Thank you, Madam Chair. Hearing that a lot of this is based on historical values, I do not know if there was anything put in place before. How one region versus another would get services. For example, if one region used Cessnas compared to another region using lear jets, there is a historical value there. Do we continue down that road, taking into consideration the distance that is required to travel from a major centre? I think this still needs to be looked at how, in some regions versus others, there could be quite a difference because the historical way of doing things was quite extravagant compared to others. Thank you.
Debates of Feb. 20th, 1997
Topics
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Ramsden
Each of the factors that influences price is being looked at more and more closely. The issue of aircraft type came up when one of the boards recently tendered for its medevac service. The conclusion of the board, at the end of the process, is they would forego jet aircraft in favour of turbine aircraft. The view is the amount of time given distance from Yellowknife to Edmonton, in this case, was not a significant enough factor in enough cases to make them go to the faster aircraft. I think what we are trying to focus on is where are the manageable factors and where is it that we can identify and remove extravagance, if it exists. Quite frankly, we are not finding a lot of extravagance anywhere. We believe we have to work with the companies and so do the boards that are already operating in each region. While medical travel, particularly medevac travel, is a significant source of business to these companies, we do not think the health and social service requirements should drive how a company selects its aircraft. To the extent that we can avoid that. We do not get into specific stipulation on aircraft type, per se. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Madam Chair. Do you have figures available that would, for example, in the medevac flights from each region, say what a normal cost or what a cost would be for a medevac flight from each one of the regions to their closest centre? Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Ramsden
No, Madam Chair. I am sorry. I do not have the per charter cost. We have looked at the historic costs by medical travel type, based on some of the discussions that went on yesterday. But we do not have an average cost per medevac. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
February 19th, 1997
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Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Madam Chair. Will the department be able to provide that information?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Ramsden
Madam Chair, within a range of average. That is certainly something that we can take from our records. Obviously there is variation, depending on the types of support equipment and staff that go with it. We will try to produce some average figures and provide them. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair Jane Groenewegen
Thank you, Mr. Ramsden. Total operations and maintenance, $98,587,000. Mr. Steen.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, could I ask the Minister if there is a specific aircraft designated for medevac in the Inuvik region?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Kelvin Ng Kitikmeot
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the responsibilities for the medevac travel have been given out to the boards to set the criteria. I do not know. I am sure the airlines do have specific aircrafts they use. I do not know what they are, offhand. No, Madam Chair. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Vince Steen Nunakput
Madam Chair, I am not questioning the Minister to identify the aircraft. I want to know if there is one specifically on standby for medevacs.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Kelvin Ng Kitikmeot
I will ask Mr. Ramsden, Madam Chair. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Ramsden
Madam Chair, I am not familiar with the specifics of Inuvik's arrangements. In previous years, certainly they had dealt with companies where there was a dedicated aircraft. In the guidelines the department developed with boards on medevacs standards, we spoke more to a minimum level of equipment available. For instance, the company providing medevac services in the Stanton area has to have two aircraft. If those two aircraft are in use, then the company has fulfilled the minimum requirements in that area, but generally the arrangements are such that they have commitments for at least one aircraft. There are turn around times in terms of the time they have to respond from a call to take off. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Madam Chair. On another line of questioning, I would like to ask the Minister is it the board that decides how often the doctors visit the communities, or is it a policy set by the department?
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Kelvin Ng Kitikmeot
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it is the boards that set the schedules for doctors and for specialists for the communities within their service area. Thank you.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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