Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak to the issue of the supplementary health care coverage. Tommy Douglas was voted the greatest Canadian of all time by the CBC contest back in 2004. Why? Because he is considered to be the father of medicare for all Canadians.
I might vote for my mother as being the greatest Canadian. Why? Because she told me something that broke my heart when I was a young man. She told me how as a mother with eight kids she once had to go without food for herself for two days so she could feed us and still buy the medical care she needed for one of my brothers. We perhaps forgot today just how recently such decisions had to be made in Canada and in the North. The medicine chest in some treaties is still important today, but it does not cover all aboriginal people. So they rely on the government’s extended health care too, just like half of our population that is non-aboriginal. Universal medical care is a Godsend.
Extended health care is of critical importance. We are told that 2,299 in the Northwest Territories go without access to the extended health care and that our Minister’s new plan will cover. That makes a lot of sense to me. I want to make sure no other mother faces that terrible decision like my mother, and no doubt that many others will have to make, to buy food or buy medicine. So for those 2,300 people, I support the Health Minister.
But I hear so many contrary arguments from both my fellow MLA and from the public that I have concerns, concerns that may impact my region in the future regarding health care.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister, if her current proposed plan is good policy, then please explain it to me. Help me understand it. What are the stakes here? We owe it to the 2,300 people who we are told will benefit and we owe it to those who may have to change the use of the current system. It’s about a basic principle, Mr. Speaker. It’s about bringing the 2,300 people into our health care coverage, plain and simple. First things first, Mr. Speaker, let’s get it right. Thank you.
The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up today on my questions from yesterday. I want to speak to the unfair Supplementary Health Benefits Policy being implemented by the Minister of Health and Social Services.
The Minister has often mentioned the words “fair and equal” in relation to this policy, and no one disputes the need to put in place benefits for those who are currently left out. That we must do to make things fair. But I fail to understand how eliminating access to benefits for only some of our residents, which this policy will do, can be called fair. I fail to understand how making only some residents pay for their medical costs can be called equality.
Mr. Speaker, policy can be one of two things: good or bad. This Supplementary Health Benefits Policy is all bad. It is divisive and we’re seeing its effects already. NWT residents are breaking into camps and animosity is building.
For a very long time we in the NWT have all been Northerners, and by that I mean residents who happily lived, worked and played together, appreciative of our differences and respectful of each other no matter our ethnic origin. This policy threatens to totally destroy that. Should we not be a Territory of many peoples living, working and playing together as equals? Certainly that is my vision. But I am hard pressed to believe that it will endure if this policy comes into effect.
I found a phrase yesterday that I want to share with you. It says our country is blessed by a very diverse cultural mosaic. That can easily be applied to our Territory, Mr. Speaker, but does the Cabinet across the House from me believe the NWT’s diverse cultural mosaic is a blessing? Their actions in relation to the Supp Health Benefits Policy force me to answer no.
In my conversations with constituents I’m often asked why is this policy being implemented, and I cannot answer them. I cannot determine the rationale for this divisive policy. My constituents ask me, why now? What is so pressing that this divisive policy must be put in place right now or even put in place at all? Why is this Cabinet adamant that this policy is so right? I cannot answer those questions, either. I can only conclude that our Executive Council has some nefarious purpose in mind and ask what are they trying to achieve. Is this the start of a regime of new taxes and fees called co-payments? I believe, as do many of my constituents, that the Minister and the Cabinet are solving one problem, the problem of the hard-done-by, desperately struggling families, as the Minister would say, who are currently left out.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
We are solving one problem but we are creating another problem by solving the first one. By implementing this policy, we will establish a class of residents who are medically bankrupted, a new class of working poor, except they’re only poor because their government believes in unfairness and inequality. What policy will Cabinet put in place, then, to help those families and individuals who are desperately struggling financially? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I tabled a process convention that was fully agreed upon by Caucus in Fort Smith last summer on the standing committee review of proposed policy initiatives and implementation plans. This process convention outlines the roles of Cabinet, Ministers and committees, when it comes to establishing new policies or making substantive amendments to or rescinding of existing policies. This process convention does not apply to minor administrative amendments which will not significantly impact established policy commitments.
I suggest that the proposed changes to the Extended Health Benefits Program being implemented by the Minister of Health and Social Services are not minor administrative amendments and that the changes will significantly impact all residents of the Northwest Territories. As such, I believe the Minister is responsible for ensuring that all of the proposed changes and implementation tools must go through appropriate standing committee for review prior to implementation. Not just a presentation of the information, but a discussion, a debate and actual consultation.
The Premier of the Northwest Territories is responsible for ensuring that his Cabinet follows all of the terms and conditions contained within the approved process convention. Later this afternoon I’ll be asking the Premier some questions on how it’s possible that one of his Ministers could stray so far from the approved conventions. Specifically, given that the new plan is proposed for development in June 2010, after the close of this session, with implementation on September 30, 2010, prior to the fall session in October, I wonder how this Minister can possibly adhere to the agreed upon process convention. Specifically with respect to paragraph 8 which states, “when Cabinet decides to establish a new policy review, the application of an existing policy or substantively amend an existing policy in accordance with this convention, the Minister responsible for the implementing policy will provide both Cabinet and the appropriate standing committee with briefings on the relevant implementation and communications plans, as well as any significant implementation tools” -- example: ministerial policies, eligibility criteria, program guidelines – “in advance of the policy’s application or implementation in any substantive public communications.” To date, we have seen no program guidelines.
It’s possible that the Premier will respond consistently with the Minister’s remarks that committee has been consulted all along.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Mr. Speaker, it’s possible that the Premier will respond consistently with the Minister’s remarks, that the committee has been consulted all along. I’m a member of the committee and I agree that I have been informed and/or told what the Minister’s plans are, but, frankly, I don’t feel consulted or that any advice I have provided has been remotely considered by the Minister or by Cabinet. Many of the public feel the same way. Given that the 16th Assembly’s very own process conventions are being ignored by the Minister of Health and Social Services, I don’t see how the Premier and Cabinet could possibly support these changes at this time.
Mr. Premier, let’s take the initiative back to the drawing board and work on the real problem. Let’s find a way to provide coverage to low income families without insurance. Let’s do the right thing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
