Glen Abernethy

A couple of different reasons; the long-term care facility is going to be significantly larger than the long-term care facility that we have today. We are moving to a 48-bed facility in that community in that region, so it is going to be significantly larger than the one that is there today. When you look at the footprints that are available to us in the community, if you look at a health centre and a long-term care facility on the land that is available to us, we can't get, I think, the whole footprint onto similar properties, which is the reality of the community and the property that is...

It won't be in the life of this government, and I would hate to presuppose what the priorities of the next Assembly are going to be. Unfortunately, as much as I would love to give the Member an answer saying, "This will happen on X date," I just can't do it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We received an early draft in the middle of July, and it did raise a number of questions about some of the findings based on the data. Clearly it indicated that there were some difficulties getting some of the data. We had to confirm some of the data. We sent back some comments and some updates on the data to make sure that the contractor had accurate information in their assessments and in their provision of recommendations.

I have been told by the department earlier today that we will get that report at the end of August. We will make it available. It likely will not come to the existing MLAs...

I have gone one step further than that. I have actually asked them to include it in transition materials coming from this department to the committees and to all new elected Members so that they can make an informed decision. As far as the LP, we have a process and protocols on how LPs work. It will come from a Minister, and it will go to committee, who have an opportunity to suggest amendments, changes, or reject or accept. There will be definite interaction moving this LP forward, as any. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents entitled "Report on Senior's Access to Government of the Northwest Territories Programs and Services"; and "What We Heard Report - Continued Care Facilities Legislation for the Northwest Territories." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is kind of difficult to answer that question because we aren't actually sure what the federal government is going to do in this particular area. The question may, unfortunately, be a little premature, but what I can say is that we are watching this very closely. Regardless of which government makes up the federal government in the next term, I am hopeful and optimistic that they will continue to work on pharmacare, and we as a government should and must continue to make sure that our voice is heard during those discussions, but frankly I think it's a little early to speculate on what it...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With respect to the national Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare, we did have an opportunity to make presentation to the council, and we outlined the challenges of providing healthcare in the Northwest Territories. We outlined the different public benefit plans that we administer here in the Government of the Northwest Territories, our Extended Health Benefits. We talked about the trends over the last ten years so that they could see where some of the usage is or uptake in some of the prescription drugs that are being utilized here in the...

The premise of Building Stronger Families is finding ways to support families so that children do not have to be apprehended. This could be as simple as providing diapers or food to an individual family who might be in crisis at a particular point. We have done a pilot in Behchoko where we actually covered individuals' rent for a couple of weeks when they were in crisis, because we believe that, if those individuals had been taken out of their homes, it would have also resulted in a direct apprehension. We are looking at spreading these concepts and these ideas out across the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In coming up with the quality improvement plan, we did actually have more actions that we would like to have pursued, but we did reach out to our staff. We did reach out to stakeholders who indicated that some of them would be very difficult, given that it is a two-year plan. As a result, we did reduce the number of actions. We modified some timelines. We stretched this out over two years. Many of these actions are policy-based. We are modifying our policies to be consistent and current, and we feel at this time that the plan we have is doable within the two-year time...

Given that the MoU hasn't been completed yet, the standard operating procedures that we have negotiated with Fort Liard actually give us a roadmap, if you will, that the residents of Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte can use. As these procedures unfold, a more formalized MoU between BC and the Northwest Territories can be developed, but we want to see how these procedures work to make sure they're actually doing things that actually provide benefit that will help inform the MoU. That work will continue. It likely will not occur in the life of this government, the last week that we have, but it will...