Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We hear a lot about our financial situation from the government every year almost every time the House sits, and it’s all doom and gloom. “We have no money,” we keep hearing.

I’m all for being fiscally prudent and I compliment the Finance Minister and staff for their ability to keep us financially solvent, but I’m also a firm believer in searching for new revenues and thinking outside the box to find them. We haven’t done much of either in my years in the Assembly.

Towards the end of the 16th Assembly, action was taken to look at supplementary health benefits. A working group spent many hours considering possible changes which might reduce the cost of the program. When word of potential changes got out into the public, there was a great hue and cry and change was abandoned. But it’s time to again consider new approaches to how we provide health care services to our residents.

I have no illusions. Asking people to pay for something that has always been free does not go over well. But it is time to look at means testing for residents using one specific service, and that would be long-term or extended care, the most expensive of all of our seniors’ housing options.

Our senior population is growing and it will continue to grow. Many more seniors are retiring in the North. As they age in the North, they will eventually require long-term or extended care.

A good portion of our northern retirees have pretty good pensions. They can well afford to pay actual costs for their long-term or extended care housing. Most importantly, many seniors are willing to pay for that kind of accommodation.

But Health and Social Services and Cabinet seem unwilling to rock the boat, to even think about such a change. Say "means testing" and "qualify for a program" in the same breath and people treat you like a pariah. But I believe it’s time to rip the band-aid off, as they say, and reopen the conversation from four years ago. It is time we started charging realistic rent for long-term care for those who can afford it. Thank you.