Mr. Speaker, petroleum products operate through a revolving fund. There’s a Revolving Fund Act, which means that the fund itself is self-funding. So the only way that we’re able to deliver fuel to these communities is by charging what it costs to deliver fuel to the communities.

If we were to subsidize one community, which we are allowed to do up to 95 percent of the cost, we would have to take it from another community. We’re allowed to charge up to 105 percent of the cost of delivering fuel to a community.

We try to keep it fairly balanced and do it at the true cost, 100 percent of the cost. So the actual transportation cost is what we use. Thank you.

I’d like to thank the Minister for that explanation. To a normal person, I guess it wouldn’t make sense.

I’d just like to pursue another angle. Government is providing these services in the communities and we’re charging a commission fee.

Can our government provide this service for free, instead of charging it back to the smaller communities? They’re small populations. They’re the ones that get the brunt of it. I think my colleague from Mackenzie Delta has the highest fuel prices as a result of the petroleum products division, at $2.01.

Can they look at the government providing the service without a commission charge? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the sales commission is paid to individuals in the communities that sell the fuel, so we would be asking the individuals who are selling the fuel in the communities to do it for no fee if we were to eliminate the sales commission from the price structure of the fuel. Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I guess what I’m asking is if Public Works and Services would review how we can deliver fuel, how we can drive down the cost of living. In fact, I think nationally one of the big moves is to lobby the federal government to drop the GST for gasoline and heating fuels in remote communities.

Is that something that the Minister is willing to look at as well? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, if that is internationally to lower the cost across the board, then our government is prepared to look at that particular tax for fuel into small communities that we’re delivering ourselves. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.

I understand that the department is reviewing its Medical Travel Policy. What is the timeline for this review? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.

Mr. Speaker, in the last sitting I talked about the schedule for the review of the Medical Travel Policy, and we were hoping to have the base Cabinet policy ready for discussion on March 31st of this year. I did have an opportunity to get briefed by the department and go through that Cabinet policy and I didn’t feel that it was quite right and it needed some additional work, so I’ve actually sent it back to the department.

Between that and some other competing priorities, we are a little behind. I’m hoping to have that Cabinet policy to Cabinet and then to Standing Committee on Social Programs in July. In the meantime, I’ve had an opportunity to travel around the North and talk to a number of people, and there are lots of individuals who are obviously frustrated about medical travel, in particular escorts.

In our discussions on the medical travel review, I had indicated that once we had the Cabinet policy done, then we would work on the individual portions: escorts, appeal process, price. Recognizing that there is this delay and we won’t be ready until July, I’ve asked the department to expedite the review of the escorts policy in light of situations like the Member has discussed. We will be going out for an RFP immediately to seek input and provide some direction and to find some options to deal with the escort portion of medical travel. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my statement, my constituent was given a support letter from her doctor, and then once it came to medical travel it was denied.

I’d like to know why was she denied a medical escort after being approved earlier?

Mr. Speaker, I’m not comfortable talking about specific individuals, but with respect to the Medical Travel Policy, a recommendation can come from the practitioner. But when it comes to non-medical escorts, there are some guidelines and not all non-medical escorts are approved.

This is clearly an area that needs improvement. We have heard from residents all across the Northwest Territories, that when you’re dealing with chronic conditions like cancer or other issues, you need emotional, compassionate support, and non-medical escorts needs to be reviewed. This is going to be included in the review that’s going to be conducted once the RFP goes out, and I’m hoping that we can take some immediate action on addressing non-medical as well as medical escorts.

The RFP, as I said, will be out early this summer and we should have something to have discussions with committee by the end of the summer/early fall. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Can the Minister describe what is being done for medical travel situations in the interim, before the final recommendations of the review? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, there is always an exception process that individuals can access if they feel that they’ve been declined medical travel. It’s not always going to be exactly what the Members want or what the individual residents want, but we do try to meet their challenges and the issues that are coming forward, and we are attempting to find solutions for individuals on non-medical escorts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we are waiting for the review and revision of the Medical Travel Policy, will the Minister make an exception in this case?

Mr. Speaker, I’m not prepared to talk about an individual case, but I’d be happy to sit down with the Member and we can look at the file and see what we can do to resolve this particular situation.

In the end, the Minister doesn’t make decisions on medical travel. There is a policy and a process. It’s just a matter of finding the appropriate way through the process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again, I’m not comfortable talking about a specific individual, but we do have a Medical Travel Policy, it is under review. In the future it will address the types of situations the Member is discussing. I’d be happy to sit down with the Member and talk about this particular situation and get the details and have the department get involved, but this is part and parcel with many of the concerns that we’re hearing about medical travel and in particular around escorts and non-medical escorts. This is work that we need to get done. Thank you.

I do appreciate that the Minister is working hard in this area. This individual I talk about could be anybody in the Northwest Territories. So let’s talk generalities because I know the issue I am talking about. I haven’t given you names. I’ve just said a person in Deline. I could be talking about someone in Good Hope or wherever.

So I want to continue the discussion. This could be Tulita, it could be Tuktoyaktuk, it could be Tsiigehtchic or wherever. We have people who are leaving their communities, who have family obligations, who have jobs, who, out of the goodness of their hearts, are escorting people to facilities where they have to stay for a long time without any type of financial compensation. They are asking their land corps., their bands to cover their costs for fuel, groceries or whatever. These people are staying months, weeks.

So, given all that the Minister is telling me, is there any type of interim solution to help these medical escorts to come with their people to the hospitals?

On the Medical Travel Policy now, there is a per diem that is provided. It may not be sufficient enough to cover some of the costs that the Member is talking about, but I know that communities throughout the Northwest Territories have stood up and have been supporting members of their communities when they are away for extended periods of time.

During my discussions with residents across the Northwest Territories and with Members, we’ve heard a lot of suggestions on escorts and what we need to be doing. I’ve heard individuals say we need to actually create or employ some dedicated escorts in the communities who could be the escorts for everybody, proper language training, proper interpretation training and some medical terminology. I’ve also heard greater fees for individuals who are on medical travel. I’ve also heard people say that these are really bad ideas and that other options need to be considered. The bottom line is there are a lot of ideas and we need to wade through these ideas and find out which ones are really practical and feasible.

In the interim, I would still encourage the Members to work with their communities, to maybe have conversations with income support and we will continue to provide per diems accordingly. Thank you.

What I am hoping from this Minister is saying yes, let’s look at some out-of-the-box type of solutions. I’m really happy the Minister talked about possibly income support. Can the Minister sit down with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment to say listen, we have an issue here because of the bureaucracy, because of the timetable, we just aren’t able to meet the current needs right now of what’s happening. The issue is medical escorts that need to be compensated by people in the communities. It’s okay here in Yellowknife, you can drive your car and head over there, but from the small communities you’re travelling away from your family, you have family obligations, you have children, you have bills. They have to get paid.

I like what the Minister said. Can we do that in the interim to look at this? We need to help our people now. The government is here to help them, we get the money to help them. Can we help them in this area so that there is a less stressful burden on the people who are already helping people with medical escorts? That’s what I’m looking for from this government. We can deal with the letter writing later on, but let’s just get some help right now.