Julian Morse

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. No, I am just trying to understand the specifics. And I understand that things increase. I understand that labour costs increase. But if the Minister can give us details, even if it does have to be -- you know, some documents have to be kept confidential, and I understand that. But remember we do have mechanisms to allow for that just so Members can better understand.

I am just noting that, you know, this seems to be a trend which has been occurring. There was a lot of questions asked yesterday about our contract for medical travel where there was a significant...

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. I mean, that's -- the answer doesn't give us a lot of specifics. Would the Minister be able to come back with some more details so we can better understand it. I mean, so on and so on and so on, fuel prices, that doesn't give me specifics to look to in terms of what about the contract change. Because I -- I mean, it's the same activity going on. So it can be hard to, when you look at that, understand why we're spending so much more. And yeah, if the Minister -- I recognize they may not have the information on hand, but I'd appreciate follow up just to giving us more...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, prenatal, birthing, and postpartum care represent essential health services, yet the costs associated with delivering these services in the Northwest Territories are not clearly understood.

My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services:

What is the average cost per appointment for prenatal care in the Northwest Territories?

What is the average total cost of prenatal care per person throughout a pregnancy, and what specific services or line items are included in this calculation?

What is the cost per day for a patient's admission to the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And no, I appreciate that. And I am just looking for those details so I can better understand the issue and try and see if there is a trend happening here or if there's something going on that we should take a closer look at at committee and -- because, yeah, if our contracts are going to start doubling year over year -- I am not suggesting that this is going to happen every year, but certainly we've identified a couple cases where it's happened and, yeah, I think that if costs are going to be ballooning that badly -- I was going to say we're going to run out of money. I...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is the Minister saying he won't follow up with us, is that the answer?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to build upon some questions that a few colleagues were asking.

The Minister said in response to questions about the winter roads item increasing by about 40 percent increase year over year that it was just a contract. Can the Minister give us maybe a better understanding of the reasons or the things that changed year over year that caused the contract to go up by 40 percent in one year? It just seems like a large increase well beyond inflation, so I am trying to understand why the increase is so drastic. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Does the department have a chart or an infographic or something that MLAs would be able to refer to, and the public even, to help us understand what the various steps are in the process, where we're trying to speed things up, where things get stuck, what we do when things get stuck, what processes are engaged in order to move things along when they get stuck on a part of the process that we don't have control over? Because it's -- yeah, I think that it would go a long way in helping us have a more informed conversation about this issue if we understood it better and the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, yeah, sorry if it was unclear. I thought I was referring to a specific line item. But yeah, that makes sense to me, like if there had to be highway closures, the various guide vehicles and all that that happens along with that. So that makes sense to me.

Can they help -- can the Minister help us understand how much of an increase this is over our regular highway operations costs. I mean, $9.1 million seems like a lot for the end of a year for inflation. I mean, how is that something that we weren't able to budget for knowing that inflation has been sitting around 2...

Okay, thank you. And, yeah, if the Minister could help us better understand if they've been working with the city on identifying lands that are needed for the military investments that have been identified and how that's going. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Not a lot of questions left after that strong round from my colleague, but just the -- to build on some of the questions that she asked.

The line item for $9.1 million funding for -- to address high -- higher highway operations costs due to inflation, materials, and emergency response activities. Can the Minister help us understand the emergency response activities; what does that entail? Why -- like, how is that an unexpected and how does it relate to highway maintenance.