Sandy Lee

Mr. Speaker, this is on high alert, obviously, because we only have four full-time-equivalent positions, or hours available, of doctors’ services out of the eight that we normally have.

We are doing everything we possibly can to fill them with the locums and to fill the permanent positions as soon as possible.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Member for the question. As I indicated to the Member from Nunakput yesterday, we are experiencing a very unusual situation, even within the context of the shortages of doctors and health care professionals we normally face.

This month two doctors were on scheduled leave, and the other two decided to move elsewhere to practise. Right now we are operating with about 50 per cent of our normal complement of doctors.

We are actively searching to fill the positions by locums so that we can provide the services. Beaufort-Delta made a choice of not being able to have the...

The telehealth program is in the process of being expanded. In Nunakput, we have services available, and in Inuvik, Ulukhaktok, and I believe we put a new one in Tuktoyaktuk. There’s a lot of services being rendered through the telehealth system. However, we hope to expand those services as well.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Member for the question.

Mr. Speaker, we are experiencing a very unusual situation, even within the environment of pressures we normally feel, in terms of shortages of health care professionals.

We are short of four doctors in Nunakput, and it’s because two of them…. Well, we normally have about eight, and we’re funded for nine. But we’re operating with about five, because two doctors have left to practise elsewhere and two are currently on leave.

So the Beaufort-Delta authority has made a choice of something that they’ve never done before, which is to not be able to have...

Mr. Speaker, as the House is aware, there are currently negotiations going on between the doctors and the government, so I have to refrain from commenting on anything like that. But I could advise the Member, Mr. Speaker, this is not really…. This is an unusual circumstance, where we are operating with about half of the normal complement of doctors. It is a situation which we are working to fix.

In the general term and in the long term, the department continues to work to improve our packages and our working conditions and training opportunities and everything else to make this place an...

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to send congratulations to all the correctional officers in particular. There are many people in the gallery, and I don't want to recognize anybody twice.

I just want to recognize Mr. Walter Orr, who is a constituent of mine and an engineer with Ferguson Simek Clark.

As the city of Yellowknife and the N.W.T. prepare for the more than 1,800 athletes, coaches and visitors who will be coming to Yellowknife for the Arctic Winter Games, more than 200 health care professionals are being organized to staff the Arctic Winter Games Clinic.

Registered nurses, nurse practitioners, licensed practical nurses, doctors, massage therapists and physiotherapists will provide their services at the clinic each day from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. The clinic will be located at the Multiplex in Yellowknife. Each sport’s venue will have a radio dispatcher who will be in contact with a...

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Member for the question and for talking to me about it.

I can advise the Member and the House that normally a custom adoption process should not take that long at all. It’s quite a routine process. The department does not have a direct role to play. It merely ratifies adoptions that have been agreed to. Usually this is a pretty speedy process and without too much hardship.

I just want to offer some answers to the questions raised.

Mr. Chairman, I think it’s really important that when we delete a capital project, it’s a serious matter, and it warrants a full debate. I would encourage Members to reconsider the vote and take a vote with all the information.

I’m happy to have the opportunity, first of all, to answer some of the questions that the Members may have. We should also note that while this is an interim appropriation, we have agreed that the capital budget will be a full budget, because we know that you can’t approve a quarter of a building. When you...

Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that there has been quite a bit of work and analysis that has been done on this and on how the policy could come about, how that would be implemented and how we could lay that out. I have to get the details of that to see what work, exactly in detail, has been done and where we are with that. I just haven’t had the time to look into that further.

But I do want to assure the Member that a lot of work has been done on this issue by this government. I’d just like to look into that further, get back to the Member and then maybe we could have more discussion at...