tell...

Mr. Speaker, this isn’t about one family, and I want to make sure that that’s absolutely clear. You know, it may be about one family to the Minister, but as I proposed it, and the Minister has discussed with me that there are other families that this could apply to, so you can’t say it’s one family only.

I’m talking about when your loved one dies in Edmonton and we have to leave their family here in Yellowknife or we have to leave them in Inuvik, we have to leave them in Fort Smith, we have to leave them wherever, that we don’t unite the family. We don’t have any kind of policy. And that does...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the House I talked during my Member’s statement about our Territory needing a transplant policy that is clear, that can help northern families keep the family unit strong and united during those darker periods of life that no one certainly wishes upon them. My question to the Minister of Health and Social Services in the past is, would you look at this and it has been an outright no, feeling that we don’t have the money or whether the existing plan doesn’t really allow it or whatnot. That’s not so important as the question today, which is simply if the Minister of...