This is page numbers 4327 – 4378 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 5th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was health.

Topics

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

In this year’s budget, the Minister noted funding in the amount of $790,000 to continue the implementation of the new Med-Response service. As he quoted, it was to “provide community health care practitioners with remote emergency clinical support, triage advice and help to coordinate NWT air ambulance services.”

Can the Minister of Health indicate for these funding dollars, what overall improvements to the medevac service can Northwest Territories residents expect to see? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

These dollars are intended to provide 24/7 coverage in the office for our staff who will be providing the services. The significant difference and benefits for residents of the Northwest Territories – and our focus is on the people, the clients and our residents – is when somebody is injured in a community and they are in the health centre and they need immediate response, immediate action or immediate medevac, the community health worker or the community health care professional in that community will be able to call one office and that office will give them links to physicians or specialists. If we need to medevac them, there will be a medevac dispatcher on the phone as well.

So, all the people who need to be involved in the discussions to get that person to where they need to be or to provide them care on-site will all be on the same line providing advice. All of them will be informed, all of them will be able to provide the best level of care and, if medevac is needed, the most timely medevac for that patient. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you to the Minister. Once Med-Response is launched, can the Minister indicate what plans the department has to monitor and evaluate this program ongoing?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

We will be putting in and developing an evaluation framework around this particular model to see how it’s working, to make sure it’s meeting the needs of our residents, patients and professionals in the individual communities. I’ve said it before and I’d love to say it again, I’d love to invite committee out to see staff and see the operations once we get it up and running. I ask for a couple of months, but then I’d love to invite the Social Programs committee out there to see the operations up and running. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions will be to the Minister of Transportation on trucking issues. As he discussed an on-line service, has the department looked into putting truck permitting on-line?

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Minister of Transportation

Yes, Mr. Speaker. The intention is to have on-line services for commercial vehicles within the next two to three years.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Also, another on-line service I’m wondering if we could implement is the bridge tolls. I know the bridge tolls are under review, but I am wondering if we will be putting that on-line as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Minister of Transportation

I think the bridge tolls currently are provided out of a company we have a contract with in the South. I’m not sure if we are putting bridge tolls on-line, but I think we will definitely look at that possibility. There may be some issues with the configuration of the vehicles that may be close to the border where some Members have indicated that they may or may not need a toll permit to go across. It is a possibility, but I’m not 100 percent sure if that is in our plans right now. Thank you.

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

The other trucking issues that I have discussed in this House are the commercial vehicles and the requirements for a regular pick-up towing a trailer to have a Class 3 licence.

Has the department looked into this difficulty? Many of the businesses in my riding are having difficulties with this. Has the department looked into a solution for that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Minister of Transportation

Our transportation system is harmonized with all the other jurisdictions that have interconnected highways into the Northwest Territories. When we consider removing the requirement for somebody to have a Class 3 and certain size vehicle, we do have to consult with other jurisdictions. So, currently there is a regulation that certain size vehicles need a certain class of licence. At this time, we’re pleased with the way that’s going and it fits in well with the other jurisdictions.

We can look at it to see if there is something we can harmonize with the other jurisdictions, but we can’t make a change and not advise the other jurisdictions that we’re making changes and so on. We can look at it but it would probably be more of a national discussion than just us making changes to the regulations here in the Territories. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Robert Bouchard

Robert Bouchard Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m having difficulty with the harmonization concept. The Minister is telling me there’s harmonization when I know, in fact, in Alberta a pick-up is a pick-up. It doesn’t matter if you’re towing a trailer or not, it’s still not required to have a Class 3 licence. As well as the issue of licence plates, in Alberta they need a licence plate on the front. When you cross the border now, you have to put a licence plate on the front. So I don’t know how the harmonization is working.

Can the Minister commit to look at these regulations and the fact that they aren’t harmonized and try to harmonize them with Alberta, which is the main transportation province we deal with? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Minister of Transportation

This is a national issue. Alberta does have its own regulations. We aren’t exactly similar. We are trying to become part of the transportation system. We do harmonize with the other provinces. Harmonization is the ability for vehicles to move across the country and into the Territories without switching loads or being ineligible or eligible of driving a vehicle of that size. So we would look at everything, not just one province and just harmonize with a province where the most commercial vehicles are coming from. We’d look at everything. Like I said, if that was the best possible solution, was to do the same thing Alberta was doing, we’d probably look at that, but at this time we have our own regulations and we’re following what we think is best for the Territories. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

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

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I made a statement on the idea of a junk food tax. My question is to the Minister of Finance.

What level of taxing authority does the GNWT have in implanting indirect taxes on goods and services sold or bought in the NWT? Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Minister of Finance

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have the authority, listening to the Member’s statement, to set some taxes in place as they pertain to some of the substances that the Member was talking about. We also do things like liquor, tobacco and those types of things as well. Thank you.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Earlier I also made the comment that some provinces, such as Quebec and Ontario, are seriously taking the lead in terms of implementing taxes as a deterrent to the lifestyle of their citizens because they realize the significant costs it incurs down the road to the health care institutions.

Would the Minister of Finance agree to follow the lead of those provinces and begin examining the idea and concept of perhaps coming to a point where you could come back to the House with a proposed idea of maybe putting a tax on junk food? Mahsi.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Minister of Finance

We, as a government, have been trying to use taxes as a way to encourage, in effect, behaviour, especially as it pertains to cigarettes and alcohol. We have some of the most expensive cigarettes and alcohol in the country. We’ve just recently raised the price of loose tobacco, and our smoking and drinking rates, unfortunately, across the board haven’t shown a lot of bending the right way. We haven’t bent the trend, as they say. We continue to monitor through it that way.

If there’s an interest in committee to look at some type of tax on sugar, I’d be prepared to have that discussion. It’s much more complicated than it sounds on the surface, on junk food, but we’d be prepared to definitely engage in that discussion.

Michael Nadli

Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you. It seems that at this point – you know, sugar is a candy – and recent studies have indicated that if you consume it, at least for diabetes, and we have a high rate of diabetes here in the Northwest Territories. Recent studies have indicated that sugar intake on a daily scale could lead to some forms of cancer.

Would the Minister, perhaps in the next session, indicate to the House whether it could be probable

for the Minister of Finance to categorize the junk food tax as a form of sin tax? Mahsi.

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Minister of Finance

The definition of sin, of course, is one that’s been debated for centuries. The issue of classifying sugar as a tax similar to tobacco and liquor… I mean, junk food similar to tobacco and liquor is a discussion we can have.

Once again, if you look at the literature, the debate and the complexity you get into in trying to define your term very, very precisely for taxation purposes is not without its challenges. We’ve been spending a lot of time as a government trying to look at active living, productive choices, Drop the Pop, Don’t Be A Butthead, getting people and young people to make the right choices, babies born healthy. Taxing the way to good health I don’t think has shown to be that successful, but once again, we’re not averse to having that discussion with committee. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.