Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you my constituents are frustrated. I can tell you this family is very frustrated. I hope the Minister will bring something practical about how to improve the system. But one thing I'll say, the rates are far too low to cover the costs of today. When is the Minister going to adjust those rates to reflect the reality of today's costs? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister's doing this work but if they've -- and they've moved medical travel into the department so the Minister can really weigh on these things and it's not arm's length distance in the authorities. But what's the point of doing that if there's no exemptions that can be made? So can the Minister clarify what the exemption policy is for medical escorts, not for the people who are medivaced but for medical escorts. Thank you.

Thank you. So -- well, that's -- anyway, that sound very positive. I think the one thing that we've become aware of is that the NWT -- or we need more national coordination on this. We need more things like task team 2 that can do operations in the Northwest Territories persistently and not just when we have an emergency and whenever, you know, federal public safety initiatives around emergency forces and things like that or disaster relief forces. So I think having a facility like this sounds like a good way to anchor the NWT in that process because we have a -- you know, a high quality...

Okay. We were asked to -- who initially treated these constituents in Alberta to provide updated paperwork which would supposedly ensure a reimbursement would be forthcoming. Unfortunately, the reimbursements health and social services offered amount to far below what the families spent cumulatively on hotels, flights, and meals there.

I was informed later that offering these families any reimbursement at all was an error. The Minister explained that she would only honour these meager reimbursements for one family only because they could not take back -- the department could not take back the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could the Minister point out, like, some kind of -- some of those high level investments that meet the recommendations of the after action report. Like, the most significant pieces in this list that could help meet those -- the new -- or the need that's left unfilled that's called for in the report. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I think that's a much more useful -- useful metric because then we can -- we can factor it into those larger emissions pictures as we look for -- you know, actively seek for replacement technologies. I think it's very difficult when you're dealing with certain types of equipment, as the Minister said. So I just wanted to get a sense of what we actually look at and what's possible and what's useful fundamentally when we're trying to deliver on the climate change strategy and meet our net-zero goals, our 2050 net-zero goals. And that's probably a broader conversation...

Would that information -- sorry, thank you, Mr. Chair. Would that information be useful to our climate change planning to -- and implementation of our strategy and our goals to reduce emissions? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Later today my honourable friend from Yellowknife Centre will be tabling a survey authored collaboratively between us about health care experience in the Northwest Territories. This work expands on the joint town hall that we undertook in the summer attended by over a hundred people. I invite the House and the public to read the survey and note that while 59 percent of respondents rated their quality of care as excellent, only 25 percent were satisfied with their overall health care experience. Here's what some of them had to say, quote:

Stop saying it's a staffing issue...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Canadian government's pumping billions of dollars into health care right now. This is not -- this problem is a northern problem. So what's the Minister's northern solution? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now we have a system that competes with itself as I said. This is not coming from my analysis; this is coming from health care workers, doctors, nurses, allied health care professionals. Why has the choice been made to prioritize locum contracts, temporary workers, and agency nurses over full-time staff? Thank you.