Robert Hawkins

Thank you kindly, Mr. Speaker. On one hand the Minister will say in this House that the supplementary health benefit changes are not about reducing costs. The question still stands: what services are provided within the Department of Health and Social Services that examine the cost of our health dollars to ensure that they are being used wisely?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Co-payment is a reduction in services. Mr. Speaker, when you grandfather people, that’s a reduction of services to the people who follow after them. Mr. Speaker, I’m trying to understand from the one-sided point of view of this full evaluation, as I’ve been trying to highlight, we can save money so we can make sure we don’t have to make these changes. I’m trying to understand how come the Minister keeps defending that there are no changes when we keep highlighting that there are. Thank you.

I keep telling the Minister we’re leaving thousands of dollars on the table, whether it’s through WCB… We charge through WCB but we don’t charge through federal programs where they provide individual insurance. Mr. Speaker, I’m asking the Minister what do we do to make sure we’re collecting all the fees and services, and I’ve pointed out whether it’s insurance through, for example, auto insurance, like I said last week, whether it’s getting full payment from Nunavut on services we provide to them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe the Minister is completely incorrect in us being able to bill insurance companies for services that they are rightly responsible for. I’d like to hear the Minister on how she defines reduction of services for supplementary health benefits is not considered cutting services.

Mr. Speaker, we charge WCB for cost and injuries, so why don’t we consider that? Mr. Speaker, we send people out to Nunavut and don’t get paid for the contracts. We know that for a fact. Mr. Speaker, we spend at least $200 a minute in health care in our Northwest Territories, and the reality is…

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement today I was raising issue with what I define as a poor usage of health care dollars, and I certainly hope it’s not a fact that people don’t care about the usage of health care dollars. But, Mr. Speaker, the management and the organization of these health care dollars seems to be a bit of a challenging question here.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services what has she done from the point of view of the context of waste busters to ensure that we’re getting the best value for our health care dollars...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue I’m going to raise today is the management of health care dollars in our system. Recently I raised an issue with the way the Department of Health and Social Services is not billing the appropriate customers and that’s the insurance companies. I raise the issue particularly about the fact that insurance companies are getting away with what I would define as a scandal. They are allowing the public health care dollars to pay for services that their clients are already paying for. In other words, we’re subsidizing the insurance companies. This applies to federal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to express some serious concern and caution to this Cabinet before us. I speak in favour of the Taltson Hydro Project, but I need to see some results. We’ve all heard about how great this project may be, and I certainly support any hydro expansion in our North. But when I talk to industry face to face, they show no interest in this project. They stall and don’t move to make any agreements with the Government of the Northwest Territories. The longer this process takes, there will be no diamond mine industry for them to extend the power to.

We need to have...

I’d like to thank my supporting cast in this expose, my thespian, the Minister McLeod. Mr. Speaker, the issue really is about not just attracting issue, but it’s equally weighed with helping to develop the industry. Now, we have some very dedicated and, I’m going to stress, significantly talented filmmakers here in the Northwest Territories, but without the types of resources, which are very expensive, it’s very difficult to get off the ground. In the recent example I talked about, Ice Pilots, they had to bring everyone up from the south to do the work here, and they couldn’t do the editing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk about the potential of the film industry in our Northwest Territories. We have such a wealth of people, scenery, and landscapes to showcase to the world, yet it seems a shame that we don’t have more films being produced here in the North.

It’s true that we’ve had many talented independent filmmakers who have worked on commercials and entertainment projects, but with the few grants available through the NWT Arts Council it makes it tough for them to be established and working. We know Western Arctic Moving Pictures. They work very hard on showcasing...