Sandy Lee

It’s a gain.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don’t agree with the Member — the way he puts that. There are programs and services for addiction services. The mental health unit at Stanton is the more acute-care facility for addiction treatment, more intensive care, under the supervision of the medical professionals.

We have mental health addictions specialists and community wellness workers placed in most of the communities. We invest up to almost $1 million to Nats’ejėe K’eh, which is the treatment centre facility in the Hay River Reserve, K’atlodeeche band land. We also provide funding to the Salvation Army...

Yesterday I think I touched on this when I stated, and I want to state again, that the nurse practitioner program is very important to us. As Ms. Bisaro mentioned yesterday, hopefully it’s more than a six-month situation at Stanton. I want to make it clear that what we know happened at Stanton should not be construed as a reflection or any sort of…. It’s hard to explain. It’s a situation that is really internal to the operation of the hospital in that those two positions were put there to be incorporated into the operation. That’s the understanding of all the authorities.

All the authorities...

Yes.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have the seven positions that were provided already — FTP policy adviser; graphic design and communications specialist; communications planning specialist; senior adviser, financial planning and analysis; junior financial board analyst; data entry clerk; manager of planning and reporting, impact assessment analyst. Those are the seven position reductions, not eight positions.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There is a reduction component of this budget, but there are lots of other investments. The increases in the positions for the department are on the THAF program, which is federal funding that we have. It’s the Territorial Health Access Fund. There’s a coordinator for accreditation, which is located in the department. There’s patient wait times, e-health project management in the department. There’s a midwife position being funded in Fort Smith. There’s an STI nurse being funded in Yellowknife. There’s a registered nurse, a Northern Women’s Health position, being...

The information we have is that almost all the grads who graduated from Aurora College this year — I believe there were about 18 — were offered positions within the NWT, some of them in Stanton; some of them have gone to Fort Smith and other areas — Beaufort-Delta. I think there are three who did not take the option. There are some who have chosen to move away; their families are elsewhere. But that was a huge success. Now I would like ask the deputy minister why there might be reduced enrolment for this year.

Once again, I think that dental emergencies are handled as any other medical emergency. I would expect that the health care professional in Fort Liard right now is responding to that situation.

On the larger picture of providing dental services to people in our communities, the service level in the Deh Cho region for the last number of months has suffered because we did not have a service provider. Now, with a new contractor in place, we are hoping we can increase the services there.

On the larger picture, I learned a lot about the requirements for additional dental service, and especially...

It does show up on the page that we’re on, 6-12 under the Hospital Care and Medical Care for Indians and Inuit. Those are the expenditures we are incurring. Then we submit our reimbursements. We will be submitting last year’s reimbursement this year.

We have been going back and forth in the House about some of the actions and interactions the Premier has had with the DIAND Minister and the Prime Minister in his previous role as Minister of Health and Social Services. There are two federal departments involved in this issue. The major one is the DIAND Minister and the Prime Minister, obviously...