Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Murray.

Thank you, Mr. Murray. Mr. St. Germaine.

Thank you, Mr. St. Germaine. Mr. Ramsay, I am just going to give a few more minutes for some Members to come back in the House. If I ring the bells again and we don't get a quorum, we are going to have to wrap it up for today, but we are a quorum right now. We will let Mr. Ramsay conclude. If we don't get enough Members in here on the next ringing of the bells, I think we will have to call it a day. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I thank Mr. Murray and Mr. St. Germaine for the clarification. I think I have it a little bit more straight right now. I am really happy to hear that Health and Social Services is still responsible for the recruitment and retention aspect of it. I would encourage you to go out there. I know it is a big piece of work.

The one thing that I don't want to see happen, and I don't know if it is because of the new setup with corporate human resource services, but it being a lot easier to call 1-800 nursing than it is to actually go out and hire a nurse and find somebody. These issues are more having to do with corporate human resource services and some of the issues that I have heard from people, like nurses moving to town that perhaps are married to RCMP, or teachers trying to find work with the GNWT and the government is bringing in nurses, obviously, on the agency basis and these nurses that are moving to town don't get any reply or don't seem to get anywhere with our human resources staff. They fax their resume in three or four times. No response. No answer. That is the kind of thing that I think we have to try to avoid if there are nurses here on the ground. We should be trying to get them on staff.

One other thing I wanted to mention. I know my time is out, but it is real quick. I was encouraged to see that the department had come up with some funding for respite care for families. The Minister should be commended on that. That is just a drop in the bucket. I think we really need to have a commitment on the government's behalf to address the concern that many families have there for respite care for their children or loved ones and families that need some extra help. Again, I want to say I am encouraged by that.

One other thing while I have the floor here. I am not on Social Programs so I don't get a chance to ask too many questions on health, so I like having the chance.

Funding for a third position in respiratory therapy, this is an issue I have raised with the Minister in the past. Before we used to have two and we only fund for two positions in

respiratory therapy, and it doesn't allow for the coverage that's needed and we've had a third person in there. It was on a temporary basis. It was a term position and we found enough funding to have that person stay on an additional six months, but I think it's really important that we try to identify some funding to get the third respiratory therapist on stream and in a permanent capacity. This person was another northern person who grew up here, in terms of recruiting and retaining, and we recruited him and we have to try to retain him. So I would like to see that funding try to be secured for respiratory therapy, as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would just remind Members that when your 10 minutes are up...I don't want to have to say your time is up and we are pretty lenient about going over, but let's not ramp up the number of issues we are going to discuss. I will let Mr. Miltenberger respond to that.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, with regard to the difficulties the honourable Member mentioned where he is aware of some circumstances where nurses living in the communities are having trouble getting employment, I would be happy to look at those because, very clearly, we are trying to set up a system where we hire northern nurses. We would like nothing better than to never have to bring in an agency nurse because we have sufficient staff in the North. So I would be very happy to get the names, and if there are problems, I would be happy to look at that and we'll track them down to make sure we miss nobody.

In regards to the respite program, Madam Chair, there is a commitment by the government. We have been involved in a pilot. When I came on in 2002, there was clearly a need for social respite. We made the initial commitment. We've done the pilot. This coming year, we've got another $200,000 in the budget and then 400 next year, the following year is 600, the year after is 600, to give us greater capacity to expand the program outside of Yellowknife. We've also managed to deal in Yellowknife with the waiting list that has developed because of the clear need and popularity of this respite program. So we are clearly committed to this. It's a good investment to us to help people looking after their loved ones at home as opposed to having to have them institutionalized.

With regard to the respiratory therapist, I will let Mr. Murray provide the detail. Clearly, we are interested. We've made some arrangements for a six-month extension and I will let Mr. Murray speak to it. If there is nothing left to say, he can speak to the detail. Madam Chair, with your indulgence.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Murray.

Thank you, Mr. Murray. General comments. Next I have Mr. McLeod, then Ms. Lee and then Mr. Braden again. Mr. McLeod.

Mahsi, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Sorry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will speak to a number of the issues very quickly and when I get to the issue of the rehab teams and the implementation, I will get the deputy to speak how that is going to roll out.

On the issue of medical travel, I want to recognize that this is a very important area. It's run out of health service administrative in Inuvik. The staff there deal with thousands of queries, issues and files. It is a very difficult job. There are times, because it is a very sensitive and often emotional issue, and a time when there are health issues under discussion and there is movement, so people get concerned and things don't happen the way they are supposed to. So we spend a lot of time out of my office because we get calls from MLAs, I call the deputy, the deputy gets calls, as well, and we try to sort these out as expeditiously as we can. I just want to recognize, though, that these folks do work long and hard. We are constantly trying to improve service and it is a very important service, but we are always interested in trying to sort out those circumstances where things haven't worked the way they are supposed to.

The issue of agencies, we have created a cycle of dependency that has implications and it is something we are trying to break and that is why I have indicated we are going to look very seriously at how we can adequately resource and make it workable to have float pools in the Beaufort-Delta, one out of Yellowknife, where we will have and fund adequately a service where we will get nurses that will work for us that we can put them out where they are needed on a rotational basis, as we look, as well, to do the ongoing training and get more grads out there on a longer-term basis, more permanent basis, in the small communities. Very clearly, by addressing a short-term need of getting nurses in there by flying them in every three weeks and flying them out for three weeks, we've created a double standard for those who are there in the long term. It's been a circumstance that has dogged us and bedevilled us ever since. We solved one problem, but created others and we are trying to get ourselves out of that. I recognize that that is a very clear issue.

The issue of ambulance services, Mr. Chairman, is one that there is no clear government position or departmental position on in terms of standards; how it's delivered, who is delivering it. Municipal and Community Affairs and Health and Social Services are in the process of bringing forward a paper to Cabinet that is going to speak to that issue, recognizing that we do need some standards, we do need criteria for training, who is going to deliver it, how is it going to be delivered. Right now it's a very mixed bag. In some communities, it's tied to municipalities with the fire departments. In Inuvik, it's a contract. In the Tlicho, it's a contract. In Fort Smith, it's delivered through the town and tied to their fire services as it is here in Yellowknife. It is clearly an area that needs some clarity and some framing with standards and recognition that it is a very important service. So we are going to do that.

The HR amalgamation was a government-wide initiative. There was a clear recognition and for those of us who have a history going back to the 13th Assembly when they basically blew up the personnel department, it's been an issue ever since. It's constantly come up and there was a recognition that we were replicating a service across government in all the departments. There were inefficiencies, there were all sorts of systems issues coming to light, there was HR staffing issues with unions. So the decision was made to consolidate HR services. There was discussion. There was, as to be expected, some concern and resistance in some quarters, but the final decision was that this was a good initiative. I still believe it was the right decision to make as we sort this out. We have nine years of independent HR development across government and bringing everybody back into the same tent is taking some time, but it's a labour that is going to be worth it.

Mr. Chairman, with your indulgence, I would ask Mr. Murray to speak to the rollout of the rehab teams of how we plan to get this done. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Murray.

Thank you, Mr. Murray. We have Ms. Lee next on the list. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a number of issues I want to address and I know some of them have been addressed by some of the Members, especially Members from Yellowknife and I will try not to repeat them, but there are some things in detail that I want to hit on, as well.

The first one is on the human resource management issues with regard to doctors, nurses and specialists and everybody at Stanton. I didn't hear in the previous answers...I think there is a general recognition that recruiting and retention of health care professionals continues to be an ongoing issue and it's a challenge for everybody. It still is here. I know the Minister is working on lots of different initiatives, whether they be rehab teams or consolidating medical clinics, enhancing programs at Stanton or strengthening the regional facilities territory-wide. All those he cannot do without people. I am just wondering is there any plan in place -- and I think, Mr. Chairman, you asked this question earlier, but I didn't quite catch the answer -- to address this in a more aggressive way. I am watching the consolidation of the human resources section with a great deal of interest. I see a lot of potential there. I am waiting to see what kind of work it's going to achieve. I know it's going through a transition period and there is a lot of work on their plate, but coming up with really good recruiting and retention strategy for health care professionals is just one of those things, working on the succession plans and working on refining affirmative action plan, employment opportunities for people with disabilities. That's a whole other human resources issue that I am going to be addressing when the human resource Minister appears before us. I just want to know the relationship between the two. I don't want the Minister to have to repeat all that. Is that something that the Minister of Health is working with the Minister of human resources on? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The personnel and human resource issue has always been a real concern of mine in my 10 years as MLA, as well. The plan was, we consolidated back and brought the human resources together because it was identified that there was a need to do that. In Health, what we had done before the amalgamation, is we did our own comprehensive human resource plan and, at the same time, before the amalgamation, corporate services was also working on a GNWT-wide human resource plan, which they are still going to do but it's going to be a somewhat different document now that we've actually consolidated. So in 2004, we did a comprehensive human resource plan, which is on our web site. It was recently updated. We work very, very closely with the consolidated corporate human resources. We need each other. We can't survive without their service and support and we know that they are very sensitive to our issues. A lot of the staff have come from Health and Social Services. So, yes, Mr. Chairman, we are on this. We do have a plan. We aren't just doing it on a one-off basis. We recognize that a lot of issues are linked and recruitment and retention is not just an issue for doctors and nurses but for allied health professionals as a spectrum of service, as well as social workers and all the other folks who work in health and social services. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There is the whole issue of the human resource management for the government as a whole, and health care professionals, that we could spend lots of time talking about, but let me try...There are so many issues in this department other than that that I need to address with the Minister and we have changed the format. This is now the opportunity for us to do this.

How am I going to do this? Let me just bring the Minister's attention back to the Stanton hospital for now. On the human resources plan and how he does it on the new section, I am looking forward to seeing him perhaps bringing a plan to the Social Programs committee within the near future, so we can discuss that further.

But with respect to Stanton hospital, I feel that there Stanton still needs a bit of revitalization and there are some low morale issues and there are the recruiting and retention issues. I am not getting as many phone calls as I used to before, I will tell you that, but there are still ongoing issues. I think the fact that they have not had a permanent CEO in a long time, I know that it's going through a recruiting process and I would like to know from the Minister where he is at on that issue.

Also, I would like to know if the Minister has given any thought to constituting a board at the Stanton hospital. I know the Minister and I, we have together, along with the Member from Hay River South, worked on the review of boards, but quite separate from that a time is coming, or a time is here, or a time has come where we should look at having a board reconstituted for Stanton. It could be made up of chairs of other regional boards, understanding that the Stanton is a territorial board. The Minister does have a vision on how everything should fit in, I do believe, and he's been in this job for probably longer than most people were before. He's had at least four years, if not more, and I can see that he can see Stanton as a specialized field that not only delivers specialized services for the territorial residents, but be a support for the regional satellite hospitals and authorities, and he is working also to strengthen them, as well. I can see where he is going with that, but I think there is still room for consolidation of clinics and primary health care going on and ISDM. There is just so much we could discuss here.

Let me just ask the Minister if he would consider doing that. For the Stanton hospital to have gone through the administrators, looking for CEOs without the board, they are going through a master plan. There are a lot of changes going on with respect to emergency units and just the delivery of health care services, not only in Yellowknife, but the whole Territories. I would like to know where those ideas might fit into that picture. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, just going through my list here, we will make sure the committee is given a copy of the corporate human resource plan that we have on the books, recognizing that this is something of a living document that we will be looking at adjusting as we move and working to make sure that it fits very closely within the broader corporate human resource planning that's being done through corporate human resources.

The issue of low morale is always one of concern, recognizing Stanton is over 500 employees. It's the flagship of the medical system we have in the Northwest Territories. It's tied to the issue of the CEO. We are currently staffing that position. We anticipate that there will be interviews done next month, but we also have a lot of very qualified, dedicated staff and we are trying to be as

proactive in terms of having as positive a work environment as possible.

We do currently have an arrangement with the board chairs called the Joint Leadership Council. It sits with me as Minister and the deputy minister, that provides oversight and direction in terms of broad, system-wide issues and planning. As well, one of the functions that they do that we have added to the list is provide that oversight that the Member has suggested that she thinks may be required for Stanton. That does constitute all of the board chairs now and me and the deputy. At this point, the deputy sits on it, but he also has two hats as he is also the public administrator. Thank you.