Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has put on record clearly that respite is a valuable and needed service. I thank her for that because it certainly makes some of these questions a lot easier.
She’s told the House repeatedly that THAF was extended by two years, which carries this government into the budget years of 2011-12. So THAF funding -- which is the Territorial Health Access Fund, for anyone who doesn’t know what THAF stands for -- started in 2009-2010 and is carried into the second year, which is the 2010-11 and, of course, now we are really coming down to what’s happening in the third and final year.
Mr. Speaker, I thought the question as to who cut the money was very relevant because it goes simply to my question. Did the Minister of Health and Social Services provide direction, instructions, a directive or any message to cut, trim or change the scheduled funding for respite services at all in any form? If not, is she tracking the person down who did make this instructional choice to do this, to freeze any changes until we find a solution for this problem? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The fact is we are getting distracted by how this information was communicated. I would rather focus on moving forward.
Mr. Speaker, the federal government gave us $50 million and we have to plan on budgeting accordingly. Both THAF and THSSI -- and Member Bisaro asked what are we going to do with that money -- it’s important for everybody to know that that money is spent as part of our health care budget. We pay nurses, nurse practitioners, midwives, doctors, diagnostics, we pay for health care out of that THAF funding. There is a two-year time limit. We need to find ways to change the way we deliver programs and that is why we need to use some of that money on the Foundation for Change action plan.
The reason why I say it’s really unfortunate how this was communicated in that way is because if this government is going to provide a respite care program, it’s going to provide a respite care program. We need to come up with the money to do that. Everybody knows we have limited resources, so this is why it is important for us to have a territorial respite care program. We need to use the resources of the department and find ways to continue to provide respite care programs for families in Yellowknife as well as outside of Yellowknife. This is why we need to do a territorial respite care program. Thank you.
I kind of find it unfortunate that the Minister keeps saying it’s unfortunate that it was brought to us in this method. To be quite honest, Mr. Speaker, if this message of respite care wasn’t brought to us by constituents, it would be so unfortunate it would have been long gone before we ever found out.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister keeps saying it’s a distraction about trying to find out what happened. I think that’s kind of the blueprint of finding out what we can do. Mr. Speaker, where is the money for the budget year 2011-12 going to be allocated to? In short, Mr. Speaker, it has been allocated to two years towards respite care. So we are trying to track down where this money is now going to. Why isn’t the Minister agreeing in this House to stabilize the money for respite? Thank you.
The Member knows that in the February budget session we debate the 2011-2012 budget. Thank you.
It’s really sad we can’t debate this line item very clear here in the House, because it’s unfortunate. It won’t be tabled before the House until February. Mr. Speaker, how much has the Minister committed to respite services to date and how much will she be committing going forward to demonstrate respite services will be protected and enshrined in our health system? Thank you.
The Member knows that we will be debating the 2011-2012 budget. We just had a preview of that and there is a respite care program in there that we approved. The respite care program under THSSI is handled differently because it’s federal funding and we did it through a supplementary appropriation. I look forward to the support of the Members on the other side when we work to develop a program on respite care. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t doubt that the Minister has a passion for this issue. I wouldn’t doubt that the Minister cares about this particular issue, but everything seems to be hurry up, let’s wait. Stop distracting the issue, just wait. Well, unfortunately, we’ve got a lot of families who can’t wait and proceed on blind faith.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister has allowed -- and, as she said, she takes full responsibility for the department – she has allowed this cut to be proposed and she is defending the cut. So what is her plan to bridge through this cut? She could make that very clear here, because we have four months until the February session to work through and we’ve got families waiting to find out what the plan is. Mr. Speaker, that is the question, to ensure that these families are protected. Thank you.
Let’s just be clear that this House will debate the budget for 2011-2012. I will include the money from the federal government.
Mr. Speaker, let’s be clear about one more thing, which is that we are committed, this government is committed to having one territorial respite care program for families in need of a respite care program, which would include Yellowknife families. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
