Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As outlined in my Member’s statement, it appears to me as though the Minister of Health and Social Services has strayed from the path agreed to by Members to conduct a review of the potential redesign of the Supplementary Health Program. I’m wondering if the Minister could please outline for us what type of consultation was held with stakeholders prior to the department gathering and distributing the research information they provided to the public on February 22, 2010. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister responsible Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’m aware that the staff have done a lot of work to prepare for this public discussion with the public. We have looked internally to partners in the Department of Finance and Stats Bureau to get information. They met with the public advisory group a few times and we have put out the public discussion paper at our earliest possible opportunity so that the public will have an opportunity to put their full input into this process. Thank you.
The motion to do this review happened well over a year ago. I noticed that the Minister points out that they spoke to the advisory group, which I understand is a GNWT. I didn’t hear any reference at all to actually meeting or talking with the stakeholders, the seniors, the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities. So I’d like to thank the Minister for confirming that they didn’t, in fact, do that.
I see zero evidence in any of the information provided by the Minister that the Department of Health and Social Services conducted any research into the possible effects of proposed changes resulting in people leaving the North with respect to the changes that may come forward. This research was clearly requested in the motion. I was wondering if the Minister could please tell me why this information was not collected or considered and why the potential ramifications of residents leaving the NWT are not included within the document released on February 22, 2010. Thank you.
Just to correct the Member’s statement, the public advisory group that I was referring to is a group of NGOs, and that includes the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities, YWCA, the Centre for Northern Families, Yellowknife seniors and NWT seniors. So, meetings were held with those groups. There was internal working groups of DMs and appropriate resources within the government so that we could pull information together that could help with the public discussion.
The Member is asking, did we look at the analysis of changes. That’s something that we could do and if the Member knows that the final product or as we work through the product, whatever that may be, will be reviewed by the standing committee and the Members here. The Member is saying that we have everything worked out; we have not. We have, I think, the research points us into a certain direction. We want to put that out to the public. The public has a chance to explain to us. And without knowing the final product, I’m sure we’ll be criticized if we went out with some other information. So I think the important thing is that we need to have this discussion. The Members will have a chance and we should let the process unfold. Thank you.
Just for the record, the individuals I’ve talked to who are in that working group have indicated that they were basically told what the department is going to research and what’s going to happen after that. They weren’t actually encouraged to do what the motion suggested, which was to give alternate areas of research, give alternate opinions, alternate thoughts, so that when this information comes out, as it’s coming out now, it should come out complete; meaning that we should have all sorts of options and things to consider.
The Minister says that the research does point in a certain direction, and clearly it does. We want to make an informed decision here. We want supplemental health to be the best it can be for everybody in the Northwest Territories, which means we need information on both sides. I was wondering if the Minister could please tell me how can we make an informed decision in the absence of information or, worse, with only information suggesting one side or leading in a particular direction. We need both sides to make the right decision on supplementary health. Thank you.
I don’t believe there was a question. I just want to clarify that the public working group did have a… The department officials met with the public working group, the NGO groups. They wanted to have good information to base their discussion on. They’ve had a look at the information that we’ve provided and they are working with us. We will continue to work with them, work with the Members, work with the public, because I agree with the Member that this is the best program there is in supplementary health anywhere in Canada. We will continue to maintain that and we want to make sure that those who are in need the most will have access to it and that it will continue to be fair and equitable. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister keeps telling us that this is the best program in Canada. I can’t argue that. On paper, it’s the best in Canada and certainly the most lucrative. But when she says that it doesn’t actually include the cost of living in the Northwest Territories, and slight changes will send us to a tipping point that may well result in people leaving the Northwest Territories, yet there’s no evidence of research done -- and I’ve said this several times -- to suggest that they’ve even done any analysis on that. Will the Minister commit to actually doing the research on the ramifications of people leaving? If 39 seniors leave, that’s $800,000 out of our pockets. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I do believe that it is, bar none, the best Supplementary Health Program that is available in Canada. What we know is that there is a group of people who are excluded as it is currently administered. So we want to look at the access and see if those who are most in need are accessing those. I believe we have lots of good information out there that could start the debate. It will be facilitated at public hall meetings and I am sure that all of the questions that the Member is asking could come forward and we will have a good dialogue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
