Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we all know that prevention is the best tool for dealing with alcohol abuse, but there’s always going to be alcohol abuse no matter what and a lot of these people continue to try to go for treatment. A lot of them have to leave home. They come back and I’d like to ask the Minister if he knows, or is aware, of a mechanism in place when they return to their home communities to monitor them after a 28-day treatment session? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Once any information that the Minister can provide, does it have a timeline as to the earliest that they can expect to see a Dialysis Program up in the Beaufort-Delta? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we listen to the people of the Northwest Territories and they tell us that they feel that there is a need for treatment centres in the region. Yet we get a $97,000 report called Stay the Course recommending no need for treatment centres. I’d like to ask this government and the Minister, who are we listening to? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, consideration will be open to all applications, new and existing centres.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize a former resident of Fort Providence, used to be my neighbour, Evelyn Sabourin, who’s now a resident of Yellowknife.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It was interesting listening to all of the discussion going around the room here. Had I known that the deletion of these two positions was going to bring the pipeline to a halt, the government to a standstill, then I wouldn’t have moved it. What I have been hearing is things won’t happen unless we get these two positions. I don’t agree with that. Two hundred ninety-one thousand dollars can go towards a couple of nurses in the communities. Two hundred ninety-one thousand dollars could go to a dialysis machine in the Beaufort-Delta which is going to need one soon. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a common theme we heard in our travels across the Northwest Territories in the last year or so, other than elder abuse, was the fact that a lot of people want to see an Aftercare Program for alcohol and people who are seeking treatment have a couple of options. They can go to southern NWT or they can go to the South. One of the big concerns I know from my region is, again, the Aftercare Program. When they do come back, there really is no programs in place for them.

Mr. Speaker, alcohol is a big part of the Northwest Territories and it’s probably one of the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to move this motion because I feel that we have some positions already dedicated to resource development and with everything slowing down, I don’t see the need, to be quite honest with you, to have two more regional development impact advisory positions in the regions. I am concerned as to where they would go. I have no idea if they are going to be going to Yellowknife, Hay River or Inuvik.

I just feel, Mr. Chair, that we continue to come up with all these titles and put money into it and that money could be better spent, in my opinion, on programs. We have some...

I firmly believe that. I would not stand up and support this if I didn’t practise it. I’m proud of the fact that I can come down to Yellowknife, meet with my colleagues and we don’t go running off to the bar after a hard day of debating Bill No. 8. That’s the type of leadership we need. We shouldn’t be up here saying do as I say not as I do. We have to practise what we preach because you can say all the words that you want, you can talk until you’re blue in the face, but people will see you and they’ll judge you by the way you carry yourself and the kind of lifestyle you lead. So that’s...

My question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

Please provide information on the numbers of clients from the Beaufort-Delta region who attended alcohol and drug treatment centres outside of the region.

Please provide information on the amount of money spent on these clients to travel outside of the region to receive alcohol and drug treatment.

Thank you.