Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Welcome back colleagues. Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, both the Baffin and Keewatin Regional Health Boards announced plans to change
the way some services were delivered to residents. These changes involved the end of two long-standing contracts with southern service providers. Responsibility to ensure the most efficient and effective method of service delivery is certainly a board responsibility, and both boards felt they were acting in the best interests of the public they serve. Both boards acted within their mandates in making these decisions. However, over the summer there have been many expressions of concern about the proposed changes from Members of this House, regional leaders and the public in the Keewatin and the Baffin.
To try to get these facts about the situation and what needed to be done, I established an internal review that was to report to me by September 26th. The main objective for the review team was to determine whether the people living in the Baffin and Keewatin were at risk. Were the services necessary to ensure the safety of the residents going to be available on October 1st when the new arrangements came into effect in the Keewatin? Would general practitioner services be available? Although the process may not ...