Kieron Testart

Mr. Speaker, the digital age dawned so long ago that now our kids are almost born with a smartphone in hand and could not ever contemplate a world without high-speed internet. Indeed, our kids are now teaching us how to use our own laptops and phones. Yet, here in the NWT where the latest generation of health care professionals enter the workforce, they are forced into the way-back machine to relearn obsolete technology. Why? It's because NTHSSA still sends most diagnostic imaging onto CD-ROMs while other jurisdictions continue to upgrade dedicated medical communication networks. Using CDs to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Member's willingness to share information with this side of the House, and I'll take her up on that at the appropriate time when it's available.

Mr. Speaker, the diagnostic imaging partner site is in Calgary. So we send our requests to Calgary, they send it up to us, we put it on a disk, it goes back to Edmonton. Can the Minister look to find a new partner in Edmonton so we're -- because the systems in Calgary and Edmonton don't talk to each other either. So we have multiple systems in multiple jurisdictions that aren't talking to each other. So can...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it took years to implement the current EMR system across the Northwest Territories. My concern is that this RFP won't go far enough to correct the issues that nurses and doctors are experiencing. So can the Minister reassure our health care workers that this RFP will address these concerns throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize Ms. Tarlson's grade 8 class from Range Lake North, which is a school in my riding. Great to see you here today, and it was lovely to speak with you before the session. Go Hoyas.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Minister spoke of, you know, a significant number of jobs, probably hundreds, thousands potentially, with all three of these projects, millions of dollars in opportunity, perhaps billions if it leads to an explosion of exploration activities and development in a mineral rich area that would be opened up through Slave Geological Province, for example. We know the Mackenzie Valley Highway is in -- or is a critical need for the territory with the effects of climate change harming marine resupply up the Mackenzie Valley -- or the Mackenzie River. And, of course...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the Dempster Highway, of course the O and M costs for that are shared between the Yukon -- the Government of the Yukon and the Government of the Northwest Territories. Is it possible that the Slave Geological Province, which would link to Grays Bay cross interprovincial borders or interterritorial borders, could a similar agreement -- I mean, this is a hypothetical but I hope the Minister will indulge me, but given we've had success, we know what that relationship looks like, if a similar relationship were struck with Nunavut on the Slave Geological -- O and M for the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise also to recognize the appointment of Mr. Chris Comeau. I'm sure he will do -- I know he will do an excellent job because he's already been doing it. And this is -- being sergeant-at-arms is I think an understated role in the Parliaments of the Commonwealth, but it is an important one and, in some cases, a lifesaving one. So I do absolute the work of our sergeants-at-arms. And to Mr. Powder, who is a constituent of the Range Lake riding, thank you for your years of service. I know that every day you took our sittings as seriously as any other...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister agree that being present for a plan of care for a loved one who is incapacitated would meet the criteria for an exemption? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, several of my constituents were medivaced recently with life-threatening illnesses and were denied escorts because medical travel does not cover escorts for emergency circumstances, and reimbursements for their family members were denied. These escorts are vital in understanding the plan of care for their loved ones who were in an incapacitated state. But it's not policy to allow escorts for emergency medivac situations. I've raised this before. The Minister gave me some assurances that there would be a path forward. Now it appears that path has closed. Can the Minister commit to...

Thank you. And it's the -- does the territorial fire centre factor into those recommendations as well? Thank you.