Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I struggle with the fact that we’re going to go and ask people. The Minister says that we don’t really know the state of alcohol. I think we know all too well the state of alcohol in our communities. I think that we need to actually start doing something. I’d like to know from the Minister, come March 2013, when he’s got all these answers, what is he going to do in March 2013 to actually implement and start acting on our addictions problem.

When we get the information back from the communities, when the communities tell us that this is the solution, then we’re going to assume that those are going to be the solutions. One of the best ways that I found in my past to come up with a solution is to go ask where the problem is. This is what we’re doing. We’re going back to the communities and we’re asking them to come up with a solution. I think it’s worked in the past when this type of thing has been requested of the communities and the communities want to come up with the solutions. Once the recommendations, I guess we’ll call it at this time, are before us, then we’re going to take a look at reshuffling some of our budget.

Right now we’re spending $6 million in community counselling, we’re spending $2.2 million in a treatment centre that has a capacity under 50 percent. What we’re doing so far doesn’t seem to be really panning out for the people. Addictions are not changing. Addictions are, I think, increasing. Now we want to say, well, you give us a solution, you give us a recommendation, we’ll try to develop a solution together to bring that addictions issue down.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke about the value of income assistance programs in the Northwest Territories. My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

In terms of where people are at in terms of trying to get the income assistance, asking for help is a big decision for people to make and whatever people might have is to try and maintain their pride. My question is: How does the department ensure that its employees treat income assistance clients with respect and consideration?

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Member for that particular question, because it has been addressed to my attention as the Minister responsible for the income security framework how the clients are treated by income security officers, client service officers. Due to that fact, we’ve initiated training for client services officers. I believe that’s coming up either this month or early next month on how to professionally deal with the clientele. We are very serious about our satisfaction of how we service those individuals, the clients, and we’ll make every effort to deal with that matter. If there are any issues from the clientele, please inform our department. We are following through with that. I am glad the Member is raising that issue. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Minister for giving me reassurance that people will be respected and dealt with at least in a respectful manner. Not every community has large industrial-type resource development projects. How does the department ensure the local economy and culture are taken into account in the delivery of income assistance? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, we are fully aware, especially in those small, isolated communities, that there is not much of an economy in the community, whether it would be a wage economy or business contracts. Those are areas that we have regional representatives, also client service officers focusing on the productive choices. The Labour Market Agreement that we have in place is for those individuals that do not qualify for EI and that require training in specific areas, as well as the Small Community Employment Program that we initiated onto the communities. Those are just some of the program areas that offset the cost of those individuals that want to be trained so they can enter the workforce or labour market. We want to prepare them. Those are just some of the areas that we continue to invest in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It’s encouraging to see that the department is very responsive in terms of meeting the needs of people. This is my last question. It’s just a difference between wage economy and also traditional economies of communities and trying to

distinguish the difference between the circumstances of communities.

Do productive choices have to involve training for the wage economy or can the program support people’s choices to hunt and trap? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, it is a mixture where productive choices consist of the wage economy and also we are moving into more of a traditional economy as well. We have individuals that go out trapping. We have assisted them over the two or three months while they are in the bush. We have done so. We will continue to do that, even those individuals that may be on the land hunting and other sources to bring in some harvesting, as well, for the family and netting fish as well. Those are areas that we are embarking on. I for one like to pursue that even further, how we can engage those clientele so they can make those productive choices. Those are areas that we continue to explore. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement and ask the Minister of Health and Social Services some questions about the idea of continuous prescriptions. What policies do doctors follow right now in determining how long a prescription will last and how it should be renewed? Is that policy the same under all health authorities no matter how they operate? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department is currently working on the development of a pharmaceutical strategy. It is not moving as quickly as we want. Included in that strategy is the management of pharmaceuticals.

As far as actual policy that the doctors use or any of the health authorities use to dispense or prescribe medicine or drugs to individuals, it should be a standard process right across from the Beaufort-Delta down to Fort Smith.

The Minister mentioned the pharmaceutical strategy. I’m glad that at least they are evaluating it, but will the Minister review the prescription renewal system and make some changes that work better for smaller communities across the Northwest Territories? Do we have to wait for that pharmaceutical strategy? I think it would be implemented far sooner than the whole strategy. Thank you.

If this is an issue, and I believe it is – the Member is bringing this up and we don’t want that to continue – I will talk to the department and we will relay the message to the authorities that we need to make some changes so that this type of thing, where an elder has to leave a community to go get a prescription drug, is a common thing that is renewed all of the time. Making them jump through some hoops in order to get a prescription is not necessary. We will address that issue. Thank you.

I’m glad the Minister is understanding of the issue that is impacting my constituents.

Has the Department of Health and Social Services taken the time to look at the way other jurisdictions handle continuous prescriptions? I believe there will be some useful lessons there. Thank you.

The Member may know that our drugs are handled by Alberta Blue Cross. We have gone to them, looked at them and they’re a large organization that we deal with. They have made recommendations to the Department of Health and Social Services on how to improve our systems, recommendations that will go into the overall pharmaceutical strategy. I’m not sure if that work included a look on their initial recommendations. They looked at the best practices across the country. For sure, when we develop the pharmaceutical strategy, we are going to look at best practices across the country. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was just wondering if our legislation provides for nurse practitioners to also dispense medical prescriptions. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I realize that in the health centres, the health centres can dispense drugs but not prescribe. I think one of the things that nurse practitioners can do is prescribe drugs. I don’t know the details of that right now. I’m a little bit mixed up on the dispensing and prescribing. My understanding is what I have heard from the health centres is that they can dispense from the health centre, but only a nurse practitioner or a doctor can prescribe. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to follow up on my Member’s statement today. My questions today are for the Deputy Premier. I would

like to go back and talk about the show entitled “On the Air” that the government had produced with CKLB.

First of all, why are we defaulting on an agreement? We had a 20-month agreement with CKLB and we have only worked with them for five months. Why have we defaulted on that agreement? Is the government committed to getting this program back up on the air? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Deputy Premier, Mr. Lafferty.