Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sometimes I think this government misses the important things, the nuts and bolts of people's health care and how their families are impacted by government process, including the government bureaucracy, two favorite words - process and bureaucracy.
Mr. Speaker, I had heard from numerous constituents, but several as of late, about their concerns about getting appointments through the clinics. And this isn't just a Yellowknife issue. This is a territorial issue, Mr. Speaker. So, for example, if you want a same-day appointment, you have to walk down at 7:30 in the morning and stand in line. Now, that doesn't sound too bad, but we can't make online appointments, which has been raised in this house before, even though you can make online doctors' appointments at other clinics in the Northwest Territories. It's often we get into these discussions about real practical solutions that I think this government should seize and run with, Mr. Speaker. But you get down there at 7:30, there's a line of anywhere from 6 to 15 people and therein lies the first part of the problem: There's only a couple online -- or sorry, same-day appointments. So your next appointment, if you made it a couple days ago, would be sometime two months later. But if you're lucky to get one of the two or three appointments, the situation is so bad, the person speaking to the health care professional, the kind person trying to do their job, they're communicating in a way everybody knows their name, everybody knows their birth date, and not everyone can do wink, wink, nudge, nudge, it's an itch. In other words, privacy is constantly compromised at these clinics in situations. It's not anyone's do fault in the sense of they're not doing this on purpose, but it's just the facilitation of practical, decent stuff that make the everyday family appreciate that their government's trying to work for them.
Mr. Speaker, I can book a plane ticket online. As a matter of fact, I can even deal with CRA online. But I can't book an appointment to see a doctor online. And now, the government will say, including the health Minister about, like, oh my goodness, we have all these technical problems. Well, let's go to the phone system. Well, the phone system, when you call, you get an answering message, if it goes to the answering message, Mr. Speaker, that you'll get a call back within two or three days if you're lucky. It doesn't have the lucky part, Mr. Speaker, I should say, in all fairness. That said, you're lucky to get the phone call response.
Mr. Speaker, there are practical solutions that the government could do. I've raised them. Other members have raised them. We've raised them loud and clear. We can act upon them about service, Mr. Speaker. And that's where my questions will lead later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Members' statements. Good afternoon, Colleagues.
