Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Northerners really care about their health care. It matters. And a lot of people are saying this, Mr. Speaker, many people. As a matter of fact, they also believe and acknowledge the Minister of health may mean well but they really feel deeply down inside that the Minister is out of touch. Many people are telling me this, Mr. Speaker, good people, such as the workers, the employees, the staff, Mr. Speaker. But they say to themselves, why isn't the Minister in touch with the primary care health doctors, staffing levels, and their issues. It should be top of mind. I know it would be top of mind if it was my choice. Why, Mr. Speaker? Because when you're the health Minister, you should know what matters to the people, family, and Northerners. That's why I know I would know the numbers.
The Minister can't keep hiding between NTHSSA and say oh no, it's their problem. She either realizes that she's in on the problem or not in the problem. I worry that she might have quietly quit and keeps downloading this to the patient experience or the other boards to manage these problems.
Mr. Speaker, staffing at the hospital and in our system should be absolutely top of mind. Every day she should be getting reading and results of what's happening over there. I know this because people are telling me, Mr. Speaker, people who know better.
Mr. Speaker, the solution of this government may be trying to get -- to solve some of these problems by hiring more deputy ministers but, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you right now nurses and doctors and admin staff don't need more deputy ministers; we need smart people, Mr. Speaker. Again, the government's solution is getting a Russian -- sorry, a Russian nesting --
-- point of order, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Government Leader.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is speaking about individuals who are not on the floor of this House, not here to defend themselves, referencing that the hiring of deputy ministers and said we don't need deputy ministers; we need smart people. I think that's clearly out of line. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Government Leader. Member from Range Lake -- or sorry, Yellowknife Centre.
It seems that we're always both to blame.
(audio).
I think -- (audio) Mr. Speaker, I didn't characterize they're bad people. As a matter of fact, if two more seconds the Minister would have said we'd hire a Jane Philipott, a health czar, Mr. Speaker. The intent was not to hurt individuals or single the single individual out, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Thank you for your time. Member, your comments about the Minister is my area of questioning. Do you wish to withdraw those comments about the Minister at this time?
Mr. Speaker, I'm actually -- I can't actually -- seriously, I'm not wasting time. I can't actually hear what I'm asking to withdraw to be clear. And to be absolutely clear, Mr. Speaker, I was referring to an entity, not an individual.
Thank you. We'll just take a brief second here. Thank you.
---BRIEF RECESS
Member, so I guess I should be clear what I'm asking. You were very close to the line talking about the deputy ministers and about smart people, but saying the Minister's quietly speaking is of concern to me -- quitting, sorry, quietly speaking, quietly quitting. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I -- specifically to the quiet quitting comment, I certainly withdraw it, and I apologize for that and to the House. Thank you very much for recognizing the differences. Thank you.
Colleagues, remember when we were talking about the public service, we have to make sure that these hard-working people, we don't cross the line. And we were getting pretty close yesterday and today. So I will start calling it if it continues. Thank you.
Member from Yellowknife Centre, you may conclude your statement.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thought I had about two minutes on the clock. I plan not to abuse the time; don't worry, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, where I was going with this is -- and, again, I recognize and I appreciate your Whitford guidance on that particular initiative, and I do recognize in my Member's -- I'm going to pause and say I thank the Premier for pointing that out. I do think good order does come with drama, but I do respect why he did that.
Mr. Speaker, to get back right on point, I think we should go so far as rather than finding new people in the system to solve the same problems, we need to hire a health care czar like Jane Philipott, someone who knows health care issues down to her DNA, she knows them from the top to the bottom, only someone of that type of skill to see how our system works together because it's so important to know the full integration. So we can hire all our people or reshuffle the deck no matter what we get. At the end of the day, unless we're willing to think big and be big, we're never -- we're going to just keep getting the same results, Mr. Speaker.
So to wrap this up, Mr. Speaker, if the department again wants -- sorry, if the government wants to think big about health, maybe it should start asking the question why do we have health and social services tied together? Maybe we should allow them to go independently separate -- their ways. That way we can allow the health Minister to focus in on health and the system allowed to do what it needs to do. And my recommendation is we hire someone who -- like, an old fashioned hospital administrator who knows how to run these systems because that's what they're trained for, skilled for, and they certainly know all the ins and outs that make the very difference to making staff happy and the public's needs served. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Members' statements. Member from Range Lake.
