Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that Bill 7, Pharmacy Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill provides for the regulation of the practice of pharmacy in the Northwest Territories. It sets out requirements for registration as a pharmacist and application procedures. The scope of the practice of pharmacy is outlined and penalties are imposed on persons who practice without a licence or temporary permit.

The bill adopts national drug schedules established by the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities. Certain drugs may...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have just indicated, the issue of forced growth, NGOs, how they are funded, how do we build in the ability to recognize cost of living and other forced growth factors has been laid out in broad form to the third-party accountability. People from YACCS have written to myself. I have replied to them. We have a business plan process underway. We are including their requests along with a whole other range of NGOs that we deal with as part of our business planning submission. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we place a very high value on the work that non-government organizations do. As a government, we have done a lot of work, along with the Member’s opposite, on boards and agencies to try to look at how we rationalize that whole area of service. As well, we have developed a third-party accountability framework which is now in place that we are working on and using as a government. As we look at dealing with some of these issues, we have moved into multi-year funding contracts. When it comes to YACCS, we are working with them on a number of their issues...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I’d be very happy to arrange a full detailed briefing with GED if they are interested in getting updated on all the work that’s been done, the methodologies used, the kind of work that they’ve done, the areas that they’ve covered with their surveys. I’d also be more than happy to share with the Members the extensive recommendations we’ve received over the years from the wildlife boards in terms of wildlife management that we have dealt with, responded to and accepted and that we worked hand in glove with the wildlife boards on a daily basis, including...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct; there has never been a territorial gathering to discuss the broad issue of caribou and all the various herds and all the issues that are at play here. The intent is to do that in the coming months, once all the census work and survey work is in. We have to look at what the numbers tell us. We have to try and factor in the hunting, the predation, the climate change, the development issues, and it’s a very complex issue. In the meantime, we can’t sit here in a vacuum. We have taken steps with the information that is available. We have...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we’ve been working very diligently here for almost a year on this particular issue. We’ve been consulting. It’s a question of us getting our own house in order, getting our numbers clear, getting within the Northwest Territories a consensus on first the situation and then looking at recommendations and next steps. We as well have been in contact with our other jurisdictions, with Nunavut, with the Yukon, with Alberta, with Saskatchewan, on these issues as well. But before we launch into some major interjurisdictional gathering, we have to do our own...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize Paulette Panzeri, the director general for human resources for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada who is also my older sister and it’s the first time I’ve had the opportunity to welcome her to this House.

---Applause

I’d also like to recognize Mr. Daryl Dolynny, a pharmacist who works at Shoppers Drug Mart, past-president of NWT Pharmacies Association who has been very instrumental in the work we’ve been doing on getting a Pharmacy Act brought forward.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that Bill 7, Pharmacy Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first to the issue of a gathering of the stakeholders in the Northwest Territories. I’ve indicated in this House just a few minutes ago that in fact we’re working on that as we speak. Planning is underway. I’ve made public announcements to that effect that once all the information is in, we are going to gather all the players together and we’re going to sit down and we’re going to look at what the information is, what it tells us, and start mapping out the next steps.

In the issue of consumption, Mr. Speaker, there are some areas that need further work. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there has been extensive meetings and consultation across the Northwest Territories on the issue of caribou management. We just recently prepared and released an NWT Barren-ground Caribou Management Strategy that links all the pieces, the work that’s been done on the differing herds. As we speak, work is underway for a major gathering, what I have also been referring to publicly for the past couple months as a caribou summit. In the coming year, once all the information is in from all the various censuses that are currently underway, and surveys. Thank you.