Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I attempted to lay out the packages that were in the component pieces yesterday where, before we can move on to Stanton, we wanted to do the facilities review that would help us look at rationalizing our over-capacity on acute care beds to make some clear decisions on the types of programs that are going to be available. Before we could do any further work on Stanton as well, we wanted…an emergency where there was $6 million in the budget, it became clear that studies tell us that over 50 percent of the people coming into emergency for care are non-emergent care...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of work done on what causes the various cancers. Very clearly, in many cases, the cancers come back to some very fundamental basic issues that I have raised in this House before. They come back to the diet, exercise, smoking and drinking as things that are very significant in causing heart and lung problems, kidney problems, liver problems, all sorts of circulatory problems. So there are some very fundamental basic issues there that contribute to the cancers and diabetes. That evidence is clear. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We spent $850,000 for the line last year. The nature of the calls -- and we made a point of trying to publicize this as far and wide as we can -- are not for what would be seen as a medical emergency. It is for advice. It could range from a young mother calling because their baby has sniffles, to somebody that may have a question to do with a medication or a potential side effect that they think they may be suffering. There is a wide range, but the intent is to be able to give access to northerners to ask the questions that would not make it necessary for them to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there has been work done looking at what would be required to modernize and rewrite this legislation. We are going to continue to pay as much attention as we can to that issue as we try to conclude with major pieces of legislation currently underway. It comes down to a capacity and resource issue. The Member’s points are all accurate and valid. This is an outdated piece of legislation. We will make our best efforts to make sure that we have as much work done so that, at the start of the next Assembly, it can be picked up and moved forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I don’t disagree at all with the Member’s assessment of the value of the volunteer firefighting and ambulance services in Hay River. The same can be said in every community that has volunteers, that without volunteers, we would be unable to provide many services. I will honour the commitment I made in the House, which is we will sit down and we will look with the other departments that the Member mentioned in her statement, it was being MACA I believe, and ITI, and we will work with community of Hay River and volunteer firefighting and ambulance services...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, doctors would confirm that, in fact, a significant amount of their practice is tied to mental health issues and related circumstances, as are most other health practitioners. We have a significant amount of resources. We have a $265 million budget. A lot of it is focussed on nurses, doctors, social workers, wellness workers and mental health workers. There will always be more problems than we have resources for. The issue is to make sure that, I think, the resources we have are put to the most effective use and that our plan for the future reflects...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am assuming that universal numbers are going to be sufficient. We can give to the Member the number of allied health professionals, as well as doctors and nurses and such that we currently have on staff, or that we are funded for, as well as lay out from this budget what is currently before this House for 2006-2007.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, there is money that’s been put aside for this winter as we continue to work on a longer-term homelessness strategy or strategy for the homeless. There’s some money that’s been identified for Yellowknife and Inuvik and some in Hay River. As well, there’s a fund of $150,000, I believe, that’s been set aside for small communities to use on a case-by-case basis should there be circumstances that arise as there has been over the last number of months. It allows us to, on a short-term emergency basis, deal with those individuals that are called absolutely...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll just quickly outline some of the many factors that we think are affecting not only the Bathurst herd, but the herds in general. There's things called weather events where we experience a lot of freezing rain in the last number of years during the winter that has frozen the ground making it very, very difficult for the animals to feed. There's concern that the number of predators is very large and extreme. There are hunting issues. There's more roads now and access to hunting than there's ever been before. There are development issues. So those...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In fact, we anticipate, and we are starting to see, an improvement in our HR services now that we are consolidating, being more efficient and coordinating our efforts. The problems with nurses have long preceded the fact that we have consolidated HR. We continue to struggle nationally and internationally with a shortage of nurses. We have spent millions, as I have said, beefing up and coming up with a very good nursing program in the Northwest Territories. As well, we are also going to be developing an improved program for licensed practical nurses which will allow...