Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We get this kind of request often. There are disputes between patients who feel that they need medication and a doctor who may feel that they need the medication, but there is an independent committee that reviews the list of pharmaceutical products or drugs that we should approve. It is the committee that makes a decision on whether a drug should be approved for insurance or not. That is the process that’s in place, and I don’t know what else to say to that.

It is really nice that there’s a committee in place, but that doesn’t do much for the family that has a family member who is suffering from MS. This drug is a well known drug that demonstrates progress and promise when you have this disease. As I’m sure most people know, this is quite a debilitating disease. There is only one direction it goes. When we have a drug that shows promise, I think we should be latching on to it.

I guess my real question really comes down to how we get access to this. I have a letter here from the Minister. My original question was: is this covered? The Minister’s letter comes back saying all you have to do is ask for it to get it approved. What more do we need to do?

I am guessing — maybe I shouldn’t guess, but I am assuming — that this patient is under…. Assuming there is some medication for the person’s condition, he would not be without treatment. The dispute is on a specific grant, or there are some experimental drugs that the patient may want to take, and governments across the country have not always approved and agreed to fund some of the medications that are on the market.

I don’t know that. I haven’t had communication from the Member on the latest one, as he was rejected on that. I do have to look to see and make sure that we are providing the patient with as much care as possible.

Thank you, Minister Lee. Time for question period has expired, but I’ll allow a supplementary question. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is the Minister saying she will go back and review this file? What is the Minister saying? I just want to be clear on the record that I want to find out what the Minister is willing to do in regard to this family, which feels very strongly that this drug is useful and considered mainstream and normal in other places and shows promise. What is the Minister willing to commit to do on this potential project or on this file? Thank you.

I am willing, if the Member provides me with the name of the family and the drug brand again, to review the file. I’m not saying that I can override the committee’s decision, but at least I can look into making sure that if this medication is not suitable or they’re not willing to approve it, what other options are there. I just want to make sure that his constituent is taken care of as much as possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you. Just for clarification, the Minister said she doesn’t have the ability to override the committee. I’m not suggesting by any means that we override the committee on one specific case. That turns into a slippery slope regardless of the issue.

What authority does the Minister have to put this drug on the extended health benefits list? If it shows promise, why aren’t we investigating this to make sure we have access to it? Thank you.

As of now I don’t have enough information on the person or the condition or the nature of this drug or why it should not be approved. I just don’t have enough information. So I’m making the commitment to the Member that if he wishes to provide me with that information, I’d like to get more of the facts and see what the options are. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7, oral questions.

Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues, for your indulgence this afternoon. I just had a couple of other questions I need to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services.

I know she spoke earlier of the CHRs providing this necessary service at the community level. I want to ask the Minister what level of training and expertise the CHRs have in inspecting the installation of car seats for children. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My understanding is that these community health representatives distribute car seats. They know

how these car seats are used; they work with parents on how to use car seats safely. We are already doing that work. It’s part of what they do with parents and young moms. I would be happy to look into the further details of the program, but that’s the information I have now.

Do these CHRs at the community level have any training to look at the safe installation of car seats for children?

The CHRs have been distributing car seats to families. They have distributed 125 car seats all across the Territories. My information is that they know how those car seats work, and they teach the parents how they work. They are qualified to provide this. If there’s a need for Yellowknife, I am willing to look at helping Yellowknife social services authorities see if we could have similar programming.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s one thing to be handing out car seats to people; it’s another thing to make sure that they’re installed properly and functioning properly and that the children are being transported in a safe fashion.

I don’t think the Minister answered, and I’ll ask it again. Have the CHRs themselves received training in the safe installation of car seats for children in the Territories?

Mr. Speaker, even the proposal that’s being put forward about this person who was to provide the training…. There is no unanimity, no agreement, on what exactly an adequate program is.

The department has reviewed the proposal, and we feel that the proposal is not the one that we need to accept at this time. If the Member wishes, I would be happy to look into seeing how we deliver these safety programs in our communities, and I would be happy to get back to the Member on the details of the programs that our CHRs provide. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Premier if he could list for us again what information we’ve been working off of as Members with respect to the strategic initiative committees, Cabinet committees, Ministerial committees that were formed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of initiatives and times that I’ve communicated to Members of the Assembly and to the public regarding the actions we are undertaking as a new government and the direction we are trying to set and some of the changes.

For example, Mr. Speaker, in the Budget Address I gave information on the fact that we would be dealing with the strategic initiative committees. In the letters that I sent to the Ministers on their mandates, I copied those letters to the Chair of P and P and outlined all the initiatives there. Building Our Future, Refocusing Government, Managing This Land, Maximizing Opportunities, Reducing the Cost of Living, approaches to regionalization of government, reductions, oversight and federal engagement: all were some of the areas that different Ministers had. That was copied to Members. As well, we’ve had a number of times when we’ve sat down and offered briefings and had briefings around these strategic initiative committees.

The Premier is absolutely right: we have had an exchange and a dialogue on these strategic initiative committees. The one that has come to light most recently, which I’m a little bit curious about and do not recall having seen it referred to before, is the one on the regionalization of government. Could the Premier perhaps outline what the mandate of that particular committee would be?