Mr.

Krutko, your time for the

Member’s statement has expired.

Mr.

Speaker, I

seek unanimous

consent to conclude my statement.

Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues.

Again, Mr. Speaker, I must ask myself: exactly what is it that Members have to do to basically have influence on contracts that take place in our ridings? Knowing that there’s an existing policy that is in place and following the policy as it’s identified, we see those particular items being dealt with outside the process, where you have to read about it in a newspaper and not hear it directly from the Minister who is responsible for implementing that policy.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I will be asking questions of the Premier on this matter later.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you. Mr.

Speaker, today

I would like to talk about access to education,

health and social services for the residents in the small communities. For us in the larger centres, when we require medical attention, we pick up the phone, make an appointment and see a doctor, or if we need emergency care, we can be in a hospital in a matter of minutes.

However, for residents in Lutselk’e and Fort Resolution access to the doctor is limited to once every two weeks if they are lucky. If they find themselves in an emergency situation, they are medevaced out of the community. This also means huge disruption in lifestyle for them, and if they have to stay for an extended period, it also impacts their friends and family. To visit your friend or relative, you have to take time off work or school, leave the community and incur unplanned expenses.

Mr. Speaker, for what many take for granted in larger centres, many residents in the smaller communities must endure disruption in lifestyle, incur expenses, and leave their homes.

Attending school in a larger centre means a wider selection of education options, better programming, better facilities and specialized teachers. Because of lower enrolment levels, school budgets in smaller communities have fewer resources, which relates to limited or no classes in home economics, physical education and trade-related courses.

As well, Mr. Speaker, in smaller communities there are constant teacher issues, with a basic need for housing meaning a regular turnover of teaching staff, which ultimately impacts the quality of school programming.

What we take for granted here in the larger centres, with many education options for our students, those in smaller communities are continually asking the local district education authorities and the territorial government to improve school programming, to address enrolment and budget issues, and to resolve teacher housing issues. Mr. Speaker, for our smaller communities this is the norm.

Mr.

Speaker, unfortunately, in our smaller

communities we see higher rates of incarceration, higher rates of youth crime and higher rates of suicide. Also, the impact of substance abuse is more evident.

Access to needed professional counselling in smaller communities is limited and often not available due to constant challenges of attracting, hiring and retaining qualified professionals. Not having a system that attracts….

Mr.

Beaulieu, your time for the

Member’s statement has expired.

Mr.

Speaker, I

seek unanimous

consent to conclude my statement.

Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you, colleagues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, access to needed professional

counselling in smaller communities is limited and often not available due to constant challenges of attracting, hiring and retaining qualified professionals and not having a system that attracts and retains local workers due to policy indifference.

Mr. Speaker, these basic everyday services are something that we all take for granted in the larger centres, but for many residents in our smaller communities, this is a reality. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Today I wanted to talk about the difficulty northern families have accessing services for their children who are diagnosed with autism. I’ve spoken to a number of them, and I’m really starting to understand their struggle. I can’t really talk about this today because I’m more than just struggling in the sense of understanding their issues. I’m struggling to get answers from the Minister of Health and Social Services. That’s what I want to talk about today.

A number of times I’ve written the Minister, and I find that things are really slow. I write a letter to find out about NHIB money and how much the GNWT is owed, especially in this crisis of trying to find money to pay our bills so we don’t have to lay off staff. It takes seven weeks before I get a response acknowledging that it’s still slow. It takes two extra weeks on top of that to finally get a response. That’s nine weeks to get an answer when we’re in a difficult position — when Members want to be proactive to find ways to help the government solve some of these financial crunches.

Speaking of that autism issue, I wrote the Minister over three weeks ago with just some simple questions, because I have parents struggling with this issue. I’m still waiting for those answers.

In March I’d written the Minister regarding multiple sclerosis coverage. I had a family come to me and say: We’re struggling; we have a potential drug that has a positive effect. Mr. Speaker, it took over three weeks to find out a yes-or-no answer for this question, which is: was this drug one we cover? By the way, three weeks later I found out it was. But a walk down that back corridor could have certainly helped this family. They were concerned why it would take over three weeks to get an answer.

At the end of April I wrote a letter — a supportive letter — because there is a family who is struggling with crack addiction. Although the answer didn’t come out the way I wanted it to — with ministerial support — it did take over a month to at least acknowledge my letter.

Mr.

Speaker, how are we to get back to our

constituents in a timely way? This is not just

happening to me. I’ve heard at least one other MLA speak to this as well. A staff member has told me that when they try to communicate and get information for MLAs to move forward on issues, this continues to be a problem. If it was a photo-op or it was a cutting of cake, I bet that Minister would be running down the hall to do this. The fact is that I need answers to do my job.

I will have questions for the Premier today regarding what he has expectations of as reasonable response times for Members to do their jobs.

Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to use my Member’s statement today to speak to the comments that Minister Michael McLeod just laid before us.

I like to see that the government is finally starting to look at a lot of the infrastructure projects they have going on across the Northwest Territories. I like the fact that they’re going to try and get these program budgets passed in the fall so they’ll give contractors an opportunity to get all their material on the winter road and begin construction. We see every year the infrastructure carry-overs from one year to the next. I think that drives a lot of the cost of our infrastructure projects up.

One remark that stood out was the standardized designs. I like to see that. I like the fact that we may come up with a standardized design for a lot of our projects across the Northwest Territories, with a little tweaking here and there, and not making them big, multi-million-dollar works of art. I think it’s a good idea to get away from that. We’ve already seen examples of projects that have gone way over budget just because of the basic design of the buildings. There’s nothing wrong with a good, clean design that’s very functional. I think that’ll go a long way to improving the amount of money we spend on these infrastructure projects.

The level playing field is something I’ve always had an interest in. As a rule, Mr. Speaker, I don’t normally support negotiated contracts. I have gone against that rule a couple of times this year because I felt it was something that was beneficial to the North and the community in supporting these projects. I went against the rule I normally follow. I think that also drives the prices of some of our infrastructure projects up. A good example was a contract I saw for some work on the highway: $2.4

million for one five-kilometre stretch,

negotiated; $1.7 million for the five

kilometres

before it, publicly tendered. That’s a difference of $700,000.

I think we’re on the right track here. I like the fact that they will be looking into the designs. I think there will be a lot more competition. I hear from contractors all the time. Sometimes they feel like there is not a level playing field when they have to compete against the fact that some contracts are negotiated. To take advantage of some of these situations, they do try to partner up with some groups to get into negotiated contracts, because they feel that it’s their only opportunity to get any more work.

Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’m getting kind of frustrated with the health of my elders in Ulukhaktok. They haven’t seen a doctor since January of this year. It’s almost six months. I really feel this is an injustice for my people in my riding of Nunakput, in Tuk, Paulatuk and Sachs. I’m going to have questions for the Minister of Health at the appropriate time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery.

I’d like to recognize a couple of constituents of mine in the gallery today. Roy Courtoreille is the regional vice-president for the UNW. Mr. Terry Rideout is in the gallery today. Welcome to the House.

I’d like to recognize a constituent of mine, Mr.

Dudley Johnson from

Norman Wells. Welcome to the House.

I’d also like to recognize a former resident of Tulita, Mr. Mike Labine.

I’d like to recognize a constituent and an advocate for fathers’ rights, Mr.

Mark

Bogan.

I’m very pleased today to recognize and welcome a group of outstanding students from William McDonald School. These students basically had the best marks of any of their cohorts in social studies. That won them a trip to see us in action here at the Legislative Assembly. I’d like to mention

Jordan Drouin, Azya Barret,

Jordan Zoe, Curtis

Kenny, Janessa

Elanik, Harley Lang,

Julie Gourley,

Dylan Colbourne, Corinna Mount,

and Jeremy

Phung. Accompanying them are two staff members, Sharon Morrison and Stephen Offredi. Welcome.

Also, I’d like to recognize my constituency assistant, Kerry King.

I’d like to recognize Mr. Mike Labine, the dear papa of Miss Nicole Labine, who is one of our pages this week; as well as Ms. Arture Chadwick from Fort Smith.

If we’ve missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber. I hope you’re enjoying the proceedings. It’s always nice to have an audience in here.

Item 6, acknowledgments. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mahsi, Mr.

Speaker.

[English translation not provided.]

Mr. Speaker, the people of Tulita have always known Elaine Doctor as Tisha. She is known in the community of Tulita.

Tisha is a very committed worker. You’ll see her in the office early in the morning and, at times, late in the community arena volunteering her time to minor hockey and going the extra mile at times to help families in tragic events.

Elaine comes from a very strong family background, and her work is known beyond the people of the Sahtu region. She has dedicated all her time to serve her people in Tulita.

It gives me great pleasure today to rise in the House to acknowledge Elaine “Tisha” Doctor in appreciation of her contributions and her dedication to the Department of Health and Social Services when she retires this year after more than 31 years of service in the Sahtu region.