Daryl Dolynny

Mr. Speaker, it appears that the issue is probably more widespread than we are probably led to believe. As a long-time businessman and someone who is an academic, I know that you can’t do decisions unless you have good information, and to make some good decisions, you need the truth and you need the facts. We need to drill down information, as I just asked earlier here. We need those types of specific information. We need to do that type of research.

I will be asking the Minister here today if he thinks that we should be funding NWTTA a little bit more so they can drill down and provide us more...

Total department, Transportation, not previously authorized, $48.183 million. Does committee agree?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think all Members of this House will agree that teachers are intrinsic to the successful future of our young residents and, indeed, to the future of this territory, and so we need to make sure we take proper care of them. That means providing adequate housing where it is needed.

We are all aware of the multitude of needs in our small communities, and Members constantly press the government to make meaningful investments to help our constituents. An investment in teachers who guide and prepare students to fulfill a productive life is no less meaningful and long overdue...

Page 14, marine, not previously authorized, $656,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can assure you that the rest of Alberta is having the same concerns as many NWT residents have in terms of the quality of the care in this transfer program. It’s not just the NWT.

Finally, we have the issue of contract and cost, with this new Alberta Health Service’s offering. Can the Minister indicate what the so-called new, improved drop-off services is costing NWT taxpayers and how long is this contract?

On the subject of handing over our patients to a contractor, we’ve all heard that this new Air Operations Centre is in the same hangar space of the so-called STARS helicopter. So can the Minister indicate to this House how many times has this STARS helicopter been used in the last two weeks to transport our NWT critical care patients to Edmonton hospital emergency wards?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not more than two weeks ago, the residents of NWT woke up to the new GNWT medevac program for patients who normally would be transferred to the downtown Edmonton municipal airport were now being taken to the new air ambulance operations at the International airport. What is interesting is that our Minister of Health and Social Services, in a recent press release announcing this new service, indicated that they have achieved their goal in improving the quality of patient care. I’m not sure about you, but adding over 35 minutes to the backend of patient travel is not, in...

In my statement earlier today, I spoke about the new barriers of effective patient transfer that we’re now exposed to. Many of these barriers dealt with the lack of continuity of patient care, increased communication errors potential with multiple patient or practitioner interventions and the patient’s undue stress with these new imposed drop-off services. Can the Minister indicate how his department is dealing with all of these shortfalls? Thank you.