Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, one of the issues that took my breath away is the fact that I didn’t feel consulted in this whole process and when it was finally launched to the public, I felt that I was misinformed and didn’t have a chance to it. Now that may be as it may be, but the reality is I felt I didn’t have the full information at the time. So will the Minister clearly commit to this House that she will present the new plan or new policy before Members or some type of dialogue before there is any final implementation so we know what’s going out there and she has that type of support? Thank you.

I, too, wish to recognize Dave and Anne Wind, they’re up on the top floor of the gallery; Mr. Terry Testart, he’s next to the chiefs there; Ms. Lydia Bardak and Mr. Ben McDonald. Of course, if anyone else from Yellowknife Centre is here I’d like to welcome them. From my position it’s difficult to see the whole gallery. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister did allude to it in a certain way. I just want to make sure that it’s absolutely clear and on the record, income threshold, when it comes to a couple of needs to be revisited in recognition of the cost of living and whatnot. So will the Minister make sure these are clearly on the record, that these are the types of things that would be looked at and considered in this consultation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issues have been spoken to quite directly and a fair bit, are the potential changes to the extended health benefits as well as the Supplementary Health Benefits Plan. Mr. Speaker, in short, the Minister has offered to delay the plan to go out to further consultation. It does create a lot of fear and the worry is it predetermines. So I am going to ask the Minister clearly here: Is adjusting the time implementation, implementation time frame, just a delay tactic or what does she mean by getting out there to do meaningful consultation?

Today I’m going to talk about the most important issue in the riding of Yellowknife Centre. Those are the potential changes that are being brought forward by the Health Minister about the Health Care Plan and the benefits. Mr. Speaker, if for only a moment we could imagine what it was like before the Minister made that horrible announcement before Christmas, you would hear from our seniors that they felt respected, cared for, loved, trusted, supported, maybe even safe and perhaps happy in the North because they knew the government loved and cared for them. Once this announcement came, that put...

I’m glad the Minister agrees and officially put it on record that she will now take off the time deadline on consultation and implementation.

Mr. Speaker, again, I realize this Minister’s trying to be the superhero of health care, but let’s take off the pressure of an implementation date to make sure it’s done properly. Will the Minister take off the implementation date? Secondly, and finally, will the Minister bring the policy to the House for House approval before any implementation is enforced?

Mr. Speaker, I’m sort of reminded of a famous individual known as Tommy Douglas. He fought tooth and nail for health care and I could imagine his position now; he’d be rolling in his grave to find out that means testing or income testing our health care system is the way to go. I think he’d call this a user-pay system and this is sort of a door being cracked open to that demonstration.

If I could loosely quote the Minister, a minute ago she said I don’t understand what the big deal is about the implementation date. Mr. Speaker, that’s the whole problem. It’s the implementation date without...

Mr. Speaker, the Minister talks about meaningful consultation and identifying gaps. Mr. Speaker, in her own words, from 2003 to 2007 they worked on this policy in the policy shop. They also went to Social Programs for approval. They sat on this for a year and a half and just before Christmas of 2008, they decided to launch this on the public. You’re telling me, after approximately five years that you took to develop a policy that is so full of gaps that you couldn’t hold water back to save your life, that you’re going to come up and find all the gaps and solve all the problems in six months...

I rise today to give my voice to the clear opposition to any changes to the Supplementary Health Benefits Program. Mr. Speaker, taking away from seniors, taking away from families, taking away from everyday people is wrong and this needs to stop. At present, we’re all well aware that there’s a deferral of this policy on the table, but we’re not fooled over here. We know deferral just means delayed implementation, so please don’t fool us with this.

Mr. Speaker, I stand with the seniors, I stand with the everyday people on this problem. I’ll stand with them until the end because they are just...