Merci, M. le Président. Today I wish to speak about the use of locum nurses. I think we all know that nurses are the backbone of delivering health care in the Northwest Territories. They are the first line of contact in smaller communities, and these communities rely upon them to keep them healthy and to make sure their residents get the level of health care they need.

In the larger communities with hospitals nurses are an absolutely essential part for the smooth operation of those facilities and often in achieving those patient outcomes. I know that I speak on behalf of probably all Northerners when I say we certainly owe a debt of gratitude to those persons who take up that vocation of nursing. However, we need to do a better job in reducing stress and making a stress-free environment, because the current staffing model is inflicting serious problems on our nursing situation.

We’ve all heard stories of nurses who have trouble accessing vacation time or professional development opportunities because of the shortages of nurses to cover them off. We’ve also heard stories of nurses employed by Stanton who are reluctant to answer their phone after hours because they know someone from the hospital’s calling them to work overtime when they’re on either their family time or their day off.

We continue to hear the frustration on the part of nurses employed by the authorities in our hospitals and in our communities about the agency nurses that are better paid and do not have to pay for their expenses, such as accommodation and travel. Mr. Speaker, this is a swivet that needs to be dealt with in a timely way.

Between burning out our nurses with the overtime they work and the morale-breaking effect surrounding them, the usage of locum nurses is a

financial cost that is hurting our system. It is clear we need to examine this and overhaul the process we are using. The nursing staffing model that’s used in our communities and hospitals will be our end. We need to fix it.

I seriously know that hiring more resident nurses in the NWT would result in a lower overall cost to our system, and it certainly would dramatically improve the working relationships we have in our workplace. I will be encouraging the Minister later — as well, I’ll also be encouraging the Minister of Finance — that this is a business model that makes sense.