Bob Bromley

Thank you, Madam Chair. Really, just a question. In considering this bill I’ve run into the terms “staff lawyers” and “panel lawyers.” I’d just like some clarity on whether those are the same thing. Are there lawyers who do not provide legal aid who are part of this division or not?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to table a letter from the Minister of Human Resources to myself, dated August 16, 2012, on the GNWT’s Safe Advantage program results.

I appreciate the Minister’s commitment there. These are modest dollars, I’ll note right away. Although federal leases to property improvements on these lots are taxable land improvements relative to services provided, the tax revenues are a windfall to the GNWT. Once these leaseholders become territorial tenants surrounded by territorial lands, we can reasonably expect they will be seeking an increased degree of territorial services given the taxes they pay.

In preparation for devolution, has the Department of Transportation begun working with other departments such as MACA to consider the new...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up from my Member’s statement today with questions to the Minister of Health and Social Services. In my statement I pointed out the almost universal improvement in departmental claims experience, including the Department of Health and Social Services which dropped from 39 percent of claims down to less than 1 percent, but with the prominent exception of our health authorities, including Yellowknife and Stanton and with the exception of the Sahtu, which has stayed very low.

Is the Minister aware of this situation and is it being treated as a priority...

We pay penalties as one government, but clearly regional health authorities’ failure to deliver safety programs and manage claims is generating these penalties now.

I’ll have questions for the Minister of Health regarding management of claims for performance by regional authorities. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be supporting this motion and I want to underscore and support my colleague and thank her and second her for bringing this motion forward. The search and rescue is, obviously, critical and timing is of the essence.

As many of us know – not all of us – it used to be that search and rescue was done pretty much by local providers, air charter services, people with knowledge of travelling on the land and so forth. Over time it sort of became a more bureaucratic approach and things were based further and further away. Finally, far to the southeast of Canada. This is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That was three questions. I wonder if I could just get my fourth one in.

Thanks for the comments from the Minister. Obviously, most of those don’t deal with dementia, but the last category is certainly the one we’re focusing on here today. The Territorial Admissions Committee makes decisions about placement of older adults – and I have no doubt that’s what the Minister was referring to there – and they make decisions to ensure they get placed where there is proper care. However, if there are facilities that are not being used, they’re in danger of making poor decisions. In fact, just such a situation exists in Fort Smith, where we have spent $6 million to open a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister, I think, is correct, according to the information I have. Stanton is the highest at 20 percent, but there are others that are high, as well, and the trend of all of them is to go up from five to 20 times the percentages over the last four years.

I’d still like clarity on what the lines of authority are for dealing with this. Is it that the Minister has no authority or thinks he has no authority? What is he doing to exert his responsibility, as the Minister, to get training programs in place that result in the sorts of progress that we want to see?

Thank you. Actually, the hospital is relatively low compared to those authorities that don’t have hospitals, but the Department of Health may not exercise individual operational control of the health authority, but perhaps they do. However, ultimately we must hold the Minister responsible for their funding and oversight. So, obviously, the substantial failures here in reducing claims experience have a negative consequence of large penalties that the GNWT must pay.

Can the Minister confirm that helping the authorities control these costs is not only in the interest of but ultimately the...