Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Next on my list is Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Aumond.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister McLeod.

Agreed. Thank you, Mr. Minister. If I could get the Sergeant-at-Arms to please bring the witnesses in. I was just a little excited. Get on with it, you know? Good chair, good chair.

Thank you. Mr. Minister, can I please get you to introduce your witness.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. We’re going to defer page 7-2 until we have completed the detail. Is committee agreed?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’ll be talking about the Yellowknife Association for Community Living’s respite program and the support it provides to residents of Yellowknife.

Last night I had the honour of attending a YACL family networking meeting. This meeting is a regular meeting of families who have children and adults with intellectual challenges. Parents met last night to discuss the respite funding cuts and the impact it would have on their families. It was a powerful meeting, Mr. Speaker.

Today I would like to tell you about the respite program. The program has been in effect since...

Mr. Speaker, I understand that there was some time limit on this and that this was a pilot study. This was also tied to the THAF funding which was originally cut and there wasn’t going to be any of it for this year, but the THAF funding has been extended for this year and next year. I am curious why it was tied to that funding originally. Why would we only extend this program for one year when we have the THAF funding for two years? Why are we differentiating between these programs and cutting off at 2010-11 when we have money until 2011-12?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services and are related to the respite program. It is delivered at the Yellowknife Association of Community Living. The association has received a letter from Yellowknife Health and Social Services saying that their funding for the 2011-12 fiscal year has been cancelled; therefore, there will be no respite program at this association. I was wondering if I could get the Minister to tell me if we could get that money reinstated to continue that program on for a longer period of time. Thank you.