The Members know, and the public should know, that the Joint Working Group provided the report to Cabinet and the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning a couple of weeks ago, at the beginning of this session, actually, and we just got the response from SCOPP this Monday. We responded to that today, so we need time to work through the recommendations made in the Joint Working Group report.

The Members always speak to us about following the process and working together, and we will do that. We will have a work plan on Monday as to how we go forward. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, clearly, paralysis by analysis, as said many times by my colleague Minister Miltenberger. The reality is, we can move on this issue. Cabinet agrees the working poor need coverage. I haven’t heard any opposition on this side of the House that the working poor needs coverage and I can guarantee you today that if you went outside of this building, this ivory tower, and asked the everyday person in the public if the working poor deserve coverage, they need coverage.

Mr. Speaker, the reality is quite simple. What’s stopping Cabinet from moving on an initiative that they like, we like and everybody else likes? Thank you.

The Joint Working Group report that will be tabled later has 11 recommendations and it will become public later on, so we will be responding to those on how we can move forward in working through those recommendations wherever possible, whenever possible, as soon as possible. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not surprisingly, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’d like to start by again thanking the Minister and Cabinet for moving forward in this way. I think they’ve heard the people, and this is democracy in action. I’d like to start by saying this whole process has been like

crossing a wide and dry desert and finally having a glass of tall, cool water offered by the Minister here. So it is greatly appreciated. But this is relief that needs to get out there to all as the first step. There’s an anxious and traumatized public awaiting relief from the previous highly objectionable proposals. So I’m asking, in the interest of good communication that’s needed immediately with the public, what action is the Minister taking to immediately let the public know? Is there a press conference with the ability of reporters to ask questions and get the word out to our public immediately that we’re back to a reasonable approach here? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is the most public of public forums. We made the announcement this morning. Mrs. Groenewegen, as chair of the P and P, as well as my co-chair of the Joint Working Group, we have agreed and we are committed to working together on any of the communications that we do. We will do interviews together, because we would like to continue to work together in the spirit in which we worked together in that Joint Working Group. So, Mr. Speaker, we will be open to any interviews or anything and we will be tabling the document this afternoon, followed by a statement next week. Thank you.

I appreciate that. This is a public process, but we need lots of public processes on this, as I mentioned. There’s a highly traumatized public awaiting some relief here.

In terms of next steps, I think this decision and this work between Cabinet and this side of the House is an additional step towards resolving some of these issues. We have made some agreement on the principles that are detailed in the report and this is important progress. But it’s not a simple measure. Even our next actions still require, as the Minister has profiled and this side of the House has profiled, some back and forth and careful discussion. Can we agree that a high priority, perhaps a first priority, is progress towards ensuring that the basics of supplementary health coverage are available to everybody in the Northwest Territories through one plan or another very soon?

That’s the precise question that is the crux or main theme of all the discussions we’ve had in the last three or, actually, last seven years since I’ve been in this House.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to say again that I think that the Joint Working Group report and its recommendations and principles went a long way in making statements on that. We are committed, as I stated in the Minister’s statement, to do what we can in the time we have left, what is doable, to lay out a work plan and try to do as much as possible. I

agree with Members who stated earlier that this requires a lot of work and we need to work through it. The important thing is, as Mrs. Groenewegen said, there are things we need to do to improve the program. So I, as Minister, am committed to work with the Members to see how we can move forward on those. Thank you.

There are clearly different perspectives on how much information analysis has been provided towards the consideration of the proposal put forward. So putting that aside, Mr. Speaker, I’m asking the Minister if she will commit to providing thorough and transparent analyses whenever she’s bringing forward proposals for consideration of committee. Mahsi.

That’s the expectation that we live under on everything we do. So we will be following those. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to have a stab at the Minister’s statement. I’m coming at it from the aboriginal perspective. It seems like you are also going to look at the extended health benefits, but also Metis health benefits. The same thing applies to the aboriginal benefits by way of non-insured health benefits. It’s a federal program. What are we doing to consult those organizations, those aboriginal groups, Metis locals, band councils and memberships of those particular programs to ensure they are engaged in whatever we are doing here? If we are going to claw back and allow people to get third-party insurance or look at some means testing, I’d like to know what we are doing to consult those organizations that have these benefits.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Where they are impacted, one of the things in the statement is to look at all of the extended health benefits programs, Metis Health and NIHB, to find some sort of parity. Now, that would take some analysis and work and where it’s possible and appropriate, we will work with other governments to keep them in the loop. Thank you.

One of the concerns I have about the rollback is what we’re finding statistically is an aboriginal income in the Northwest Territories is around $18,000. We’re expecting them to pay anything more. It’s a question of affordability and I don’t think a lot of aboriginal people can afford to

pay for coverage. There was the issue around income testing, looking at that opportunity and people getting third-party insurance. I’d like to ask, are those options still on the table and also looking at using the format that it would be some sort of wage parity in regards to how this program is going to be implemented?

The Member knows that NIHB is not part of this program and although NIHB encourages people to have third-party options and when they do, they are asked to go to that first. One of the suggestions made that we want to look at is to require all Metis health and supp health... Well, it’s no longer supp health, it’s now extended health benefits which is what’s in place. We will look at how we can implement requiring third-party insurance and allowing or encouraging people to go through that process first. So that will be part of the work that we’ll be doing moving forward.

The other issue I know that has been bounced around, and we can agree to disagree, but one of the areas that we have to look at is in regard to income testing. We have to ensure that those who can’t afford pay a little bit, those who can afford, use their coverage. So is income testing still part of the review process that’s going forward and will that also be considered in these changes?

The recommendation that we have that we need to look at it is to encourage people to get third-party insurance and use it first. So we need to look at that. We will be coming back with a work plan on how long we need to take to look at those. We hope to be able to do that sooner than later and what best way there is to encourage people to do that. We will be making those proposals. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the areas that I have issues with is with regard to when people are sick. I’ll use NIHB. There are specific things listed on NIHB that you aren’t covered for. If those things are not on the NIHB, you can’t get it. So basically if you have an illness such as cancer and you require certain vitamins or certain types of liquids, regardless of whether it’s insured, you have to pay for that under NIHB. Are we going to find ways to enhance the Catastrophic Health Program to expand so we can help those people that don’t have the financial means to get the medications or supplements they need to sustain them during their illness? Thank you.

The programs that we have for the NWT residents, whether it be NIHB, the federal government’s NIHB, Metis Health Benefits and Supp Health, that makes it so there is no need for catastrophic drug coverage. So what the Member is talking about is other things like people in low income, people can’t afford. So if you are

talking about how to compare between the three programs and finding equity, that is part of the recommendation of the Joint Working Group and we need to look at those and look at the proposal. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to the Minister’s last comment with the supplementary or extended health benefits, “there’s no need for a Catastrophic Drug Program.” I’m not sure if I understand what the Minister means by that. Can she explain that to me? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.