Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The federal government has the authority to make amendments to the Canada Health Act as they see fit. They did make changes to exclude the RCMP, which have put the RCMP under our responsibility, hence the changes to the Medical Care Act. At this time I’m not aware that the federal government is making any moves to do the same thing with the military.

Thank you. I appreciate the Minister’s comments. I guess the concern I have as a Member is that this does set a fairly unique precedent that could follow because of the uniqueness and similarity between both DND insured services as well as RCMP. So I put caution to the wind that, although I do appreciate and I understand and I concur with what we’ve seen here in the act and the amendment of the act, I’m a bit concerned that this could be a future set-up.

I guess my other question has to do with there are always costs associated with such an implementation or a change for insured services in terms of providing those services and funding the services for these Members.

Do we have any preliminary numbers of what this means to taxpayers in terms of future costs for us? Thank you.

With the changes, there were around 256 positions employed by the RCMP that were affected and, on average, that works out for us and the coverage we have to provide and pay for now to about $228,000 a year.

With that number and, again, with perceived forced growth, what’s the number that the department is using as a go-forward number in terms of costs for future budgets? Thank you.

No new funds were coming from the federal government to cover this difference. We were hoping to get some additional dollars, but recognizing the fiscal restraint and fiscal policy that we are utilizing, we will fund these from within.

I guess I’ll clarify my question. I was looking for a future outlook here in terms of future budgets, but if the Minister wants to comment on this current budget, that’s fine as well. It appears that we’re funding within. These new dollars aren’t being represented in the upcoming main estimates, which it sounds like that answer has already been done, but I’m looking for the future budgets.

What is the department prepared to provide in terms of forced growth in this area in terms of potential future costs? Thank you.

It would obviously depend on the degree that the RCMP expands or increases their services in the Northwest Territories if they choose to do so. We provide these services to all residents of the Northwest Territories and as the population of the Northwest Territories changes we’ll have to amend our budgets accordingly to address increases and/or decreases in the population.

I guess my final question has to do with the planned monitoring that potentially could have some changes.

Are there any foreseeable changes for the insurers out there that are providing these services, both in government and private industry? Is there going to be a seamless transition for all providers that deal with adjudication billings with this plan? Thank you.

Businesses, organizations would maintain their third party insurance provider as they currently do. It should not affect them.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m glad to see this act come forward. I’m wondering: where do the families fit in? Were the families covered by GNWT before, and if not, are they also part of the 256? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Abernethy.

Families were covered by RCMP before and they’re covered by us now.

I understood the Minister to say that families were not covered by us before, but they are now. So I’m assuming that 256 doesn’t include the families there.

I’m wondering, since this is retroactive actually, we’ll be needing to come into force on the 1st of

April of last year, what planning has been done in the way they have been handled to date, then, as actual residents, or are we talking reimbursements? I can just imagine there’s a bit of an administrative nightmare potentially. What have we done to ensure that that is dealt with efficiently? Partly I’m thinking of the families here to make sure that those that are having health issues are not encountering unnecessary difficulties in being reimbursed. Mahsi.

I just need to correct a statement I made that was incorrect. The RCMP officers were covered by the RCMP insurance for their health care. The families were covered by the NWT health care. So the families haven’t changed, the members have, but most of this was an accounting exercise, if you will.

If an RCMP officer before this change and after this change goes to the doctor or a nurse practitioner or allied health professional, receives services, that hasn’t changed. Nothing has changed as far as the services they get and how they receive those services.

With respect to what they’re covered for, there have been some differences because the RCMP may have covered things in a slightly different way, but all members were informed of the change and provided with the details they needed to know with respect to what their coverage is under the NWT Health Care Act.

Thanks for that information. So my understanding with other jurisdictions,

Nunavummiut, for example, they receive the same services that we invoice Nunavut for those services. Have we been invoicing? In other words, for the past year have we been just taking care of these costs or have they been paid by the federal government and we will now have to reimburse the federal government? Thank you.

Thank you. Since April 1, 2013, we have been providing those services and paying for those services. Prior to that we were providing those services and invoices were sent to the RCMP to recoup our costs. That no longer happens.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just for clarification, to the Minister, this act, I guess I thought that the medical services provided to the RCMP was straight across the board to all members across Canada, because of the jurisdiction and they are a national police force. Why are we changing ours to bring them into our Medical Care Act? Shouldn’t they automatically be covered under some federal legislation for their medical services?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Abernethy.

Prior to April 1, 2013, those services were provided by the Northwest Territories for RCMP in the Northwest Territories as those services were provided to RCMP members in all the jurisdictions by the jurisdiction providing those services. The difference was prior to April 1, 2013, they were covered under the Canada Health Act, and the RCMP was billed back for those services in all jurisdictions, including the Northwest Territories. Effective April 1, 2013, the federal government has taken the RCMP out of the Canada Health Act and made it a responsibility of the jurisdictions where the members reside.

The Canada Health Act, as I indicated previously, is paramount, so it overrides or takes precedence over our NWT Health Care Act, but we want to make our NWT Health Care Act consistent with the Canada Health Act, which is one of the reasons we’re before you today amending this act. But bottom line, these changes are the result of the federal government changes to RCMP coverage.

I guess you could spin this however you want to spin it, but the fact of the matter is that we’re taking on additional responsibilities and along with that it becomes an economic cost to us.

Are we going to somehow recoup or receive additional dollars because of these additional responsibilities now that come along with this act here?

The changes to the Canada Health Act affect all the provinces and territories in exactly the same way. The magnitude might be different because of the size of the police force and the RCMP in each of the jurisdictions. The Ministers of Justice across the territories raised these concerns at one of their FTPs and it was pretty clear that the federal government was going to be moving ahead with this regardless, and those costs are now, as Mr. Dolynny indicated, downloaded on to the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Given that statement by the Minister, when the federal government downloads these responsibilities, does it also download some additional dollars, because we are taking on these additional responsibilities, even though when you look at the comparison of RCMP members in the Northwest Territories to the province of British Columbia, certainly, they will feel the impact more in their health care system as to the Northwest Territories.

Is the federal government willing, or it’s take it or leave it? No. It’s you’re going to do this, this is what it’s going to cost you, and find money within the system to cover the additional costs to take on this download in service that they no longer have to budget for.

Is there any campaign, or is that past the point already of no, we have to take it, we have to eat it? What is the additional cost to this government as a result of the federal government’s position on downloading this responsibility to us?