Glen Abernethy

In this process we don’t want to dictate to any of the communities or regions what project would be appropriate for them. This is a community-driven initiative. So it’s what the community wishes to see and how the community wishes to see it unroll.

As I said to Member Blake yesterday, we’re there to add clinical advice and expertise if they seek it, and if they want some of our people there, we’re willing to participate as well. So if they want a youth program, they can have a youth program. Thank you.

I’m glad the Member’s actually brought this up. Our human resources are significantly the largest driver of costs in the health care system. Our employees are highly trained and compensated accordingly, and there are significant costs there. Overtime is a massive deal. I’ve asked the department, and they’ve already begun the work on doing a complete analysis of overtime usage throughout the Northwest Territories in different authorities. They’ve actually started that work now to help us figure out what, if any, areas are driving overtime to greater degrees than other areas. Trying to dig in to...

The Early Childhood Development Action Plan was based on two years of research and best practices across the country and the world. So, yes.

It is certainly something that we’re looking at doing, but at the same time we’re engaged in a significant number of initiatives and every time we’re pulled off by committee or another group to do another analysis, another research project, it has to be done by the staff that we have and there’s a number of major priorities that were set by the 17th Legislative Assembly’s Caucus that we’re working on. We’re progressing and it’s in the queue and the work will be done. Thank you.

Yes, Madam Chair, we do believe that there will be opportunities to get some economies of scale and reduce some expenditures in some areas, but the overall price of delivering health care in the Northwest Territories continues to climb. We’re not going to turn patients away and the cost continues to climb. So we don’t see an overall savings in this activity, but we do see an opportunity to save in certain areas, have some economies of scale, control future growth of expenditures and make sure that we’re getting maximum benefit for all the dollars that we’re spending within the system. So, yes...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As far as time frames are concerned, a number of the items that the deputy described are actually well in progress. Some of them have actually been concluded and others are going to take a bit more time. I will get the department to put together some estimates on timelines for the ones that are outstanding but also articulate which ones have already been done and which ones are currently in progress. I will get that to the Members as soon as I can.

The Stanton diabetes education program had a territorial focus and it was delivered in Stanton. The program did some visiting...

There is an increase. The department has budgeted $250,000. The city has contributed $50,000, so there is only $250,000 shown in the budget and I believe it’s in a different section than the one we’re currently in. I believe it’s in community health programs. So it’s in two parts, in the Anti-Poverty Fund and also in mental health and addictions. It’s $250,000 coming from us. The price tag is a little bit higher. For this fiscal year, we were able to get some one-time funding from some of the other departments in the GNWT, Justice and ECE. We’ll be seeking additional supports from other...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There actually is a significant amount of interest in the Deh Cho and we have been working with a variety of groups in the Deh Cho to determine what the best approach is for the residents of the Deh Cho. So as that work progresses, I’d certainly be happy to keep the Member updated. Thank you.

Thank you. As we move forward to an integrated health and social services system here in the Northwest Territories to improve services for the residents of the Northwest Territories, we will be developing a new funding model that will fund the one authority, and once we have done that and we are able to work as a system we’ll start to see where some of the cost drivers and demands are, which will help us articulate where we need to spend money in a way that it doesn’t currently tell us because there are, in fact, eight significantly different authorities and decisions are being made in ways...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is no real lead to early childhood development. We have an effective working relationship between Health and Social Services and the department. We’re working closely together and our staff are meeting regularly on the implementation of the individual items. Some of the items are education-specific; some of the items are health-specific, but many of the items are collaborative. We’re doing our best to break down the barriers, destroy the silos in this particular area. I wouldn’t say that there is a lead department. I’d say there’s an effective and collaborative...