Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to provide a couple of quick opening comments and more points when we get to the specific page.

I do want to acknowledge the work that is being done by the department, I personally would have liked to have seen more work done on midwifery, expanding it to more of a territorial program. Certainly it’s much needed here in Yellowknife. As a matter of fact, I’m sure the Minister is well aware, if not, he’ll hear it first, that, of course, there’s a bit of a rally towards the Ledge tomorrow and it’s coming here, so I would hope that they would take note of the interest of the public requiring this much needed service. I’m sure my colleagues will speak to it as well. Many of my colleagues have been outspoken to this particular issue and I think it’s a service that the people want and it’s a service they expect their Ministers and politicians to respond to. As such, I would understand, I’m sure a robust department like the Department of Health would appreciate the economic savings provided by the Midwifery Program, such as the quality of service and, certainly, the burden we’re putting on our health system, that it would be a good way of delivering it. I would liken it in a similar manner to how a few years ago when they brought this great idea about nurse practitioners. This scary new idea and all of a sudden they can provide services in a similar way – not exactly – as a bridge between what doctors can do and the everyday nurse can do. They can do more and it’s a more economical way to do better outreach. Certainly it’s proven to be a quality service that I’m sure we’re a shining example to the rest of Canada. Midwifery services, again not trying to be doctors, women have been delivering babies for millions of years and yet this seems to be such a complicated thing to do. We know they can do this service when it’s a normal birthing process, uncomplicated due to various reasons. It’s a good service that people want and I would hope that the department can look towards responding accordingly very soon.

There seems to be finally some much needed movement on addictions and I would thank the Minister and the department for doing that, although on a personal level I’m not sure it’s far enough. That said, I’m one of those folks who wants recognized that there has been movement, and movement in the direction. I think the detox beds, two in Inuvik and two in Yellowknife, are very significant and I think the department should be commended for those efforts. It cannot go unnoticed how addictions are paralyzing people in the Northwest Territories and we need to continue the good fight on that issue. It’s one that we need to be relentless on because people with those demons attacking them, we need to be there for them.

Although I could probably speak certainly longer than my time on different various issues, there were two other issues I wanted to speak on. The first one is Stanton Hospital. I’ve asked the Minister, I’d certainly like the department to think about this, critically over the years we’ve seen Stanton constantly be in a deficit and paralyzed by that problem. They have an image – and I say it’s an image first, I want to make sure it’s very clear – that they’re not running properly because they are constantly in a deficit. When you look down closely at the numbers or you drill down to some of the issues, a lot of it is linked to medical travel and the fees of the doctors, their wages. If the department doesn’t apply that financial pressure on any other authority in the same way that they apply it at Stanton, and I think that if we were able to move medical travel costs in the sense of either it’s a departmental cost or, conversely, if the department just paid actuals rather than carrying it on the books at Stanton, then their books would actually almost be perfect the way that they’re running. I think it would be a better organization that way. Medical travel is a territorial cost and it shouldn’t be pushed upon one authority. The injection and control of medical travel costs is very complicated, and I don’t profess to be an expert in those particular areas, but I can stress it is very complicated. The same as the fees on the doctors. Stanton carries that as well. If we were to move those two things out, I think making doctor fees – and this applies to every authority – and medical travel fees to be put on the department rather than the individual authorities would be much easier for them to manage and balance their books. Then we wouldn’t get an oddity or reflection that isn’t quite true, because they are balancing their books if you could take those two items off. They’re budgeted certain amounts of dollars but they’re not keeping pace with the realities of what these two services offer.

I said there were two things. The last thing is, I believe it’s here, I want to thank the Minister for both his leadership and guidance on a blood pressure monitor that is being launched next week, I think, at the Yellowknife Baker Centre. I want to thank him for that. I’ll speak more later about it, but I appreciate Mr. Beaulieu’s efforts, certainly Debbie DeLancey for coming through, Dana Heide, Andrea Hunter and Doug Pon, who all have come forward and done a yeoman’s job on making sure this product gets down and helps seniors’ health. It’s a great product that will allow them to check their own blood pressure. It’s one of those great services that our department is reaching out. When I first brought this issue and idea to the Minister, I said what I’d like to see is this gets rolled out to large regional areas that we can have large seniors’ communities and we can encourage them to check their blood pressure and health. First thing somebody said was, well, geez, what if it’s bad? Well, that’s good to know because then we can send them to a health centre right away rather than them not knowing where it becomes critical. Information is a good thing, so again, the department needs to be applauded where it’s meeting the needs of Northerners. In that case they’ve certainly struck a chord of good service. The Minister did highlight earlier, although I don’t have it in front of me what year, but he did talk about how our seniors population in a few years will be at minimum 25 percent of the Northwest Territories population. It is a significant area in our sense of demographics and we need to continue to be there for them.

Just a few words and that’s all I wanted to say at this particular time. I’ll leave further comment for the particular pages.