Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a number of comments in no particular order. Some of them are related to the Minister’s opening comments, some of them are not, so I might jump around a little bit. Bear with me.
In the Minister’s remarks yesterday he mentioned that the department is continuing to take advantage of eHealth, and I think that that’s absolutely the way to go. I’m really glad that we are embarked on that path and that we are continuing to go down that path, but I wonder how many communities we are in at this point, in terms of eHealth. How many are up and fully running and whether or not we are going to achieve full, efficient use of our telehealth and our eHealth capabilities in the near future.
The Minister then mentioned the Child and Family Services Act review that was done by the 16
th Assembly Standing Committee on Social Programs. A major recommendation from that review was the establishment of child and family services committees in communities. I know the department has been struggling to try and get communities to take advantage of the funding that’s available to establish these communities, and I would like to know from the Minister where things are at, whether or not there’s been any progress. I think there were a few stumbling blocks.
I’d also like to use this opportunity to highlight to communities that establishing your own child and
family services committee enables you to do your own assistance with interventions at a community level as opposed to having it done from Yellowknife, so to speak, by social workers who are coming in from afar. It’s a valuable tool, I think, and gives the power to the communities to deal with children at risk and children who might, perhaps, be apprehended if some intervention is not made.
The Minister mentioned a planning study for Stanton Territorial Hospital. I think it’s recognized and well known that Stanton is aging, is an aged building at this point. It definitely needs to be expanded and revamped and brought up into the 21
st Century. I need to know from the department,
and it goes a bit beyond the department, I think – and involves the whole of the government – how we are going to manage the huge cost that Stanton is going to be on this government. The Finance Minister has said an upward limit of perhaps $400 million. It’s a huge amount of money and I need to know from the Minister, apart from the planning study, how are we going to get this done.
I will have some questions when we get to discussion of health and social services authorities. The Minister’s statement is that current funding levels are insufficient to continue providing programs and services at current levels. I agree with that. We can’t just make that statement and not have a plan to deal with it, so I will have some questions when we come to that section of the budget.
The Minister mentioned, as well, the department intends to streamline governance of the system. I am in support of that philosophy. I think there are many ways that we can increase the efficiency in our health and social services system. I think, dealing with boards and agencies, making them somewhat smaller, and one of the things that’s mentioned is shared services, I totally agree with that approach. I think it is the right way to go. But I am concerned about the lack of input that residents have into their local hospital boards.
Stanton Hospital has not had a board for many years now, over 10 years, I think. The Beau-Del recently lost their board. I don’t know if we have any authority that now… Well, Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority has a board. But where’s the opportunity for me, as a resident in my community, to have input into my hospital? Yes, it’s a territorial hospital, but I live in this community and it’s my hospital. I’m concerned about some of the governance intentions. I would like to get some explanations when we come to that section as well.
The Minister talked about modernizing our Medical Travel Policy and absolutely I agree. It is a very old document. That policy was written I don’t know how many years ago, but it does need to be updated, for sure. There hasn’t been an opportunity for Members to have any input into sort of how this
policy is going to be revised. I gather it is in the works, but I will have some questions in terms of what the intent is when we come to that section.
I am really pleased to see the section on services available to elders to help them remain in their homes as long as possible. That is a valid goal, in my mind. I think we want to keep people in their homes. If we can provide home care or if we can provide other services to our elders that allow them to stay out of our institutions, everybody is happier. It costs us less money in the long run. I think the people are happier to be in their home than they are to be in an institution. I totally support that avenue. I would hope that we are looking at taking the money we might have put into institutions, not building those institutions, but putting them into programs that are going to assist people to stay in their homes.
Part of that, similar to that but a little bit different, in my mind, is the supports that are needed for people who require assisted living, people who need to be living independently but are challenged in a number of different ways.
We do not have adequate infrastructure, whether it be homes or whether it be institutions, but we are well below the level of infrastructure that we need in order to accommodate all of our residents who need to have assisted independent living. I see nothing in the budget which looks at that and says we have to do something about it. I have a major concern in that area.
The Mental Health and Additions Action Plan, I am really pleased to hear the Minister say that it is going to be tabled soon. I look forward to it. Members have seen a bit of an advance copy. We will have questions for the Minister on it at the appropriate time. The Minister says that it’s going to define steps that they can take as a government over the next three years. My initial concern, when I read that, is that three years is not long enough. I think in terms of the Mental Health and Addictions Plan, we need to be looking 10 years down the road, even 20 years down the road. This is a fairly short-term plan. I would hope that we would also be looking at this as immediate, but where is our medium and where is our long-term plan for mental health and addictions? I don’t think that’s there.
I did note in the budget on this, on the department summary, that there is an increase in the budget from the main estimates of 2011-12 budget year, but there is a decrease in this year’s mains from the revised estimates in the 2011-12 year. I wonder whether or not that $10 million less that we are starting with this year is going to mean that we have to drop programs and services, and if there is an explanation for that, I would love to hear it.
I do have concerns about our health and social services authorities that some of them are constantly operating in a deficit position. I will have
some questions when we come to that section of the budget.
Part of the funding for this budget is federal funding, THSSI money and that will expire in another year and a half to two years, from my understanding. I guess I want to know from the Minister what the plan is to… How are we going to replace that money so that we can continue to provide the programs and services that THSSI funding is currently providing?
I’m disappointed that there doesn’t seem to be any money in this budget for Family Violence Action Plan phase 3. There are a number of recommendations that have been made. Nineteen recommendations have been made by the Coalition Against Family Violence. I don’t see any direct reference to that in this budget.
Lastly, I just need to comment on supplementary health benefits, Metis health benefits, after the very large kafuffle in the 16
th Assembly when changes
were proposed and then withdrawn. There were some recommendations to the department to put in place some sort of administrative changes that were going to create efficiencies and hopefully reduce the cost of supplementary health and Metis health benefits to the department. I don’t know whether or not some of those have been done, so I will have some questions when we get to that section as well.
I do have other questions, but that is kind of an overview. I am done. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.