Kieron Testart

Mr. Speaker, as I said, earlier when these changes were made, the Minister was able to provide some details on how many more people were being seen. It seemed like an improvement. Does she have any updated numbers for the House today? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I'll get on the Mark Heyck train as well. I'd like to recognize former Yellowknife mayor and current Arctic Energy Alliance executive director Mark Heyck. It's good to see you here today. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, Yellowknife is, of course, my primary concern because that's where I represent, but if the Minister that has the numbers territory-wide or by community, I'd take those as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to try again with the Minister of Health and Social Services.

How have the changes to Yellowknife Primary Care reduced wait times for appointments in the capital? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the somewhat -- not absurd but unfamiliar territory we're in because this is veterinary medicine. But our Act it's six pages long. It's 12 clauses long. It hasn't been looked at since, I think -- beyond minor changes -- 1988. Is this something the Minister can put on the legislative agenda for the future? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I'm also being told that people have to -- are being told in the departments when they want to change appointments or if they need to change appointments with the doctors, they have to call the central booking mechanism, whether that be a phone call or an email or something like that. Why are we making it more cumbersome? Isn't there a way to do this more or less on the fly; why are we adding extra steps for patients when they're trying to access health care? Should we not be making it simpler, let people talk to their doctors, they're health care providers, and change...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I heard from a constituent today who had to wait nine -- or sorry, had to wait 11 months for an ultrasound appointment. He tells me that it's a 9 to 10 monthly wait for a routine ultrasound. We've recently changed the appointment system here in Yellowknife. It was supposed to speed this up. We heard early reports that we were getting more people into appointments, not less. Why are we continuing to experience such a great backlog for people who are just trying to get routine appointments like this? We're not talking about major surgeries; we're talking...

Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump's illegal tariffs on Canadian exports come into place tomorrow. We were optimistic in our hopes that diplomacy was an option, but, unfortunately, no matter how unlawful, unwarranted, or irrational these tariffs may be, they are the new reality for our country. After decades of friendship, the American President has betrayed our values of mutual benefit to initiate a bitter trade war where any cooperation between nations has become purely transactional. The United States has become a bully akin to Russia or North Korea using threat and intimidation to pursue their...

Yeah, thank you. And I mean, it's hard to -- because it is a political role, it's hard to assess it as you would with GRI or one of those tools that we've been trying to use for evidence-based decision-making. But I just -- I fear that we're not going to get the best result possible from an expensive singular role when we could spread it out across contracts and, you know, have those people who are working in those circles and get more awareness of what's happening on the ground and more influence for our government on the ground as well. So I don't need a response from the Premier, but those...

Thank you. That's very proactive and positive, and I appreciate taking those steps. And I appreciate the indulgence of asking these questions at this section that I thought to jump on -- ride other people's coattails.

Moving towards the envoy position, I'm wondering if -- do we currently have a contract or do we contract government relation services from firms, like lobbyist firms essentially, to support our efforts to engage with not just the federal government -- well, primarily the federal government, but other governments and organizations? Thank you.