Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll be quick. We’ve heard an awful lot today about the value of respite services. These services offer the families an opportunity to care for their children, and rest, and get their children socialized into society.

I attended a Yellowknife Association for Community Living meeting shortly after it came down that the program in Yellowknife had been cancelled. I was pleased at that meeting that I had the opportunity to listen to a young man with autism stand up and speak about how valuable this program is to him. At that time, he stood up and said respite workers helped...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to table a document from the program coordinator at the Yellowknife Family Centre in support of the Yellowknife Association for Community Living’s existing respite program.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services. I talked earlier about the consolidated clinic here in Yellowknife and, once again, I think it’s a great facility and there are great programs that are being offered out of there. But as with new programs, there are some growing pains. I know the Minister has probably heard a lot of these concerns that are brought up by the public. I know that I’ve taken a couple to the Minister and they have been addressed.

What I’m interested in now is in order to ensure that this facility continues to be the...

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Tabled Document 75-16(5), Response to the Joint Review Panel for the Mackenzie Gas Project on the Federal and Territorial Governments’ Interim Response to “Foundation for a Sustainable Northern Future” and would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you.

Go ahead.

I would like to call Committee of the Whole back to order. Prior to the break we agreed to review Tabled Document 75-16(5), which is the Response to the Joint Review Panel for the Mackenzie Gas Project on the Federal and Territorial Governments’ Interim Response to “Foundation for a Sustainable Northern Future.” First on my list is Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Is committee agreed?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just two quick things in closing. I mentioned earlier that I had a constituent who mentioned some difficulties they had accessing the building, especially the interior doors. The individual was in a wheelchair and there was no electronic opener on the door, so it was very difficult. I believe that’s been rectified. If I can get the Minister to confirm that that has in fact been rectified.

The second part is that the Minister has mentioned that this facility is not just a Yellowknife facility, that it is a territorial facility. My question to the Minister is if they have...

I’d like to thank the Minister for that. One of the issues that has come to my attention, and I know it’s come to some of the other Members, has been the telephone system at the clinic itself. There appears to be a lot of frustration. Some people phone and they get busy signals or they get put on hold for extended periods of time. Now, I know that we have some staff issues and we’re trying to staff that place up, which might be part of the problem, but has anything been done to start addressing the amount of time that people are waiting on the telephones or have we put in more people to ensure...