Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got questions today for the Minister of Health and Social Services related to my statement that I made previously. The former Minister of Health and Social Services, for whatever reason, didn’t want to get politically involved in the decision to close the airport in the centre of Edmonton, and for whatever reason she lacked an interest in getting politically involved. So I’d like to ask the Minister, she -- in questions I had to her previously -- had mentioned that the interests of residents in the Northwest Territories were going to be protected because we had people who were part of this Health Quality Council review that took place recently and was just released. I’d like to ask the Minister how we were involved in the development of that report and who exactly was involved in that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Michael Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The involvement of the government and Health and Social Services was coordinated through the deputy minister’s office, who, as a former employee out of Alberta with extensive experience in the health system there, has sort of marshalled and coordinated all of our efforts. Thank you.
Thank you. Going forward I think it’s very important that the concerns of residents here in the Northwest Territories and of this government are fully addressed by the transition with these recommendations into a new way of doing business out at the Edmonton International Airport. I’d like to ask the Minister who exactly from the Department of Health and Social Services is going to be representing the interests of the residents here in the Northwest Territories in that transition. Thank you.
As Minister responsible, I will be overseeing it at this level and we will continue to use the good offices of the deputy minister of Health and Social Services. We are one of a number of stakeholders. We want to make sure that collectively we have the input necessary to ensure the best service possible and we will continue to do that. Thank you.
Thank you. In the interim, and I talked earlier about the closure of the runway that has instrumentation and flights, medevac flights, having to be diverted out to the International Airport. There have been 44 of them that I know of. Obviously, these recommendations haven’t been put into place. There are gaps in the provision of services for medevac flights that are diverted to the International Airport today. I’d like to ask the Minister is the government concerned about this and how are we acting upon the fact that these flights that are diverted out there, patients are arriving on the ground in Edmonton without those provisions in place. Thank you.
Thank you. We continue to be as proactive as we can be, recognizing decisions have been made. That report has just come out and there are 18 recommendations. Seven of them seem to be critical and to be acted on immediately. The remainder are seen to be that should be acted on prior to the final closure at the Edmonton International Airport. So we’ve had a long and storied history with what used to be the Capital Health Authority but now is Alberta Health Services. We have a good relationship with the services in Edmonton, but we have to recognize, as well, that there are changes. There are changes both in terms of this particular process; there are also changes in terms of access and ability of Alberta to meet our needs, and we are now having to plan for other locations such as Calgary or Grande Prairie. But throughout all this we are going to be working hard to make sure these 18 recommendations are implemented as soon as possible. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that. Again, I think it’s important that the recommendations are acted upon in a timely manner and that the Government of the Northwest Territories is there in a meaningful way as a stakeholder in that.
I’d like to ask the Minister maybe just for a commitment to bring back to Regular Members of this House updates maybe five or six months from now on some progress on these recommendations, where things are at, to the Standing Committee on Social Programs. I know there’s an election coming up in October, but if there is any progress, I’d like to get a commitment from the government that they’re going to let Regular Members know about it. Thank you.
This is a critical issue and I share the Member’s concern and the need to keep everybody fully apprised. We will do that. We’ll ensure that before this Legislature is dissolved in August that we have an update provided to the Regular Members through the Social Programs committee. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
