Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 8, oral questions, so I can have a question.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to return to oral questions.

Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have an oral question, and it’ll be for the Minister of Health and Social Services. It will be on the topic of medical travel.

I had a constituent contact me yesterday, and interestingly enough, I had another constituent contact me again this morning regarding almost an identical medical travel problem. Mr. Speaker, that is about when you get a non-medical escort approved through the doctors’ process. Medical Travel in one of the cases has refused to allow that person, even with a doctor’s note, to bring a non-medical travel escort south. In the second case the department doesn’t seem to want to pick up the cost other than the plane ticket of the person travelling on that non-medical travel escort path.

I just want to seek some clarity from the Minister of Health and Social Services. First, if a doctor puts into writing the need to have a non-medical escort travel with someone to the South, do we pick up that cost? Furthermore, do we pick up the costs associated with their hotel room and any other reasonable and responsible costs involved in that process?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member has brought this to my attention. At about 1 o’clock today I asked my department to take a look at that and see what we can do in that situation.

Non-medical travel is not always approved, but I do appreciate the circumstances that the Member has brought forward, and I will commit to the Member that I will get back to him, hopefully by the end of the day.

I want to thank the Minister for that answer. Just further on that answer, if Medical Travel approves a non-medical escort to go south because of a specific need and a professional has requested that, would it be conceivably considered

reasonable that we would pick up the associated costs? If we’re willing to pay for the plane ticket for them to travel down with somebody who requires specialized care, would it not be conceivable that we would pick up the reasonable costs of things like a hotel and meals?

The short answer to that is that if a non-medical escort is approved, then all of the incidental costs would be approved.

Generally a non-medical escort is approved where a patient needs a family member for physical support or for language support, where there might be some interpreter services. I understand that in this circumstance it doesn’t fall into either of the two, but that is a general situation where the non-medical escort would be approved.

I don’t want to give too much detail, because it is a very specific issue, so I’m trying to be as vague as possible, but the Minister is fully aware of the case. In this particular case, the constituent has to travel south for a very specialized reason. Once they’re finished what has to be done to them, in a medical sense, they’ll require specialized drugs to help them through the process. In talking to Capital Health, there’s an assumption that the GNWT won’t cover these specialized drugs, recommended by the specialists after they’ve received this very specific treatment. That concern is real for this family through this travel process. Will they be on the hook for it? So I ask the Minister: is it normal for the family to be denied this, or can I ask the Minister to have someone look into this very specific case?

As I have committed already, I am looking into this; the department is looking into it right now. I will get back to the Member by the end of the day. Given the privacy and confidentiality of the patient, I think I’ll just have to leave it at that, and I will get back to the Member.

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

Although the Minister has said it a couple of times and I believe her, I just have one more element to add to the scenario. In this particular case the specialist in their group will be recommending that the specific patient stays for a few extra days for follow-up, which I would like to think is normal. Because it is considered at their request, will the Minister look in to picking up those types of costs? Because it is based on specialists making a recommendation, not in the context of a perceived holiday or an unwillingness to return after everything’s done. It’s based principally and only on the fact that it’s at the request of the doctor.

There are a lot of details and facts to this; it’s a highly unusual situation. I will get back to the Member. Because this is a non-medical

escort, there are some additional questions and facts that we need to look into. We’re doing that, and we’ll get back to the Member.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on some of my earlier questions on the Public Utilities Board, if I could. Specifically, I just want to start by confirming that it’s the responsibility of the Public Utilities Board to ensure the fair treatment of our citizens with regard to the safe and reliable provision of power and fair pricing of power. Is that correct?

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe I could paraphrase that and say that the Public Utilities Board reviews the cost applications by the electrical providers to ensure that the costs are appropriate and relevant. They do that through a number of processes, including public hearings, interventions and making the public aware of these applications for increases.

I appreciate those comments. I’m wondering if the Public Utilities Board — and this again is following up on my questions earlier — has any comments on the structuring of the Hydro Corporation in relation to the Northwest Territories Power Corporation and the Energy Corporation. Are they commenting on that, and what is your perspective on that restructuring?

At the time that the legislation was passed, the comments of the Public Utilities Board were not sought.

I’ll just hope I get an answer to the question eventually. I did ask if they are commenting on that situation, not about the past.

I’m wondering if it’s the perspective of the Public Utilities Board that the Taltson hydro facility is a facility that has been owned and maintained by the NWT Energy Corporation. Is it still owned, or has it been transferred to the Hydro Corporation?

It’s still owned and is a subsidiary of those companies that the Member talked about.

If the Taltson plant is still owned by the Power Corporation — and, of course, that means it has been paid for by our citizens through their power rates and so on — is it likely that their

power rates will directly benefit from any sale of additional power, such as to commercial enterprises?

At the time of the legislation that was passed and the current thinking as well…. What has been constructed is a new spillway, which would not impact on the rates of the current users. For that reason, it was set up the way it was. There’s a new ownership structure that has been set up for the new spillway that’s being constructed at some point in the near future.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker, the subsidy’s consumption level of 700

kilowatts hasn’t been

changed since 1988. For the number of users that rely on this subsidy, more important are the months of November, December, January and February.

I’d ask the Minister of NTPC in terms of these subsidy rates…. Since it will be a while until we’re going to have some discussions on changing it, in the interim could the Minister tell me that the Power Corporation is looking at some initiatives and incentives for people in our communities down in the Mackenzie Valley in terms of putting in some meter-reading smart devices that will show people that they are coming close to the subsidy level and that it’s time to unplug some of their appliances so they can save some money? Right now there aren’t any. Can the Minister tell me these meters could be something they could look at in the interim?