Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m going to maybe touch base on some of the earlier questions, only more so for clarity and so I can get the fullness of the detail provided.

First off let me say that I want to applaud the decision-makers on going forward with the new building. Part of the issue I had was I was speaking with two of the bidders when it came to three preferred folks to make a final proposal. Two of them told me it would be a lot cheaper and a lot faster to build a new building. I know a lot of emotion is probably attached to Stanton, and rightly so, but I think it’s important to ask...

Avens presently has 29 beds. They want to extend it to 60, and of course, they have bigger plans than that. But you know what? They see what’s in the near future. They’ve got over 50 on their waiting list. I won’t go on at length, but our population is growing to 184 percent in five more years. We’re not meeting the demands. We couldn’t start the planning, reviewing and building and meet that challenge that’s presented to us in five years if we did something today.

Again, I’m going to ask the Minister, when is the government going to make a formal commitment so Avens can march forward on this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my Member’s statement today – and I gave the facts and the numbers, and even the GNWT’s numbers through their partnership with the researcher on Avens – the study Where to Go and What to Do, one thing is clear: a tsunami of seniors is coming and there’s nowhere for them to turn.

As I said in my statement, if the capacity was similar to a school where once a school hit 75 percent full, it triggers a renewal of the school whether through renovation or a building of a new school, but yet we have no policy or solution for the seniors. Avens is 100 percent full...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, we all heard the other day that the population in Canada is aging. No surprise, of course, and the NWT is certainly not immune to those pressures. That’s right. Stats Canada says one out of every six persons in Canada are over the age of 64. Heck, take the statistics in this room. Twenty percent of the MLAs are over the age 60. Stats Canada can see this, why can’t the GNWT see this?

So, while the problem keeps getting ignored, Avens continues to be bursting at the seams when it comes to capacity, and as time goes on, it marches on, more seniors are on the waiting...

I thank the Minister for that answer. Is there any commitment that we can get that that will be the process followed?

I guess I go to the Minister and, hopefully, maybe if he doesn’t want to answer, maybe the other Minister will answer it, or somebody will take responsibility for it, which is: Who can confirm or commit to the House that there will be a competitive process in this particular initiative?

Thank you very much. Sorry to compare the two projects, but of course the Inuvik-Tuk Highway had a hard number, as well, and we’re having a hard time swallowing that one too. So I fully agree and think it’s fair that if we change the scope midway through where circumstances beyond control gives us the chance, but again, those are things we’ll have to deal with, or somebody will have to deal with as time goes on.

The only thing I want to say is I want to reiterate the two comments I made at the very beginning of the statement, which were the new building, I’m very glad with that process. It’s...

Thank you. Anything new almost sounded exactly as what’s been said before. So, I guess there’s really nothing new per se.

What is the change to our complement of the staffing levels that we will experience in the new facility? Could the Minister, maybe not this present second per se, give me the exact number, but what’s the ballpark number we’re working with at Stanton and what is the ballpark staffing complement number we’ll need for the updated facility? Thank you.

Territorial-wide, territorial-wide, the growth in five years in seniors is going to be at 150 percent. All the beds that have been created today and all the beds they think that they’re going to create tomorrow still won’t meet that demand. The Minister can say we’re going to shuffle seniors around the room, around the territory to solve the problem. It is not meeting the challenge.

Will the Minister just be honest in this House to say are they going to make an agreement with Avens and when, because they cannot wait any longer. I can’t wait any longer. The seniors can’t wait any longer. As I...

It couldn’t be said better than by the Canadian Medical Association president, Cindy Forbes. She talks about the growing rate of seniors. She also references the cost, where it costs $1,000 a day, on average, in Canada to hospitalize and hold seniors. Whereas if you find partners like Avens, it comes at a fraction of that price. She estimates average cost in Canada at fifty. Now, I know these are southern costs, but the ratio is the point, not the actual dollar number. Why is the government not realizing that?

My next question is: When will this government be willing to finally step up and...