Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Health explain to my constituents what does "significant risk" mean to her department? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this term is not defined in the legislation. And it is the judgment of the chief public health officer about what "significant risk" is. She is a medical doctor who uses resources from the public health community to determine significant risk, and she advises myself and others about what that risk is and how to mitigate it. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister explain to my constituents what does "reasonable measures" mean to her department? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm getting a workingover as a nondoctor/nonlawyer. So reasonable measures are those measures, as I understand it, that will mitigate the risk of disease and other unwanted outcomes of a public health emergency. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm the basis for her decision to continually extend the public health emergency as it relates to COVID? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, public health is about balancing the public health emergency and the risk to the public with the mitigation measures that reduce that risk. That is something that is an ongoing process. It's a judgment. It's based on science but ultimately the chief public health officer has to try to strike that balance. And I heard my colleague, the Minister of Justice, say that they were involved in looking at that as well. What I recognize from my inbox today, and most days recently, is that people are not satisfied with that balance any longer. They feel that the mitigation measures are too harsh for the risks that are posed now by COVID, especially given the increased vaccination rate. And that's the reason that we are revising Emerging Wisely, or the CPHO is revising Emerging Wisely. We recognize that things have changed and we need to catch up. And so by this time next week, that document will be public and everyone will see how we've addressed that. And no doubt, my inbox will fill up again. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm if her department, with respect to the public health emergency and orders, is to only provide a rubber stamp with no discussion with yes, when the CPHO provides her direction? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the decision to renew is the chief public health officer's to provide, and I sign off on it. So the thing is that advises me about what she thinks is necessary and then I agreed up to this point. I guess at some point I could disagree. But the point here is that the chief public health officer has sweeping power under the Public Health Act to evaluate things like risk and reasonable measures and to decide on what kind of public health orders would address those, and so the public health emergency comes out of that. And I am keen to see the public health emergency retired, and that is something that I hope that Emerging Wisely will point us in the direction of so that we no longer have these states of emergency in place that continue month in and month out. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
