Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too, rise today to speak about the health care system in the NWT. Mr. Speaker, I have been watching the Keewatin health issue for awhile now, listening and reading things. I had thought that it was a regional issue, but I now realize this could affect other areas as well, specifically this could happen in the west. I have read most of a report from the Nurses Association on attracting personnel to the NWT. I also attended a meeting with the NWT Medical Association last night. Mr. Speaker, these meetings confirmed my suspicions that perhaps things like this could happen in the west. The last thing we need or want is a general loss of confidence in the health system. Mr. Speaker, looking at that report from the nurses, it asked how can you attract people to the north and what is making people want to leave. What they had mentioned is exactly what we have taken away from them, lack of housing, lack of VTAs to travel back home, low wages because southern wages are comparable in some places, also lack of community support.
Mr. Speaker, the medical association indicated, as has been mentioned before, that our facilities and staff need to be certified so people know they have consistent medical services wherever they go. They also feel there should be core programs that are prioritized centrally, as well as some territorial-wide programs and standards that are set by a central agency which, of course, the boards could help set up and agree to. Perhaps their biggest message, Mr. Speaker, was that changes to the medical services that we provide should be to improve quality of programs and not to save money. Mr. Speaker, I urge this government to use the Keewatin situation as a wake up call and make changes now that are needed. Mr. Speaker, I reiterate, we cannot afford for the general public to lose confidence in our health system. Thank you.
--Applause