R.J. Simpson

I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Testart.

I appreciate that. The Minister said he would be willing to look into it. I would like a commitment from the Minister. Will the Minister commit to looking into adding an additional legal aid clinic in the South Slave?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some more questions for the Minister of Justice. Earlier, I asked about the Legal Aid Outreach clinic and about getting information out to the public.

I see our guests are leaving here. I was worrying they were going to fall asleep. We don't have the sort of action they are used to in their party-based parliaments.

Mr. Speaker, I have some more questions for the Minister of Justice. Not everyone only needs legal information. Some people actually need a lawyer. You know, by having a lawyer, it actually helps the government. I think it helps bring down costs. It will...

If that is the best way to advertise, then I would like the Minister to advertise more and get the outreach worker out to the communities more. The reason that I talk about a Facebook page is because I wasn't aware that the Legal Aid Outreach clinic lawyer was coming to Hay River. I found out by happenstance. There was no Facebook page to advertise this.

We need to get this information out there so that we can inform people. If the best way to get the information out there is to have the lawyer travel to the communities, will the Minister commit to increasing the number of visits that the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier, I spoke about the complexity of our legal system, particularly in regards to family and civil law, and the difficulty that the members of the public have engaging with this system. This isn't the first time that I have raised this with the department. I have had a number of constituent issues that the Minister is aware about. I have brought this to their attention during our business planning process, and I have walked down the hall and sat with the Minister and his staff and discussed this. I don't think the government should provide everything to...

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Minister's Statement 131-18(3), Sessional Statement; and Tabled Document 322-18(3), Main Estimates, 2019-2020, and would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu.

A few minutes ago, I sent the Minister the questions I was going to ask, and I think he thought that that was one question because he answered all of them. How about this, then? Moving forward, the Minister mentioned there is a long-term care review. There are regulations that are being developed. Would the Minister commit to going and speaking with the actual residents of long-term care? Because that is where I hear these concerns coming from. Will the Minister commit to him or the department speaking to the residents so that they can develop some of these opportunities that we have discussed...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services announced plans and is already taking steps to more than double the amount of long-term care beds available in the territory. Given that we are still in the early stages of this massive expansion, now is an opportune time for us to re-examine our fundamental notion about long-term care so that we can develop and implement best practices, cultivate the appropriate institutional culture, and design facilities to help us realize this vision.

There is already much agreement on what basic long-term care should provide...

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. There is a motion to report progress. The motion is in order. All those in favour. All those opposed. The motion is carried.

---Carried

I will rise and report progress.