Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don’t have the information here on the capital and I don’t know where exactly Colville is, but I will look into that. I can tell you that as the department we’ve worked over the last fiscal year to put more focus on some of the small equipment that has fallen behind in the line-up using the regular process, and my colleagues have been positive in responding in that regard so that we can address some of the equipment issues in the health care system. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as the Member stated, the incumbent is away from the job for personal reasons. I need to inquire as to where that situation is. Secondly, that position cannot be filled by a casual because of the statutory obligations and requirements that need to be placed on a worker. That couldn’t be done for a casual, but if it is a situation that the person has to be away longer, we have to look at filling the position or filling it temporarily. Once again, I will undertake to look into that and get back to the Member. Thank you.

I would be happy to do that, but could the Member help us with a little bit more detail on what kind of information he’s looking for, because I hope that he can appreciate that there are lots of people spending a lot of time talking to authorities about financial information. Could I ask for some more detail on exactly what he’s looking for? Thank you.

Yes, I will get that information for him. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thought that I already stated on Friday, as well as in answering questions this morning, that we have accepted 62 out of 73 recommendations; 62 out of 73 recommendations. We prefaced our response to the report by saying we support the work that the committee has done. We agree with the committee that we need to do more to enhance family support and working with children. We have put explanations on 10 recommendations that we could not accept as they are written, but if anybody would take the time to read those, we explain why and we talk about how we could work with...

Thank you Mr. Chairman. This is a big and important topic, so I am going to ask the deputy minister, who is also public administrator for a couple of authorities, to elaborate.

But before I do that, I just want to say that you will see from the debt figures that the debt amount, the trend has stabilized somewhat over the last couple of years and also the Member does have a point in saying he believes some of the authorities are underfunded. That might be true, but as a system we need to be able to justify how so, not look at the whole thing but we need to be able to break it down to see where...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This Assembly has made it a priority to focus on prevention by promoting healthy choices and lifestyles and the role of personal and family responsibility. One of the ways that the Government of the Northwest Territories supports this is through the delivery of programs like Drop the Pop. This year the Drop the Pop campaign takes places from January 17, 2011, to February 28, 2011.

Since 2006, Drop the Pop has encouraged students across the three territories to make healthier choices. This year the campaign is more important than ever as childhood obesity continues to be...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’d like to put for the record that this Minister does have a heart, and three and a half years of being the Minister of Health did not lessen that power of the heart. I don’t think we could do this job without feeling for what our people go through.

Mr. Chairman, I was just commenting on the latest information that I remember having about some of the challenges we have with social workers’ positions in the Sahtu, and I just want to put, for the record, that the department and the authorities are committed to having our workforce on the ground. For a community as big as...

There are a couple of questions there that I need to get back to the Member on. I don’t know how long it has been vacant and I don’t know how much money it costs to use a locum as opposed to having our own. Thank you.

The three pillars of Foundation for Change are wellness, accessibility and sustainability. There is a section in Foundation for Change about working to support children, to enhance services for children, and as I said in my Minister’s statement on Friday, we support the direction and the general spirit and intent of the standing committee report on the review because it’s very much in line with what our department’s goals are under Foundation for Change. I see no gaps there and it’s very much in line. We are, I believe, moving in the same direction.