Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I jut took a press release off the fax from the Stanton Regional Health Board and it is entitled Stanton Making Progress Toward Opening the Surgical In-patient Unit. I think what it signifies for the Members of this House and our constituents is that in fact, Stanton has been unable to reopen the surgery ward full-time for March 5th, which was originally the publicized date.
We all know the history. There was an amalgamation of surgery and pediatrics, which probably did not take place with the proper consultation. There were concerns from constituents raised. For instance, you could be at the hospital having surgery needing your rest beside a bed that had kids who obviously do what kids do, running around and being active, which nobody would criticize, but it clearly did not seem to be a good amalgamation.
Now we are trying to scramble to get surgery reopened, but since there was no hiring taking place for the past few months with the assumption that there would be a closure, we are obviously up against it. So the published date of March 5th will come and go without reopening.
It leaves the question unanswered, I guess, as to whether or not this was a reasonable date given that for spring break typically the operating room closes, as does surgery. So one wonders if we were going to simply reopen for a week only to close for two and then reopen on a full-time basis, Mr. Speaker.
If there is any hope, I guess lately it is that there have been media reports across the country that nurses seem to be coming back to Canada after testing the waters in the United States and not finding that it was to their liking. I hope we can see some of the benefit of nursing coming back, Mr. Speaker.
However, I think we all know that the real hope is that northern nurses, northern residents trained in the North, will be able to find employment at Stanton. I am glad to see the press release suggests that these northern nurses will certainly be welcomed. I think it is important, Mr. Speaker. I hope this is not just lip service. I hope there is a commitment to using northern nurses because we all know that it can be a revolving door, the recruitment and retention, and we have a much better shot if we use people who grew up in the North, who are trained in the North and who are certainly capable and qualified.
I am interested in hearing from both the board and the Minister what the updated time lines are and I will pursue that further. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause
