Daryl Dolynny

I’m hearing a bit of a tonality of defiance here that it’s not my job to be doing this, which is quite puzzling, because HR, really, is the funnelling aspect that departments look upon to create this so-called safety culture net.

We heard about a contractor. Is this the gold standard? Are we using this contractor to provide these training programs, and if so, are these training programs system-wide for all departments to use?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What was touted as a band-aid approach upon closure of the only territorial addictions treatment centre in the NWT, our current Minister of Health and Social Services assured all Northerners the southern withdrawal management and treatment services would be temporary.

If we fast-forward to today, we see this temporary promise is now permanently enshrined in policy. Therefore, the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Government Operations from its work on Bill 24, An Act to Amend the Liquor Act, the government commissioned a report to look at the best options for...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The issue of workplace safety comes under this activity summary, and with that my question goes to the Minister here. What does the GNWT do, specifically the Department of HR, to support a culture of safety within the GNWT?

I guess it’s a simple question. Again, we know that if the department feels that it’s had the right number of people working within that department I will abide by his stewardship. The question is that we knew, the department knew that this collective bargaining increase was imminent. It wasn’t as if this was something that was coming out of thin air. We know every year there’s an increase. What is the department doing to mitigate that increase to offset so that we’re not increasing our forced growth expenditures by 2.9 percent? What could we have done differently to bring our expenditure...

Just so I can get proper clarification, the Member here wasn’t asking for detail reports from each of the respective departments. The Member is asking for a template of what type of report is available that describes the type of information that could be extracted if asked for. I just have to get a feeling for what PeopleSoft can offer, and I need to get a feel exactly what are the parameters of reporting available to us so that we as Members or committee can provide the proper oversight and transparency for public dollars. That was my question as I think we needed clarification on that.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d just like to continue on my questions here regarding this activity under the topic of overtime. I agree with what I’m hearing here today. But what steps does the Department of HR provide all the other departments in helping all the managements apply that the overtime rules are applied consistently? What tools are being used by HR to provide that?

Good afternoon, committee. I would like to call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of the committee? Ms. Bisaro.

I’m trying to create a pattern of a department dragging its heels. In February 2013 the deputy minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Debbie DeLancey, stated in this Legislative Assembly, “We need to look at our catastrophic drug coverage, expense of drugs and possible review of our formulary.”

Can the Minister indicate why his department had not followed through with this promise two years ago? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Two days ago was World Cancer Day where it was said one in 10 patients don’t take the medication they need due to cost. Earlier today I mentioned the fact that the GNWT is one of the few jurisdictions left in Canada without a catastrophic drug coverage plan. Under the current Extended Health Benefits Program, the GNWT does cover many diseases and conditions under a plagued, misaligned NIHB formulary while other conditions are sorted through a complicated consortium of case-by-case management policies. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services...

I could dissect our Pharmacare program ad nauseam with my two decades of private practice and advocacy on this topic. So let me just say that in a 2012 review of policy options prepared by the Alberta Blue Cross, it was noted that this NIHB formulary did not align with coverage in many provincial jurisdictions including Alberta and, of course, our own NWT Extended Health Benefits Program. Add all this up, the GNWT continues to still use a flawed, square design to deal with a round hole when it comes to those who cannot afford their medication.

So yes, Mr. Speaker, I will have questions later...