Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Chair. A lot of questions there. Just to be clear, the RFP for Stanton was prepared to ensure the broadest potential options for bidders to develop the most affordable and efficient proposal. The procurement process that we went through does not limit the redevelopment solutions. A full range of proposals were considered for Stanton, including renovation of the existing building and provision of a completely new hospital. A new build proposal was considered, provided that the proposed solution did not include demolition of the existing hospital, and addressed the GNWT’s...

We are trying to ensure that all of our staff are up to date, they understand the policies, they understand the policies that exist. We are actually doing a medical travel review and modernization to improve the medical travel experience. One of the things that we’re doing is focusing on client service and making sure that all of our medical travel staff have gone through and are certified as customer service agents, which means they will be able to work better with our clients.

In the case the Member is describing, I would certainly be happy to look at it to make sure everything worked out, or...

We have the 10 extended care beds at Stanton currently and other than the Dementia Facility... Sorry, that’s it for extended care. So, 10 extended care in the Northwest Territories at this point in time.

For long-term care beds, we have eight in the Tlicho, 22 in the Beaufort-Delta in the Inuvik Hospital, none in Norman Wells at this point in time, 26 in Fort Smith, 25 in Hay River, 17 in Fort Simpson, 28 in Aven Manor and 28 in the Dementia Facility. Then at the hospital we have 10 extended care. So there are 151 long-term care beds and then 10 extended care beds. With the construction of the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s projected to be nine positions that may be affected by this. I will not give the names and the specifics at this point because we want to give the CEO at Stanton the opportunity to talk to the staff and make sure they are fully informed before we release their position which will, in fact, identify the individuals. It is nine facilities maintenance staff. BHP will be taking over the facility’s maintenance of the project effective 2018 when the facility officially opens.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When an individual travels as a medical escort with a patient, there’s an expectation that they will stay with that particular person. We do know that we have people going out for really long periods of time and we actually have a policy that says after 21 days escorts can swap out and we cover those costs. However, if an escort wants to leave before the designated swap-out person, they are technically on the hook for recovering the costs.

Now, we do recognize that the situation the Member is describing has happened and can happen. So, we do have an extenuating...

It’s a little difficult for me to make a commitment to bind future governments in this particular case since the procurement won’t actually happen until the life of the 18th Assembly. But as I said, I will certainly share that information. The department has the information. I’m sure the Department of Public Works and Services has heard what the Member is looking for. I will commit to ensure that that information is shared.

I know the Minister of Finance has indicated they will be providing updates to committees moving forward. That will be in the life of the 18th Assembly. I’m sure that the standing committees responsible and whoever happens to be on Cabinet will be able to set up a protocol to make sure information is being shared in a timely and appropriate way.

We do do that. As I indicated, when the Minister’s Forum on Mental Health and Addictions went out, we heard a number of things: made-in-the-North solutions, on-the-land programming, community counselling, all sorts of different options. People wanted a variety and a range of programs. Facility-based treatment is only one of those options.

We provide money to different Aboriginal governments and organizations around the Northwest Territories to have custom made, regionally specific, culturally appropriate made-in-the-North programs for our residents and those programs are seeing some positive...

Like I said, there has been some interest expressed by Avens to utilize that facility or utilize that opportunity to help them move forward with the expansion of their long-term care facility in Yellowknife. We’ve indicated we’re open to that discussion. If that is something that comes to fruition, obviously it might change our ability to do an open competition as Avens would be the builders and not necessarily us, so I can’t commit on behalf of Avens on how they intend to move forward with the procurement.

If that does not work, we will certainly want to have an open and transparent process to...

There’s money in the current fiscal year that we’re in today and this is money for ’16-17 that will take us through, hopefully, to conclusion of that project.