Debates of May 26, 2005 (day 2)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recognizing it has been a long day, I will just ask one question and quite quickly to the Minister of Health and Social Services with regard to TTC. That being said, it may be a little bit of a lengthy one, but it will be fast. Mr. Speaker, I’m trying to understand why this government preaches decentralization, about being fair and equitable and making sure everyone gets a fair shot, but the bottom line is I think the Minister just mentioned Fort Smith has a facility somewhat of a similar nature, and the bottom line is now if we remove the one out of Yellowknife and put it in Hay River that will be two south of the lake. That means one region now has two, Yellowknife has zero, and the northern region has zero, as well. So, Mr. Speaker, I guess my clear question to the Minister is if you can’t provide the vehicle today, I’d be happy to receive it tomorrow. But the bottom line is why don’t you consider moving the one from Fort Smith to Hay River if we’re worried about backfilling on some facility that needs to be filled or extending the service appropriately, again, south of the lake when we’re losing it out of the central region? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Return To Question 26-15(4): Relocation Of The Territorial Treatment Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ll give that request the consideration it deserves, as the Member has requested. The reality is a decision was made to move TTC from Yellowknife to Hay River, and it was a good decision. The capacity is there for Hay River to deliver that program and we’ve done our best to make sure we try to spread the resources around to the best of our ability as a government, though as we hear in this House from communities outside of Yellowknife that we should be doing more, we could be doing more. We take that into consideration when we try to make these decisions. Thank you.