Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. Regular MLAs have become accustomed to the lack of consultation around this government's engagement with the federal government. Examples of this include:

no consultation prior to signing the pan Canadian framework on climate change;

no input into the NWT position before signing off on a 10-year health accord that means less than the original offer;

no consultation on priorities taken to Ottawa during a week-long entire Cabinet visit on climate change priorities; and

very few meetings of Regular MLAs with federal Ministers during visits to the Northwest Territories...

Sorry. Thanks, Mr. Chair. So it sounds like the earliest there's actually going to be any funding made available is 2018-19, is that what I'm hearing? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Well, that is great to see that we are finally going to go out. Does he have a timeline, though, for this work? Like, this has been dragging on for years, so is there a timeline for these consultations? When is there going to be a report that comes out of the consultation, and then probably you have to develop an action plan, then it has to go to FMB for funding, like, this is just going to go on forever. Does the Minister actually have any particular timelines? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I would certainly encourage the Minister, whether he has the permission of his Cabinet colleagues or not, to continue to push for a national pharmacare program and work with provincial and territorial Ministers towards that. I know we had the federal Health Minister just here, and I hope he took that opportunity to talk with her about a national pharmacare program. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. What additional kinds of efficiencies could we see here if we had a national pharmacare program, and what are we doing about that? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Same page. One line down there is a reduction from 2016-17 to 2017-18 for pharmacy. Can the Minister or his officials explain the decrease there? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the response from the Minister. Can he, though, provide some assurance that there have been consultations, particularly with the Council for the Disabled? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I'm happy to wait, Mr. Chair. I might have another question. Is this where there might be some discussion of the action plan on disabilities?

No further questions. Thank, you, Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I want to start off with some good things, and I did mention this in my reply to the budget address, but there are some good things in this budget. There is some extra money in here for extended hours for a homeless shelter here in Yellowknife. There's also some additional money for a sobering centre here in Yellowknife. Those are some of the good things in here.

One of the biggest issues for me with this particular budget is the sustainability of our healthcare system, and this was something that was raised to me during a recent constituency meeting, as well. We want to give...