Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today in my Member's statement I talked about some unique challenges of what happens with youth who become wards of the department. I have some questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. My first question: when it comes to treatment programs, why would we send youth down south instead of using the resources in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll try to be real quick. I guess I'm a little bit concerned at how we're going to be able to pay the Finance Minister the $92 million if we're not seeing, I understand the efficiencies and that, but if we can suddenly see this growth of a debt, we're going to be owing that Finance Minister some huge amount of money after a few number of years. Is this part of the plan? I understand we don't want to affect the quality of it, but at some point in time, we need to make some savings so that we can help alleviate some of the costs. Is that part of the process? I understand...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am not asking just for the Nahendeh riding and the Deh Cho. I totally understand that. My biggest issue, though, is we are starting to see a huge number of children being diagnosed with autism, and it is a lot of work. I mean, I know down south they actually have a person who works one-on-one with the child, whereas we have classroom assistants and people out there. I applaud the department for providing this service. I think it's a great first step. However, we need to get more positions in the communities or regional centres, anyway, that we can spread out the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank Ms. Mathison. Now I understand the better picture. It is very clear, because in the new auditing process, we need to show that as a debt. I greatly appreciate that. When will we start to see some savings? Because right now my understanding is that we're $92 million projected by the end of this fiscal year. When will we start seeing savings with this transformation? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that answer. I have to congratulate the department for doing this. I think it is a very good, positive step. So what are the plans for doing this? Is this going to be regionalized, or is this going to be based out of Yellowknife? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I guess I'm just looking at the audited financial statements. It says it's about $67.1 million in 2017. Where are we getting the information? Is the financial audited statements where we should be getting the information, or does the department have different numbers according to the books? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regards to the principle of the bill, I guess the first thing that comes to mind is: where are we going to sell this product? Right now, we are putting it into the liquor stores, but that gives the liquor stores a step up. Who is going to cover these costs to do the renovations? The liquor stores that I've talked to, they have concerns about that, which then has an impact on the businesses, as well. I am concerned that we haven't reached out to the businesses that have already done the work to get licensing to grow the product. We haven't talked to them, nor have we...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. When we talk about the deficits from amalgamation and that, it being a large amount, so is this deficit associated with Health and Social Services, the territorial Health and Social Services authority, or is this going to be something that is in our deficit? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I appreciate the Minister actually asking me a question. That is kind of a new role for me today, so I appreciate that. So I guess the thing is that I would actually reach out to the contractor to see how they can alleviate these concerns and not put our patients out and put them into disadvantage. Because I know in my riding, in Fort Simpson, the airline contracted who has the bulk of this, is changing their flights. It is a regular scheduled flight, but it seems that sometimes we have got to go from Yellowknife to Hay River to Fort Simpson. Sometimes we get the unique flight of going from...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On page 195, it shows that the NWT Health and Social Services Authority and the Tlicho service authority are seeing increases in their budgets, but I did not see Hay River Health and Social Services Authority get an increase. Can the Minister explain the rationale for this? Thank you.