Glen Abernethy

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to recognize the executive director from the Seniors' Society of the Northwest Territories, who helped us with the seniors' report that I will be tabling later today, Ms. Suzette Montreuil. Welcome.

Canadian patent medicine prices are among the highest in the world, here in Canada. In fact, I think we're the third highest, behind Switzerland and the United States. That's not something I think Canadians should be super proud of. On August 9th, Health Canada did announce, as the Member said, amendments to the Patented Medicine Regulations. The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board is reviewing and examining the newly released amendments to the Patented Medicine Regulations and will identify any changes that may warrant an adjustment to its proposed guidelines framework and further considers...

The national Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare Report actually did include some recommendations as to what measures that the federal government should take with respect to a formulary. This advice, obviously, is going to be considered by the Government of Canada on how best to implement national pharmacare. If it does move ahead, and if there is a national formulary list, the NWT will have an option to maintain a regional supplementary formulary to address any of the specific needs that exist.

However, it is my understanding that, if we do have a secondary...

As the Member for Yellowknife Centre has already pointed out, we do have a significantly large action plan with 70 items, and our staff have been quite busy. As a result, we have not done that additional research on a child advocate at this point. However, I would like to note that I was a member of the committee that did a review of the implementation of child and family services in the 16th Assembly, and, at that time, I and my colleagues had an opportunity to go and meet with child advocates from other jurisdictions and learn about the roles that they provide. A child advocate tends to be...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to request a recorded vote.

Yes, there are dollars allocated for this program. We had, obviously, hoped that we would be able to deliver this program almost two years ago, but we have had difficulty getting interest in delivery, but yes, there is money in the budget for this service.