Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The first item about nurses and how we’re going to make it possible for them to work here, obviously, as a government we are committed and wanting to make sure that we hire and keep as many of our northern nurses as possible. One thing the nurses are actually doing, we have communicated to the nurses who have written to us, is that they should not, actually they should, it’s not a bad thing if there’s local nurses being hired because that
means there are jobs there for them to take. Secondly, they wouldn’t be responding to jobs advertising for nurses positions. They wouldn’t be applying for those jobs upon graduation. They would be in a different stream, the Graduate Nurses Employment Program. So we are committed to doing that. Thirdly, I want to tell you that we are working with HR to have someone go in and talk to these nursing grads so that we can provide them with the information that they need about what the next step is in terms of finding jobs and have them stay here, because that’s what we want to do.
The second thing I want to say about medical travel... MLA Ramsay I think referred to two things. One is the 48-hour rapid repatriation policy that Alberta has administered. We’ve been working to adapt to that change. In the longer term the investment in facilities in Hay River and Norman Wells were in anticipation of what we know will come in future. All of the jurisdictions, especially Alberta, are under pressure and it’s important for us to be ready. So that is the medium and long term.
In the short term, the deputy minister is in daily contact with CEOs on a daily basis to make sure we are managing our beds properly and adequately and that we have a full picture in place every day with respect to the movement of patients.
Lastly, regarding the medical travel question about Edmonton airport, as the Member knows, the Premier of Alberta committed, and the mayor of Edmonton when he was here reconfirmed, that this airport is not going to close until we have a plan in place, and the quality council is working on coming up with the recommendations to the Premier. We are involved in that process and there will be a plan in place as to how we deal with the medevac of patients out of the international airport before the last runway closes.
With respect to what the extra costs are, we can’t put something that is not going to happen for a year or two, or even three years from now, in a budget. The health system responds to demands. We pay for what is required for patients to move around and between now and then, a lot of things could change. We hope to have more patients staying in the Territories. Alberta is going through their change. They are pushing patients out of Edmonton. They are revamping services in other places like Grande Prairie and such, so you know there is lots of moving parts there. The important thing is that our system is organic, it is a living system and it is our job everyday to respond to it and we do. Thank you.