Debates of October 29, 2004 (day 31)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask my questions to the Minister of Health in his capacity and his responsibilities as Minister of Health and not a fixer of everything. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about the addiction and not necessarily just on the preventative measures, which is important as he has indicated, but I want to deal with the fixing side of it, which I believe the Minister is responsible for. Mr. Speaker, given the amount of problems we have with drug use and alcohol addiction, I really believe that we should be at the forefront, and we should have our own treatment centre and treatment program that should be used as an example around the world and the country. Nobody really knows what we have, Mr. Speaker.

This is the situation. The government is paying for maintenance and the mortgage of Somba K’e. The government is paying $600,000 to $800,000 a year for southern treatment. The government talks about strengthening their mental health and addiction workers. I tell you, this has been a complete disaster. The bureaucratic tape has made it so that this position has not been filled in many communities. Second of all, the clinic unit in Stanton is severely short staffed. They have talked to the administrative managers of the hospital about it. They are not recruiting. They have stopped their advertising. This is the kind of commitment the Minister has in terms of dealing with addiction. Could the Minister indicate why he is failing to even staff the division at the hospital? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The Minister of Health and Social Services, the Honourable Mr. Miltenberger.

Return To Question 343-15(3): Staffing Addictions Treatment Positions

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my job as Minister is to try to come up with some plans to, in a careful way, implement those plans after there has been proper consultation. We have done that with the mental health and addiction strategy. We responded to a fairly damning report in a state of emergency. We have committed to following the plan. We have implemented year one, year two. Year three is on the books. The Member now stands up in this House to say it has been a disaster. Let’s change that. I am saying, okay, if that is what you are thinking, then let’s have that discussion; an informed discussion. Let’s get the statistics. Let’s look at the need. Let’s get past the political rhetoric, the extreme adjectives, and take a measure to look at this. We are talking about a process that is going to require time of committee to do that. I’ve made that commitment before, and I just restate that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Supplementary To Question 343-15(3): Staffing Addictions Treatment Positions

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister keeps talking about let’s have this debate. Well, I don’t know if he is trying to have this in his dreams or not, or in his sleep. I am telling him, Mr. Speaker, the debate is right now. I am asking him very specific questions. I am not making any political rhetoric. I am telling him, Mr. Speaker, that his time for planning and his favourite words and careful measured steps to plan are over. I am telling him, I am not saying the whole strategy is a disaster, but his implementation of it, we do not have mental health and addiction workers completed because of the way that it was done, and there are vacancies at the Stanton clinic. The Salvation Army and the Tree of Peace need these professionals at the hospital to deal with this clinical situation. They are suffering from vacancies. They are asking the Minister and the administrators to hire them, and they haven’t. So why is the Minister not doing anything about that? These are very specific…

Thank you, Ms. Lee. I heard a question there. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 343-15(3): Staffing Addictions Treatment Positions

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member makes comments that tend to diminish the work of people in the communities that have been working for years in the field -- wellness workers, addiction workers -- writing them all off as a disgrace, a waste of time, a disaster, it is not happening. Well, it is happening. Yes, there have been problems unfolding this and rolling it out and staffing all of the positions, but we have had more success than we have had failure in terms of staffing, and we are going to continue to work at it. We are going to continue to work at staffing all of the positions that are funded. If the Member is saying build us a new facility now because she stood up and said that is what she thinks should be done, I am prepared to talk about that, but there is a process, as she well knows, as the Members well know, as they have just taken us recently to severe task about how we spend money. I am prepared to look at it. If there is agreement and there is a planning process that leads to a facility, then I am prepared to engage in that discussion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Supplementary To Question 343-15(3): Staffing Addictions Treatment Positions

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unless the Minister is mixing me up with the Member for Tu Nedhe or the Member for Kam Lake, I have not mentioned a word about building a treatment centre. I asked very specific questions. There are at least two key positions at the clinical mental health unit at the hospital that are vacant. They have stopped advertising for those positions. They are not recruiting, and the recruiter is no longer in office. As far as I am aware, there is minimal effort to rehire those units. I am asking a very specific question about service delivery here. I think the Minister knows this; my understanding is that the Salvation Army and the Tree of Peace are doing most of the delivery for the government and the professionals there. So why is the Minister falling behind in keeping that staff intact? I am not saying anything about the building to Almighty sitting over there.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 343-15(3): Staffing Addictions Treatment Positions

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to assure the Member that I would never ever confuse her with anybody else.

---Laughter

She doesn’t have to refer to me as Almighty; Michael is fine.

---Laughter

She has raised a very specific issue from her information that she has obtained, so I will commit to follow up on the particulars of the two positions, but I would once again suggest that it is not because people don’t care, we have written it off, it is a waste of time. I would suggest that efforts are being made. There is funding for those positions for a reason, because those positions are needed. As the Minister, I am going to commit that they are needed and we will take the necessary steps to staff them, if they are vacant.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Supplementary To Question 343-15(3): Staffing Addictions Treatment Positions

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think if we learned anything this week it is that our Members on this side are being chastised all the time for raising totally legitimate questions. Mr. Speaker, the Minister has not answered the question. I would like him to commit to seeing to do a better job to hire all of the mental health and addictions workers in the communities, because there are a lot of vacancies there and they are the key part to dealing with this community-wide and NWT-wide problem. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Miltenberger.

Further Return To Question 343-15(3): Staffing Addictions Treatment Positions

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a forum for debate, and, as Ministers, we often have to answer and respond to very often provocative and sometimes inflammatory comments, the way they are prefaced and the way they are laid out. We tend to do that in a measured way. The Member asked a question about the positions. I have committed in my last answer to finding out the detail. I will restate that commitment to the Member. Thank you.