This is page numbers 4411 - 4462 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 4th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was project.

Topics

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Mr. Speaker, this is a management tool, as I indicated before, and each department has their responsibilities that lie within the contracting policies, and they have all read the terms and are all up to date on the practices of this government. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to follow up on my Member’s statement and the questions in the House of last week with regard to Deh Cho Hall, to the Minister of Public Works and Services. Our government has been on a campaign to reduce, reuse and recycle, and here’s an opportunity to do it with our Deh Cho Hall that’s slated for demolition this coming summer. But I’ve been hearing reports that there may be an environmental report out there saying that all the material is contaminated. Can the Minister tell me if this is true?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Public Works and Services, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was a little surprised to hear the Member raise the issue of the demolition of Deh Cho Hall. I thought maybe he was recycling his Member’s statement, or in the event that we were both talking about the same thing and he had some information that I wasn’t aware of. Mr. Speaker, we have made a commitment in this

House to the Member that we would look at a salvage component to the demolition of Deh Cho Hall. We have not had any information, at least that has come to my attention, that all the materials are contaminated. We assume there is going to be material that is contaminated, but we have, as part of this program, put in the requirements for a salvage and recycling program. I can certainly check with my officials to see if there is any concern regarding contamination, but as far as I am concerned, we are moving ahead and there is going to be a salvage component. Of course, we can’t have a free-for-all and it will have to be controlled. That is what will have to be worked out as we move forward on this. Thank you.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

I am glad that something like this can be worked in the terms of reference for demolition of Deh Cho Hall. I’m glad that the department has not made a decision that no material can be salvaged. So once again, perhaps I’ll just ask the Minister what is the timeline for developing the terms of reference for demolition of the Deh Cho Hall.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Once again, yes, we want to have a program in place that will allow the community to have some benefit from the materials that are available through salvage and recycling. We certainly need to ensure that there is a safety component incorporated in this process. Direct access is probably not something we want to see. We’ll have a controlled area where salvage material will be dropped off so that people can come and pick through it or take what they’d like. The scope of work is already being determined. We’ll have all the different components required prior to going out to tender this summer. That’s our intent, is to have this done in the next little while and completed over this year or so. That’s our plan. Thank you.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

I’m glad that the opportunity is there, maybe there, to salvage as much materials as we can for the public and special interest groups. As to the timing, does the Minister know yet about the timing, when the demolition will begin and when it will be complete? Thank you.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

We don’t have any firm dates as of yet. As soon as we do, we’ll make sure we forward it to the Member. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just in terms of organizations or myself, contact with Public Works and Services when it comes time to award the contract, who would we contact on behalf of the residents and organizations about material and salvage material for special interest groups? Thank you.

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Mr. Speaker, we can certainly commit to having our own Public Works

staff to notify the different levels of local government in the community. Any public notification and how the salvation program itself would be operated I’m assuming would come from the contractor that has the contract and would determine what the safest way to distribute materials and salvage and dismantle this building would take place. So we can provide notice to the Member as we notify the community governments. The rest would have to be up to the responsibility of the contractor. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to address my questions today to the Minister for Health and Social Services. I have some questions in regard to the recent release of information about possible change to the Supplementary Health Benefits Program. I am very appreciative of the work that’s been done by the department and the staff in the department to do a lot of research and to provide a lot of data. My questions go to the process that has been used to date and the process that’s been planned for the future in terms of consultation.

The motion that was passed last year by this House required the Minister to involve the public and to involve stakeholders and any consultation with regards to bringing Supplementary Health Benefits Program changes back. So, Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister how she feels that involvement of the public and the stakeholders was done leading up the recent release of information. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Minister of Health and Social Services

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is right; we did make a commitment to have a full consultation process as we went back to work to improve on the information that we had and the discussions that we need to have with the public. We have had that discussion with the public working group as a stakeholder representative. The departmental officials met with them and my information is at the last meeting they had, they wanted the department to come back with more detailed information and this is what they received last Friday. Since then, they have given us feedback that we are considering. Thank you.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

To the Minister’s answer, I understand that process. I know that the working group was established. I know there were a couple of meetings, at which I understand there was very little substance, very little discussion about

possibilities and so on. So I am concerned when the Minister says they asked for further information. That’s probably true, but when did the department ask the stakeholder group or the working group for their opinion? I am very concerned that I don’t think there was an opportunity for wide-ranging, creative thinking outside the department input to the department from this particular working group. So if the Minister could comment on where that opportunity was for the working group prior to the release of the information that came out this last week. Thank you.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Minister of Health and Social Services

I think it’s important to note that working group was part of the discussion process, but they weren’t meant to be the exclusive or the only group of consultation. Since our last experience, we’ve discussed with the committee about how to improve on things. We’ve had a few meetings on that. Departmental officials have met with health providers, the authorities. I have discussed it with the chairs of the boards. We’ve met with the NWT Seniors’ Society. They’ve invited me a couple of times and we’ve had discussions on that. So I think it’s important to note the public advisory group was part of the consultation process and what the Member is saying we should do, which is to think out of the box, talk to other people, not do all the work in the department, is exactly what we have begun to do as of last Thursday and Friday. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

I think the important thing to note in the Minister’s answer is she said that’s what they started to do since last Thursday and Friday. The working group was established before Christmas and my understanding was they were supposed to help to develop what the department seems to have determined a draft plan. It seems they have a plan which they’ve put out and they are looking for consultation on, a plan which apparently would charge a fee. I just have to take exception with the fact that the working group was not involved in the drafting of that plan. I guess I ‘d like to ask the Minister why the working group, not that they were necessarily ignored, but why they weren’t more involved in drafting the plan as opposed to being asked for a response to a plan. Thank you.

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Minister of Health and Social Services

Mr. Speaker, with all due respect, the Member is absolutely wrong in saying the department is coming up with the plan. I think we’ve learned the last time that coming up with a plan and asking the public to approve the plan did not work. We have learned that. The department staff has been working really hard to gather the data on who the users are, and what their backgrounds are, and what the cost of the services are. We are just providing the raw data. We provided that to the media. We provided that to the committee. We provided that to the public working group and anybody who wants to see that, it’s on the website now. We have suggested that this raw

data points to some direction that we should look at. We are not coming up with the complete plan and we are asking the public for feedback, and we are going to have town hall meetings and public hearings, and anybody who wants to talk to us because these are important programs and we don’t want to ask the public to ratify that the department has, but have them give us input and have a public information session. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister, we have to agree to disagree, which I do often with Ministers it seems. But in terms of what’s out there, I took this recently from the website. It’s a dialogue with the public that talks about grandfathering, talks about copayments, talks about catastrophic drugs, residence requirements, third-party coverage. That is what the department is looking for feedback on. To me that sounds like a bit of a draft plan, albeit it’s not hard and fast, but it sounds like a plan to me. I’d like to ask the Minister again, how were the working group and other stakeholders involved in the development of this draft plan?

Sandy Lee

Sandy Lee Minister of Health and Social Services

That Member is looking at the material that the committee received. Our discussion was that the data shows that we need to consider those as a policy direction. We’re not going out to say we should do this or we should do that. Copayment is a possible option, but the data or grandfathering or anything else, that’s a transition measure or where do we go next that we should consider. I think Members should take that when we say that we are consulting with the public. In order for the public to respond to us, we need to present them with some hard facts about what is the cost of extended health benefits, which is separate from insured service. Who is using it? What are the age groups of the people using it? What are their income levels? We are going out with an open mind and the hard facts. We are asking the public to respond. The public working group is just a part of the public.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Norman Yakeleya

Norman Yakeleya Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of ENR. I’d like to ask the Minister to provide the House with an update on his official meeting with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation on the sensitive issue that we’ve been dealing with for the time being here. Can the Minister provide an update on his meeting with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation?