Sandy Lee

Mr. Speaker, as I’ve already indicated, I could give him a table of all the dollars we spend for all of these facilities, which we are glad to do. I know that these organizations were saying that they could always use more money. Now, I state again that I’m willing to work with the NGOs and the city government to resolve this issue. I remain, unless I’m convinced otherwise, that this is a municipal issue. They have the capacity and wherewithal to address that.

Mr. Speaker, I believe the Member is trying to say Signal Pointe facility based in Calgary. I want to tell you, and I’m sure he knows from talking to YACCS, that this new facility has three kitchens. It will be a beautiful facility. It’s a facility that’s very much required in the Territories. It will allow us to take our elders who are suffering from dementia into extended care, some of them for ten to 12 years. It will take care of elders who are being sent away from Yellowknife. It will be a wonderful facility, very needed, and the seniors will be very well taken care of. The Member should...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to say this must be a story of embarrassment of riches. I have to say that per square foot, or by any measure, this government — the Department of Health and Social Services, ECE, Housing, you name it — pours more money into downtown Yellowknife than anywhere else in the territory.

Mr. Speaker, we fund the Salvation Army. We poured millions of dollars into the Salvation Army, Bailey House, SideDoor youth centre, Centre for Northern Families. We fund the Yellowknife Association for Community Living. We fund the YWCA. I say a large portion of our capital funding...

Yes, I do agree that the local community individuals and organizations and leadership have to be at the forefront in dealing with this issue. I would be happy to make that commitment to work in that way toward that.

Yes, I’d be happy to work with the Member on that. Sahtu, as a health authority and health and social services region, has been working really well to improve programs and services there. In order to make real investments, though, and to make a difference and build capacity in communities, we need to do more than just find one program money here, one program money there. I’m interested in changing the policy to see how we could build capacity and put real focus in healing and wellness at the community level. I am working on the proposal, and I look forward to working with the Members as we go...

Notwithstanding this particular situation, most of the feedback we do receive is that we get very good service from Capital Health. Capital Health Authority and the services that the Government of Alberta provide are, I believe, among the best. I just don’t know where else we would go to get the services that our residents receive.

Mr. Speaker, we have a contract with the Capital Health Authority. They guarantee that NWT residents will receive the same level of medical care that Alberta residents will receive.

I did what I think the Member expects a Minister to do. When the patient’s husband called me at my office and told me what was going on, I directed the department to look into it. That is what I did. And I was advised of what was going on in between some of the actions the government was taking.

So, Mr. Speaker, I am responsible as the Minister of Health and Social Services and as a Member of this Assembly to respond to calls I get at my office, and that is what I did on Monday. I am willing to have the department review this file and also look to see what had happened and what we could do to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am always willing to take responsibility and apologize where necessary, but I am not sure if I could apologize on behalf of the services provided by the Government of Alberta. I am not the Minister in Alberta. These are decisions made by the doctor in Stanton and the doctor at the receiving end. I think it is unfortunate and regrettable that this situation happened. I believe that the department officials and the people responsible at this end did everything we could to help with the patient and the family.

I don’t have the detailed information. I believe our agreement is with the Government of Alberta. There might be some subagreements with Capital Health. What happened yesterday is unfortunate. We do want to see that that sort of situation does not happen. But I think it is really important, in the political forum that we are in, that these are medical decisions made by medical practitioners in Stanton and in Edmonton in the best interests of the patients.