Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have yet to see the report, so I have no idea what the specific recommendations are. But I can tell the Member that as we plan in our budget that's before this House, for example, to deal with all the program issues as they affect communities, we build in forced growth. If we have a new initiative, we try to account for all the needs and requirements of communities. But I have yet to see the consultant's report or the specific recommendations. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the recommendations in the Chalmers Report haven’t been fully assessed and we are working on our response of how we are going to incorporate those. What is in the budget, though, is the third year funding for the Mental Health and Addictions Strategy, which we haven’t fully implemented yet pending the outcome of the Chalmers Report, which will give us some flexibility to be able to respond to some of the recommendations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as I indicated in this House initially, yesterday when the question came up about the Stanton renovations, there’s a link with the three projects, Stanton, Hay River and Smith, in terms of trying to have the work being done in terms of the master plan and design done in a coordinated way. The money is still in the budget. The last time I met with the board, there was a concern to see -- given the fact that in some people’s mind it may be better value for money -- to look at building new versus renovating. When the final assessment was done of the health...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I first met Father Pochat, who was an oblate priest back in the early ‘60s when I had the good fortune to go to Grandin College. At that time, he was instrumental…He ran the program. As I went through that program, so did may esteemed northerners whom we all know: former Premiers Kakfwi, Sibbeston, Antoine; former Member of Parliament, Ethel Blondin-Andrew. There are hundreds of people who have gone on to very productive careers: chiefs; businesspeople; good, strong government leaders; our secretary to Cabinet. He was tremendously instrumental in the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I can appreciate the Member’s concern and frustration because it is an issue that, as I have indicated, gets a lot of traffic with MLAs through the Minister of Health’s office. The circumstance is as the Member said, it provokes a response and it’s not always as cut and dried as it would seem, that’s why we end up with these calls that something hasn’t worked. What I will commit to the Member to do is we will layout what we are doing, what we are going to do to improve the service. As well, we will come back with our assessment, a specific written...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Member is correct that this is a concern that has been raised by other Members, but, very quickly, I will touch on the issues that I’ve noted. We are, as I’ve told the Member the last time he raised this issue in the House, we are continuing to struggle with getting adequate nursing and nurses in small communities. I did talk yesterday about things we’re working on with corporate human resources and the department in terms of setting up our own permanent float pools that we could establish, having one out of Inuvik and one out of Yellowknife.

In terms...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I don't have the letter before me. Once again, I can only assume that it's an average, because I do know that we spend significant amounts of money down south, as well. It is, on a dollar basis, in most cases cheaper to have children down south, but oftentimes we send children down south because they have a complexity of need that's not able to be met in the North.

I guess the other value that I would suggest is it's hard to put a dollar figure on them when you have children treated in the North, as the value of having them close to home within an...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we are expecting that before the end of summer, or by the end of summer, early fall, the design work that’s currently underway will be done and that we will be building, as per Cabinet direction, this particular item into the upcoming capital planning process for ‘07-08. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I will say that planning is proceeding in pace, as has been laid out for the committee. I will ask, with your indulgence, Mr. Chair, that Mr. Murray speak to the detail of how things are proceeding. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a considerable amount of work being done with the nurses and the public health through the authorities to make individuals aware of the benefits of regular checkups which is one of the fundamental first steps not only in the case of breast cancer, but for others as well to get the regular checkups to check out specific concerns. As well, there are posters and such that are out there to encourage ladies to get checked and go to their local health station. If there are any signs of issues, they will make arrangements for referrals. Thank you.