Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Can the Minister offer an explanation for the wide discrepancy between the NWT’s self-reported health status, which scored an A plus, and their actual health status, which scored a D minus?

Mr. Chair, that’s good. Thank you.

Thank you. Is the change in cost just strictly focusing on the benefits, or has there been any change in the format of how security has been provided?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister says he’s not challenging them. It sort of sounds like they are accepting the results the government has received of the barely passing mark of D minus. A D minus is a reflection of the department, its leadership and its management, and I would like to hear how this government is going to change this D minus mark and turn it into an action plan that delivers results specific to the areas targeted and identified by the Conference Board of Canada.

May I remind this House, this is an organization that has been in Canada for 61 years providing good advice, non...

I would kind of like to hear the answer whether the department either disputes the findings of the Conference Board of Canada or accepts them. If they dispute them, I think Northerners need to know what areas they are disputing and they also need to know the truth of the matter.

Does the department accept the fact that it has received a D minus, which is barely a pass? Thank you.

My final question is I’m curious as to what the Minister’s briefing note will read as to engagement on a pan-territorial strategy as to improve the D minus across the three territories as we work towards a partnership for improving Aboriginal health and the health of all Northerners across the NWT and our two sister territories.

The only one that the Minister left off the table was devolution to help people’s health.

Can the Minister explain what areas under his responsibility, under health care indicators, why there is such a discrepancy between the report and the D minus received, rather than blaming other departments and referencing other proposals by departments? We’re talking about health care indicators and health.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, like my good colleague Mr. Ramsay, am happy to be back to work as well. I’m losing time on the clock, so I’d better get going.

The overreaching goal of the Conference Board of Canada is to benchmark the quality of life in Canada relative to its 15 peer countries. Most people agree that without good health care, quality of life is severely compromised. On February 12th of this year, the Conference Board of Canada published results on the status of Canadians and their health with their 15 peer countries.

The report is known as How Canada Performs and zeroes in on key...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to say, for the record, I notice Highway No. 9 is missing, the one that runs off the access road straight into Yellowknife Centre, and I think it’s time we start to put that on the books.

In all seriousness, Mr. Chairman, I’m just wondering, not to get too far ahead of the detail, but is the additional money requested for the Detah road over and above the original contract? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday in Committee of the Whole it was discussed about the fuel barrels left throughout the Northwest Territories. I’d like to ask the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, does the department know how many barrels there are? I’m not speaking to every single barrel, but I’m speaking to the large volume of barrels we estimate are out there and the general location of the larger cache of barrels. I mean, we can always understand there will be one or two here and there, and those are difficult to track unless you stumble upon them.

I guess the question is: How...