Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just for the record with respect to the health care system in the Northwest Territories, I agree with everything the Minister just said. I believe we have a fantastic health care system in the Northwest Territories. I also believe we are under significant challenges. Could we be better? Absolutely. Could we be doing more in the small communities? Please, yes, let’s do that. But we have a pretty good health care system in the Northwest Territories when we compare it to other jurisdictions.

I think what you’re sensing here is some frustration in the fact that we, as Regular...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Data is essential to any program, policy and evaluation of any program and policy. I’m concerned that with the elimination of the requirement for the long-form census, the data we are going to get is going to be subject. The quality of the data is going to be in question and we rely on that data to make informed decisions in this House and in this government. So I’m very concerned about the elimination of the requirement for the long-form census. I’m curious how the federal government intends to make decisions without that data. It’s a concern and, as a result, I’m...

Okay, so following along my colleague’s line there, so what the department is proposing, and I support, is first insurance, then if you still have some costs, then our existing Supplementary Health Program, which includes costs for catastrophic costs if you have a catastrophic condition. You can still access that program today; we’re just asking you to help us help you by utilizing your insurance first. Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to the Minister’s last comment with the supplementary or extended health benefits, “there’s no need for a Catastrophic Drug Program.” I’m not sure if I understand what the Minister means by that. Can she explain that to me? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Optimism is starting to creep back up. That is basically what we needed to hear, is that this is a work plan and not an implementation plan. A work plan may have implementation steps further down. We can’t implement things without it.

I want to talk to another statement that the Minister made that caused me some concern. Based on where we are today, we’re status quo, which is unfortunate but it is what it is. We do have to move forward on finding some ways to help the low-income people and I think that should continue to be a priority. But the Minister said that if we didn’t rescind this policy...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For an hour this morning I was very pleased and very optimistic. When the Minister came out and said they’ve rescinded the Supplementary Health Benefits Policy that was great news. Unfortunately, since then I’ve heard a bunch of my colleagues ask some questions and I’ve heard responses from the Minister, and that optimism is pretty much gone. Mostly from one statement.

The Minister said that the problem with supp health is that people just don’t want changes to the supp health. That is not true. That is not true at all. I’ve heard people talk about changes. People do...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ditto. I’d like to thank the Minister for her Member’s statement today.

Frankly, the Executive Council’s decision to rescind the 2007 policy on supplemental health benefits is a great step forward. Since this policy came into place and it was passed by the 15th Assembly in their dying days, it’s caused nothing but problems. It’s fundamentally flawed.

Sure, something needs to be done. We can’t argue that. We need to find a way to provide support to the low-income families who don’t have access to insurance or can’t get insurance. Clearly, that needs to be done. We’ve...

Total department, not previously authorized, $34.214 million.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree. I think what the Minister is doing is highlighting the fact that this still requires a significant amount of work and earlier she mentioned that it’s not an implementation plan she’s bringing forward next week. It’s a work plan, which is what we needed to hear; implementation plan/work plan are significantly different things. So I’m happy about that. The Minister has already agreed to work with us on this side of the House about that implementation plan. So I just realized I don’t have a question, so I’ll sit down.

So just for clarity for the public, the status quo includes an Extended Health Benefits Program that includes coverage for seniors, coverage for catastrophic costs and coverage for Metis. But I think what my colleagues were asking is do aboriginal individuals who are currently covered by NIHB, if they have a catastrophic condition, they are covered by their insurance hopefully first, and then they’re covered by NIHB to a top-up, but their costs would still be significant. So under our existing programs, aboriginal people who have catastrophic conditions can still receive some top-up today. Is...