Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, there are timelines. And like any other year we have, we ended up having delays. You know, there was the Dehcho journey that was part of this mapping of -- you know, with medical travel. That was one piece that was delayed. There are many different parts that are going on. And the Member's statement was people strategy. Well, when we went out and we heard from the -- myself, the public administrator, the deputy administrator, and the CEO went out and heard from staff, there was a lot more outside of the health and social services NTHSSA area so we had...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the years there's been many different ways to try and analyze this and right now, what this government has done is we have highlighted the medical travel piece, which also includes out-of-territory physician services, which is being analyzed right now by the health sustainability unit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have that level of detail.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the previous health recruitment strategy and the bridging strategy was all within the -- you know, what the NTHSSA could control. And so year after year, staff were frustrated and frustrated and frustrated because many of the issues that they were bringing forward were not in the recruitment strategy. So there are -- the things that we left -- there are still the things that are good that are going to remain in the strategy, but the scope of the people strategy expanded to an all-of-government initiative creating additional coordination. And so there is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the public administrator has been working hard with the CEO and the NTHSSA executive to bring forward, over the last couple of years, a lot of the areas they were targeting in forced growth and enhancements that they previously have done. So if people don't -- like, most people don't understand that the authority was continuing to just put in areas where there was high pressure, high needs, and that's what was driving up the deficit; however, within this government we, you know, as Cabinet and as myself as Minister, once we got the public administrator in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I can do is I will go back to the NTHSSA and have a conversation with them of what they have done in the past; however, everything that they have done in the past and in these analyses, they are working closely with the health sustainability unit as that is one -- I believe that there's six or seven targeted areas, and that is one of them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what the Member is saying is what we do want. We want to be able to recruit and have specialists to be able to come to the Northwest Territories to do this. We do know that it's hard on our residents to have to travel all the time. It's -- you know, there's costs involved with that. However, right now I know that they do have -- they are working collaboratively with the Alberta Health Services to try and recruit within their -- because it's within their jurisdiction, to be able to recruit many of these specialists, you know, coming to the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would have to get more information as to what the Member is referring to as I wouldn't be able to respond to that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the main part of -- you know, and other Members have stressed this, was we -- the main part was for the public administrator to ensure that what messaging was coming from this government through our priorities was being actioned within the NTHSSA. And with that direct line, we've now been able to focus on areas where we -- and I've said in this House, we have been focusing on not just on small communities, on the high priority, the areas that are most important to the residents, which is that first contact. And within that, the priorities -- the other piece...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in December, myself, the public administrator, the deputy minister, we briefed committee on the public -- the Minister's work plan. There, however -- so there are many areas that the public administrator has been directed to work on. There are some things that are -- some deliverables that have had extended timelines due to certain aspects, but I don't agree with the comment that there are many -- there are many of the things that are in progress. There are a lot that have been completed. There is still some work that, you know, is delayed. Thank you, Mr...