I’ve listened carefully to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Lee. We’re on page 8-17, program delivery support, operations expenditure summary, $32.264 million. Mr. Krutko.

In regard to the permanent care division, I’d like to talk about the Joe Greenland Centre in regard to the care facility. It is a level 3, level 4 facility and under long-term care plan of our communities. I think that this government has to realize that we do have an aging population and we would like to have a program in our communities where these people can remain in the communities, remain in their regions and not have to leave their home communities, their families and whatnot. I’d like to ask the Minister what plans there are in regard to either replacing the Joe Greenland Centre or basically enhancing that program so that we can continue to develop it. You mentioned yesterday that it is an aging facility in regard to long-term care. I’d like to make sure that that facility is going to continue to remain in the community of Aklavik and that it does provide employment for the residents of Aklavik who live in that community. I’d like to know what the status is on that and exactly what the plans are for that facility.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. I see that comes up, actually, under health services, specifically under elders’ care. I wonder if you’d be happy bringing it up at that time. That’s coming up fairly shortly here. Just so we can flip the page here. Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Chair, I asked a question to the Minister and I’d like an answer.

Very well, Mr. Krutko. Minister Lee.

The Member has asked these questions a number of times and I have stated, and will state again, that I agree with the Member that the Joe Greenland Centre needs to be replaced. It is very old. It can’t be fixed to develop or deliver a program that it should. I believe there should be an assisted living facility in Aklavik for seniors and I will work to put that into the capital planning process. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, under the program delivery details, there’s $12 million for health authorities. I’ve raised this before in regard to the amount of supplementaries that have been spent in the authorities, especially in the Beaufort-Delta and the Stanton Health Authority. I added up the amount of supplementary expenditures over and above this budget amount and the budget for health authorities. They’ve spent something like $21 million in the Inuvik health board just on supplementary appropriation over and above their already expenditures. Realizing that this is what has been happening, and with $12.4 million under this budget item, what is this department doing to ensure that we have accountability, transparency, and we don’t allow this practice to continue to go forever and a day? It’s been going on for six years and nothing seems to be done about it.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I understand the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority had experienced deficits over the years and we’ve had to put cash into that. This year, so far, their projected deficit is about $700,000. They had undertaken a...Sorry; they’re projecting a deficit of $91,000 at the end of the year. They have hired a new finance person with an auditing and financial background which they did not have before, so I think there is additional capacity there. We have had to support them in hospital services; hospital services, doctors’ services. Those are costs beyond the control of either Stanton or Beaufort-Delta so I believe that we are making good progress there.

Another thing that the government has undertaken in the last fiscal year is that FMB has asked all of the health authorities to submit variance reports every three months, which was never done before. I don’t know if that has helped, but I like to think that it has. I think when you have to report your variance reports every three months, everybody has to be diligent, and I believe that they have been. It’s a constant, ongoing challenge but we are making progress. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the Beaufort-Delta leaders meeting last week, I thought the Minister of Finance made reference that there

was a $6 million deficit that’s been run at the Inuvik health board. I’d like clarification. On the one hand you’re saying it’s $91,000, but I heard the Minister of Finance mention at the Beaufort leaders meeting it was $6 million. So what is it?

Mr. Chairman, I think the Member is talking about something that’s going to come to the House outside of this budget.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. I’m going to rule that out of order as that’s not part of this departmental budget estimate. It’s outside of this. We’ll move on. Any further questions? Page 8-17. Mr. Krutko.

I noted that under the capital item in regard to health care administration services, in regard to the community health centres, out of that budget item, we are paying for health centres. I’ll use Tsiigehtchic, for instance, where I actually have a physical building on the ground, we’re heating it, we’re basically paying to keep the lights on, but yet we don’t have nurses in it. I’d like to know exactly how many centres are we paying for that are presently not being utilized in light of not having nurses there. We had the situation in Tsiigehtchic in regard to the health centre there where we had an incident where an individual couldn’t get to the health centre and no one had the keys to the health centre, yet there was a possibility that could have assisted in that individual saving their life. Because of that situation, the community is very upset. You have a health centre there and you’ve got money budgeted for it, but nothing is being done to fill those health centres and make them functional. We’re spending money on it, so why aren’t we utilizing those facilities by having people there?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Once again, I’ll note the major heading under health services program entitled NWT health centres. But I will allow the Minister to respond. Minister Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The facility in Tsiigehtchic is used. It’s not staffed by a nurse, as we know, but we have a community health rep there; we have a homecare support worker who works in and out of there, and I don’t know who else but we do do work in that facility. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Lee. Moving ahead. We’re on program delivery support, page 8-17, operations expenditure summary, $32.264 million. Agreed?

Page 8-18. Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the opening remarks for the Department of Health, the Minister talked about how immunization is recognized as one of the most cost-effective public health interventions and then went further to talk about the human papilloma virus, or HPV. She indicated that the federal government has provided a $388,000 vaccine trust to the NWT. In the budget on this page in the main estimates for 2009-10, it shows $373,000 now. I’ve had a lot of constituents talk to me about this, the HPV. Some are quite happy about it, some are confused by it and some are actually opposed to it. I’m curious, in moving forward with this...I believe -- and correct me if I’m wrong -- that it’s going to be delivered in the schools. It’s not mandatory by any stretch of the imagination. It’s going to be optional; parents will be able to choose whether their daughters will actually get this. Can we just get that confirmed for the record?

Also, the $388,000 vaccine trust, is that new money or is that money that you guys had to find within your budget? If it’s new money, is it part of our federal transfer or is it an additional sum of money that was provided outside of our federal transfers? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For this year, it’s completely 100 percent funded by the federal government. This was the last year we had to draw. If we didn’t draw we would have missed the opportunity altogether, because the federal government, when they announced it, put in the trust and gave us a deadline. In going forward, because this is going to be a multi-year program, we will have to invest some money into that to continue.

On the question about the consent, yes, the programs are going to be delivered through the schools by our public health professionals. The parents would have to give a consent to it. No one will be required to do it if they don’t want to do it. Our staff will be providing the necessary information to help the parents make the right choices. I understand there is no unanimity about the merits of this situation, but at the same time there were parents who were asking for it and the federal

government had provided funding for it. There were some parents who were paying their own money to vaccinate their children and the vaccination is quite expensive. We decided that on balance it was better to have it available, and it’s up to the parents whether they want to participate in the program or not. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m happy to hear all that. Moving forward, we’ve got to find the money. Is there going to be an assessment process prior to making any decisions on moving forward? Whether or not it is adding value to the Territory, should we be finding our own money for it? Is there any chance that we’re going to be able to get some additional federal money to carry this forward in the future or are we absolutely going to have to pay for this ourselves? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So far there is no indication that the federal government will invest more money into this. We will be reviewing this and will be coming back in the next budget cycle to ask for the next phase of this, and I’m sure we will have ample opportunity to look at how the program went and where we go from here. Thank you. In principle, by approving this project, we are agreeing to go with this project, but it doesn’t say we can’t evaluate it as we go through. Thank you.