Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise again one more time today to again solidify my stressful concern about the lack of doctors seeing patients. Mr. Speaker, there still are a few doctors seeing patients on a fee-for-service basis, but I’m concerned that switching to salary has not increased the number of visits per day. Would the Minister of Health and Social Services provide some information today to show or explain if we’re getting better services per visit per patient in our system? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. At this time, I would like to recognize a constituent of mine, Vital Abel. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, before this story goes too much further, would the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment look into this situation before this so-called story of a person using their language is being discouraged? Before it goes through the meat grinder of arbitration and whatnot, would the Minister look into this before it goes too far? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I will focus my question to the Premier, and he can forward it thereon in. Does the government have a policy to discourage people to use their first language?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my household, we speak approximately four languages, three languages of Chinese -- one would be Cantonese -- and, of course, English, because that is the main one I understand. Mr. Speaker, Canada is a melting pot of acceptance. It is kind of like a secret recipe of culture, but when you start throwing out the right to use one’s language, it is like revealing the recipe or throwing out an important element of that recipe. Mr. Speaker, my first question was not answered. What is the Premier’s position on the usage of the official languages in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I respect the fact that the Minister doesn’t want to talk about that subject, because it’s out for bargaining or discussion on an informal basis. I can appreciate that, so I won’t go into that. My last question is how does this Minister plan to address the fact that we still have families out there who can’t get a family doctor? We could ask for 35 doctors coming to the city…

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Miltenberger, for first acknowledging the fact that it isn’t quite working out as it may have been dreamt of. I’m glad to hear that we’re trying to strive forward. Mr. Speaker, I have people in Yellowknife who cannot get a family doctor. I have people who are told by the clinics that they have to go wait in emergency and, if it’s not of a life or death nature, they have to sit there between four and six hours because they’re not considered a priority at emergency. Mr. Speaker, how does the Minister plan to address that type of problem? I’d like to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because families in Yellowknife are still having trouble getting a family doctor and even simply seeing a doctor.

Mr. Speaker, I believe, a few years ago, the change from switching family doctors to go from fee-for-service to salary has caused a serious gap in service delivery. Mr. Speaker, a few years ago, we had 14 doctors seeing approximately 40 patients a day, but today we have approximately 20 doctors a day seeing 20 patients a day. That is 80 visits a day short, Mr. Speaker, that our constituents and our families are missing out on an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to request unanimous consent to return to item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If I can reword my question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment acknowledge if we have a policy that discourages people from using their language of choice, also noted as an official language of the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.