Kieron Testart

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, has the department consulted with frontline health care workers and -- other frontline health care workers, practitioners, on this people strategy that's due this June? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My understanding was during the pandemic in particular but additional benefit -- or wage subsidies -- the labour market supplement in actual fact were negotiated to help support frontline workers. And that process occurred outside of the collective agreement, is that accurate? Thank you.

Thank you. So when we have things like labour market supplements or anything that falls kind of outside of collective agreement but represents additional pay or for nursing or incentives for nursing or doctors or any medical professionals, is that this activity as well; would they cover that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the change and support it, just to be clear, but, Mr. Speaker, there are other people of groups that are similarly disadvantaged or similarly of minority status, including people with disabilities. The disabilities council has come out and made it clear that they do not think this is a good move to make for the community. So why can we not include other protected minority groups under the Constitution in the affirmative action policy -- or in the priority action policy? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance has announced that there are new changes to the Indigenous employment -- or Indigenous recruitment policy -- thank you -- which replaces the affirmative action policy. We're going to be bringing back P1s essentially and allow Indigenous Northerners to have priority status. Before that wasn't possible because of the Constitution. Has the Constitution changed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I guess I'm confused. This seems to be new information. Was there ever a plan that Liwego'ati would not be used or that Stanton Legacy would not be used as part of a health care campus? My understanding is there was always a component of that in the initial RFP that went out for the rebuild was to demo this building for other uses and that was -- so was there some other purpose intended for Stanton Legacy before it became the Liwego'ati Building? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, perception is everything. How we view the world around us determines how we live our lives. Our perception of the challenges and opportunities we face every day informs our actions and thus plays a major role in each situation's outcome. Many Northerners face challenges in which often the last resort they approach the GNWT for solutions. In tough times, there's already a feeling of desperation so the perception that these services are difficult to access can be a serious detriment to whether or not a service actually reaches the person it's intended for.

Unfortunately, the often...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that coming from the Minister. Can the Minister share the engagement schedule with me and any other pertinent details around these consultations with staff. Thank you.

Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just -- I'm trying to get at if we're trying to find more ways to support that -- those incentives because the retention and recruitment numbers are very -- well, the retention numbers are very poor, and even it seems when we recruit nurses, in particular -- because there is a dedicated unit to do that -- they're out the door as soon as we get them in. So if the department isn't considering additional financial incentives, what is its strategy to work on recruitment and retention let's say around nurses working with the health recruitment unit and finance...

Thank you. So is the department -- I don't see anything clearly identified along those lines, but is the department considering additional benefits or labour market supplements to support the recruitment and retention efforts within the health authority? Thank you.