Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Minister just said that he put it on the table as the approach he was hoping to take. Was that really the approach, or was it a take or leave it, this is it, my final offer sort of approach?
Debates of Feb. 25th, 2002
This is page numbers 121 - 155 of the Hansard for the 14th Assembly, 5th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairman.
Topics
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 148
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 148
The Chair Leon Lafferty
Thank you. Minister Miltenberger.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 148
Michael Miltenberger Thebacha
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I met with most boards, in fact, all the boards, individually. I also met collectively with the board chairs. It was what I put out as an offer and what I wanted to proceed on, and it was agreed to. Thank you.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 148
The Chair Leon Lafferty
Thank you. Mr. Dent.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 148
Charles Dent Frame Lake
Obviously the reason for my questioning is that no matter how or what process we follow from here, this is a totally arbitrary figure. There is some danger that the boards being offered this were seriously under-funded and the 40 percent they are now expected to shoulder may impact on services that they can deliver to their service area.
My concern is that we have not been able to come up with a process that identifies what boards can really afford in terms of making up the deficits. After all, once you have accumulated a deficit, if you have to take the monies out of your ongoing budget, it has to have some impact. I would have expected that the monies that boards were being advanced would be monies that the department required in full by them to deliver the program.
I am having trouble understanding how these boards are going to make up that 40 percent. I am trying to get a sense from the Minister, is that a final offer? Are they going to have to come up with that entire percent? Or are we still looking at making sure, as he has said, that there will be no negative impact on programs and services? It may be impossible for a board like Stanton, for instance, to come up with 40 percent of that accumulated debt without negatively impacting the services that they deliver.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
The Chair Leon Lafferty
Thank you. Minister Miltenberger.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
Michael Miltenberger Thebacha
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the figure I have quoted, the 60/40, is the one we are proceeding on. In fact, we are going to be having a conference call with the board chairs and the JLC on March 6th to review this particular issue. We are going to just confirm how we are proceeding. We are going to be looking very carefully at the deficit reduction plans to ensure that we address the issues outlined by Mr. Dent. We are proceeding on a 60/40 split. I am confident that by working together, we can do that and still maintain full integrity of the service delivery. Thank you.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
The Chair Leon Lafferty
Thank you. Mr. Dent.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
Charles Dent Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have no further questions. It is an area that concerns me and I will be watching very carefully just to make sure that we are, in fact, dealing fairly with the boards, because I am concerned about the impact on boards in having to come up with that 40 percent of their funding. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
The Chair Leon Lafferty
Thank you. Page 6-18, program delivery.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
The Chair Leon Lafferty
Page 6-19, grants and contributions, contributions, total contributions, $85,147,000.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
The Chair Leon Lafferty
Page 6-20, supplementary health programs, activity description. Page 6-21, supplementary health programs, budget summary, operations expense, total operations expense, $13,396,000.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
The Chair Leon Lafferty
Page 6-22. Page 6-23, supplementary health programs, grants and contributions, contributions, total contributions, $9,270,000.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
The Chair Leon Lafferty
Page 6-24, community health programs. Mr. Dent.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
Charles Dent Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A question for the Minister under community health programs. I am assuming this is where we would find the social worker expenses. I know we heard in the budget speech that we are going to have an increase in funding for social workers. Could the Minister advise us where the new social workers that are going to be funded in this budget will be placed? Could he advise whether or not those placements follow explicitly the recommendations of the Child Welfare League report? Thank you.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
The Chair Leon Lafferty
Thank you. Minister Miltenberger.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
Michael Miltenberger Thebacha
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For 2002-2003, the following communities will be getting social workers; Fort Simpson, Fort Resolution, Wha Ti, Fort Smith, Lutselk'e, Yellowknife will be getting two, Stanton one, and two are not assigned to Inuvik yet.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
The Chair Leon Lafferty
Thank you. Mr. Dent.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
Charles Dent Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What does that mean, two are not assigned to Inuvik yet?
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
The Chair Leon Lafferty
Thank you. Mr. Miltenberger.
Committee Motion 2-14(5): Capital Health Authority Nurses (carried)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 149
Michael Miltenberger Thebacha
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I understand it to mean that they are assigned to the Inuvik Health and Social Services Board but not to specific communities yet.