Sandy Lee

Mr. Chairman, the information I have is that the money will be used to provide nursing staff in smaller communities, as well as expanding nurse practitioner services in communities.

There’s lots of information that’s required there. The information I have is that the vacancy rate at Stanton for nurses has been decreasing over the years. I could give him specific information on that.

The overtime hours there.... I think I saw the stats where it’s a little bit less than the national figure, and I could provide the Members with that. Over the years the casual nurses float pool has increased NWT-wide, making it possible for us to use fewer agency nurses.

I could advise the Member that right now at Stanton we do have the stand-by, the float pool nurses, of nine. There has been a...

Mr. Chairman, I think I heard it right the first time. I don’t agree with the premise that by eliminating some of these positions we’re suggesting that any of these positions are not contributing to the mandate. I don’t think that’s fair to the positions affected or persons affected. I don’t think that’s the right conclusion to make.

I think, Mr. Chairman, communications is an important part of our mandate, as are all other divisions in the department. As I stated earlier — and I’ve said this many a time — what you will see if you look at the positions affected in the department is that we have...

Could I ask the deputy minister to provide that information.

It’s exactly the same analysis as previously noted. If you look at the program we have there, currently the Telehealth program has a coordinator in headquarters. Then there were a regional position in the Inuvik health authority, one in the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority and one at the Stanton Territorial Health Authority.

We had to look at that program and see whether it was possible to deliver the program with fewer resources. The technology has improved a lot in that regard. The machines and equipment we have from the funding from Canada Infoway have enabled us to deliver...

I want to assure the Member that in all of these realignment exercises we have not eliminated or taken out entire programs. It is about better using the resources we have, and I think the communications section is a good example of that.

I do want to note that the budget reduction exercise is about choices. As the Premier mentioned in his budget opening address, these are hard choices — to eliminate positions. But the way to do that is to make sure we minimize the impact on the programs and services as much as possible and that we make every effort to make sure our employees affected are given...

I want to advise the Member that I understand his commitment and passion on this issue. Department policies have been developed, and it’s working. The changes to the legislation also reflect the department’s focus on keeping the children in families as much as possible, in extended family and community, wherever possible.

The statistics show that in, say, 1999, we only had about 30 to 40 children who were in families or extended care out of what were, I’m sure, as many as we have now — I mean, out of the total number. This past year we have 630 children in care, and almost 400 of them, NWT-wide...

Mr. Chairman, we don’t have that detailed information. I’d be happy to get it for him.

Mr. Chairman, just briefly, as the Member pointed out, late in the evening yesterday he thanked the government for the capital projects: a territorial dementia facility and the Yellowknife consolidated clinic. There is no plan to build a treatment centre in Yellowknife. I think we have a lot of good capital projects happening there.

I don’t think there’s anybody in this Assembly qualified to speak about what exact services should be provided to those suffering from crack addiction or some of the major addiction issues. What I was trying to simply point out is that if you talk to anybody who has...

The system as a whole is open to accepting all of the NPs we train. I could get the information on exactly how many NPs were trained. The situation is that they are meant to be in a primary care setting and we may not be able to have those NPs exactly where they want them and in exactly the jobs they want. I think we have to respect the ability of the health authorities to make decisions about where to place those NPs. Those are the things we need to iron out. It needs partnership and collaboration with all of the parties involved, with all the health care professionals that work with the NPs...