Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, there is a working group currently reviewing this issue and will be looking at all the recommendations. I am sure that they will be giving us suggestions on the best way for this program to be covered. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Member raises a good point and I will look into it, as he has requested. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, this is a program and a service that is required, and we are going to take the steps necessary to ensure that we can provide the service required with as much of the service as possible delivered in the North in terms of full-scale testing, all that can be done as well as the follow-up that is needed. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, decisions are made in Cabinet, based on papers that are brought forward laying out background and recommendations on a particular issue. In this case, that’s the process that was carried out with this decision. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to thank the Member for Sahtu for recognizing my constituent for me, Mr. Sonny MacDonald, the band councillor for the Salt River First Nations, chair of the Arts Council for the Northwest Territories, a renowned carver and a friend from Fort Smith, Thebacha. Thank you.

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Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, a decision paper was taken to Cabinet in March. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, this is planning money. We’ve been working with YACCS over the last couple of years to move this project along. It’s tied into a broader facilities plan to deal with the cognitively impaired and long-term care resources required across the North. At this point, we’ve committed to the planning dollars. There have been suggestions about how it could be financed, but there’s clearly more work that has to be done. It also has to be taken through due process once the design and everything is agreed to. There is a process that has to be followed with...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, as far as I am aware, we have made a commitment to free up some funding to allow that planning to proceed. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, this is a very thinly veiled discussion of a very personal issue involving a specific individual that the Member has done everything but name, and it’s not appropriate for me to comment in this House. I would be more than happy to talk to her about what is transpiring in this particular situation, but it is not appropriate to discuss it in this House. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. There is about a six-week training component to get nurses and LPNs qualified and ready to provide this service. That service has been delivered out of Stanton for those individuals involved. Of course, we recognize this as a program expansion in the communities where the service is being delivered and recognize that it’s impossible to expect them to do it with existing resources, so we are moving to make sure that the appropriate resources are there, both in terms of human resources and fiscal resources. Thank you.