Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to again speak today about respite care and the decision to cut the $250,000 required to fund the program.
Mr. Speaker, on Monday, after making a statement on respite care funding reductions, I had the opportunity to again question the Minister on how this decision was made, why this decision was made, where the money was going and ultimately who made the call to cut the funding. Judging by the response I received to my questions, the Minister seemed to have absolutely no clue in how to answer those questions about the cuts to respite care funding, except to say that health and social services is in a deficit situation.
Mr. Speaker, this is true. However, for the Minister to imply to me that this is the sole reason for the cut to respite care programming dollars is a solid indication that this Minister just does not seem to remember her solid support for respite care while a Regular Member, or her proposal to committee 18 months ago to fight deficits at our health authorities. What has happened since then, Mr. Speaker? Nothing, zero, not a thing to address the deficits that, I’ll remind the Minister, have been there since she became Minister in 2007.
Mr. Speaker, does the Minister not have a moral and ethical obligation to address the concerns like chronic underfunding, unfunded positions, medical travel deficits and the rising cost of equipment and supplies? These are not new issues. They need to be addressed, not used as a scapegoat to justify funding cuts to respite care programming. The bottom line is, is this is a clear dereliction of duty by this Minister. The problems have not been addressed, they’re not going to just go away, and in the case of the deficits at our health authorities, they’re getting much worse as the days go by. If it’s cuts to respite care today, Mr. Speaker, what is going to be coming tomorrow? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I again today want to talk about health care programs and funding.
We’re all aware that funding for a valuable, well-used respite program is set to end next March. The impact has been discussed. It will adversely affect parents, but more so, in my mind, is the negative affect it will have on disabled children.
The respite program has provided socializing opportunities for these kids outside the home with their respite worker. They’ve been able to develop relationships with their worker and, more importantly perhaps, with other children.
Several parents have told me that advances in the social development of their child is absolutely because of the respite program. They have an opportunity to bond with and to relate to people who are not family members. The dynamic of such a relationship for an autistic child, for instance, cannot be underestimated.
The respite program run by the Yellowknife Association for Community Living has, to date, been funded by funds transferred to the GNWT by the Government of Canada. GNWT has provided the funds to the local health authority -- Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority in this case -- and they’ve chosen to have the program run by Yellowknife Association for Community Living.
I think we all understand at this point that the current federal funding used for this program was only intended to last until the end of March 2012. What is truly distressing, though, is the program funding is being discontinued one year short of that date. The Minister tells us the second year of the federal funding is to transition to a time when we will have no federal funding. Fair enough. But she has yet to show me a plan for the approximately $7.5 million funding that we will receive next year for 2011-12. Just what is the Minister and the department planning to use the 2011-12 federal funding for?
We hear much about the Foundation for Change but little on the detail of the changes being proposed. The Minister also seems to be telling us that most of the $7.5 million will go to the Foundation for Change. For what, I have to ask.
The Minister cannot expect Members and the public to keep on believing and trusting in her vague statements. We deserve more respect than that. Show us how the 2011-12 money will be spent and if you can’t do that soon, reinstate the measly $250,000 that the Yellowknife Association for Community Living program needs to operate this necessary and valuable program.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
