Kevin O'Reilly

I want to thank the Minister for that. It sounds like the backlog is going to be taken care of maybe before the end of March, and I really do appreciate that. These problems with the sterilization equipment, though, appear to have started soon after the new building was opened. Of course, this was a very large public-private partnership P3 arrangement, so I want to know from the Minister if she can tell us what the total cost of the investigations and delays were and who is responsible for these costs?

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. The problem with sterilization equipment at Stanton hospital began in July 2020 and took almost six months to resolve. I do want to acknowledge that the new Minister certainly updated the public and myself more regularly when she took over the portfolio and did contact residents who were waiting, but I still have a basic question. What was the cause of the problem with the sterilization equipment, and has it been permanently fixed? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks. That's something I will just continue to keep an eye on, and I want to thank the Minister and his staff for the collaborative exchange. Thank you.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. My last area of questions here is with regard to legislative drafting. I know the Minister and I had an exchange in the House the other day that was a little bit mischaracterized by some in the media. How many people do we actually have in the legislative division that support the development of legislation, or is this function actually in each of the departments? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I have a couple of questions here. There were some media reports about, basically, implementation of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. I had understood that regulations were required first before the full changes that were passed in the last Assembly, almost two years ago, could be brought into force. Perhaps the Minister can provide some clarification of where we're at with the implementation? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I know how much the Minister of Justice likes my questions on this area. I had understood that OROGO had retained a third party to do an assessment of their resourcing needs, recognizing that there hasn't been any oil and gas activity here now in years, or very little, shall we say. Has that consultant or the contractor been hired, and when is a report expected? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I just want to add my voice to the call for more resources for victim services. I raised this in the last Assembly, the Minister knows well. I pushed his predecessor to conduct a review. The review was done. I think it was done well. The report of the evaluation, though, is dated April 30, 2020, so the department has now had it for almost 10 months. I really want to urge the Minister to work with his staff to get the departmental response. I know the evaluation report came in during the pandemic, but I really want to encourage that the department develop a full response, a...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that financial information. Of course, finally, I think it's important to know whether the -- we have cleared up the backlog, but I just want to get some reassurance from the Minister that this is not going to happen again, so can the Minister tell me what the likelihood is that the problems will re-occur? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the Minister for that. Of course, during the problems over the last six months, patients were often left in pain, and really, many surgeries were delayed. I just want to get some reassurance from the Minister whether there is still a backlog of surgeries and whether that has been cleared up.

Merci, Monsieur le President. The problems with sterilization of instruments and equipment at Stanton Territorial Hospital appear to be over based on a January 14, 2021, update posted on the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority website. The issues began last July 23 when the hospital's three sterilizer units simultaneously started producing instruments contaminated by moisture. This means the instruments couldn't be considered sterile because moisture can attract bacteria. A series of eight public updates were issued beginning on July 24 and became much more regular and...