This is page numbers 63 - 90 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 2nd 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 mandate.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's good to hear that we're engaging the appropriate federal Ministers on this topic. Finally, in addition to encouraging the federal government to dredge the areas in question, would this government be willing to provide any assistance to the federal government such as planning, logistical support, or possibly committing a small amount of resources towards it if such assistance was required to initiate the project? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Wally Schumann

Wally Schumann Hay River South

The fiscal and legal responsibility to ensure safe marine operation conditions in the Northwest Territories and across Canada is a federal responsibility. This includes dredging of the Hay River harbour to ensure safe operating conditions for all vessels with sufficient water depths to ensure safe and unobstructed passage. The Department of Transportation continues to press the federal government to maintain marine facilities in NWT. The Department of Transportation is also finalizing plans for a workshop in Hay River in mid-April with the focus on the Hay River harbour and dredging. Key stakeholders have been notified. The anticipated workshop will result in an effective dredging plan for Hay River harbour, and marine stakeholders are very interested. I expect a positive result for the Hay River harbour and the town of Hay River.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Given the importance of the health care system and that any major changes to it are significant concern for our residents, will the Minister of Health and Social Services provide an explanation for the delay of the transformation of health care in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the legislation has given us the authority to move to one authority in the Northwest Territories, as well as the Tlicho and Hay River Health authorities, was passed in May/June. It was initially intended to go live on April 1, but as a result of a number of factors including our difficulty getting the financial system for use by all the authorities; some delays we experienced during the election campaign; communication; and our ability to set up those wellness councils; and our delay in hiring a CEO -- I’ve decided to move forward the go-live date to August 1, 2016. That will give us the time to do that incredibly important work before we go live with the one authority. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

On to the issue of regional wellness committees, what progress has been made in selecting those committees? What kinds of input are going into those choices?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Last year I convened a meeting of Aboriginal leadership from across the Northwest Territories and had discussion around this exact topic. We sought input and advice from them, as well as other stakeholders from across the Northwest Territories on what the make-up of those committees should be. We are just in the process right now of doing some call letters out to the different organizations, including MLAs, on nominations for individuals to go on those wellness councils, based on the work that was done. Once that's done, we'll move forward with the establishment of those wellness committees.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Given the imminent concerns of our fiscal situation in the Northwest Territories, will there be cost-saving efficiencies as a result of standardizing care in the NWT?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

We've been very clear since the initial discussions around health transformation that this isn't about saving money, necessarily. This is more about improving the quality of care that we're providing to our residents by removing some of the barriers that exist for them today. We do know that there's a number of functions that occur in each of the authorities, that by working together we'll be able to control our costs and possibly have some savings, but mostly this is focused on improving our care for the residents of the Northwest Territories.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Kieron Testart

Kieron Testart Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and onto the point of improved health care. Will there be reduced wait times and more access to medical professionals after the implementation of the new system? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

One of the things we are attempting to do with this health transformation is remove some of the barriers that exist today as one individual moves from authority to authority to authority to get the different services. As we tighten up our services, come with more standard procedures, more standard guidelines, as well as clinical standards, we should be able to improve the turn-around and more importantly, the response and the care that our residents get.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre, Ms. Green.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for Seniors. How is the government preparing for the greater number of seniors and their needs? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi. Minister responsible for Seniors.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

r. Speaker, there's a number of things we're doing, but I'll focus primarily on the beds that we're going to need for seniors here in the Northwest Territories. We've just completed our long-term care review, which I'm going to be sharing with committee in the coming weeks. I'm in the process of drafting a letter to send to committee so that I can share it with them, and hopefully we'll have an opportunity to sit down for a meeting. But I'll give some up front numbers: By 2026 this government is going to be 259 beds short in long-term care. Forty-seven of those are in the Beaufort Delta, ten of those are in the Sahtu, 29 in the Deh Cho, five in the Tlicho region, 123 in Yellowknife, 31 in South Slave, and 14 in Fort Smith. This is a significant number. On average, it costs us about $130,000 a bed to operate a long-term care bed in the Northwest Territories, and on average anywhere from $800,000 to $1.5 million per bed to construct long-term care. We have a significant challenge in front of us. I'm looking forward to bringing the report to committee and having discussions on how we can move forward on this. We are starting to put together a draft plan to have some discussions with committee. The bottom line is we're going to have to think outside the box on this one. We're going to have to look for creative solutions. We're going to have to work with partners to find a way to provide these 259 beds for our aging population here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Minister, for that response and for that new information that quantifies the size of the problem. It's actually much larger than I had anticipated. There's some long-term work that needs to be done, but there are immediate needs, too, that come out of our broken continuum of housing for seniors, with these seniors who have dementia and long-term care needs that are currently inappropriately housed. What kinds of short-term solutions might the government be able to offer these seniors?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

We do have the Territorial Admissions Committee that actually helps us in focusing and prioritizing individuals, so individuals with higher needs can move up the list, but as I have indicated, we have a significant shortage of beds. Currently, I believe we're about 60 beds short here in the Northwest Territories, and that will be part of the 259 that we're going to be short by 2026. We're working with CAP, we're working with Avens on coming up with some solutions in the short-term for Yellowknife. But this isn't just a Yellowknife problem. We've got problems in the Beaufort Delta where we have our residents in acute care units rather than long-term care units, which isn't desirable at all. We're looking at putting together a plan, working with committee for some short-, medium- and long-term wins. I don't necessarily know what all those solutions are at this point, but I really do look forward to having a sit-down with committee, and as I said, I am drafting the letter to send to them to share the report and to have initial discussions on how we can move together to address this oncoming problem.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Now, there was going to be money set aside from an athletes’ village for the Canada Winter Games, which is likely not going to be needed because the bid won't take place. Is it possible to use that money and multiply it with federal money in order to provide an additional $24 million to go into seniors’ care?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

No official dollars are actually allocated. We had committed as a government in the 17th Assembly, and I know the Minister today is also committed to working with the Assembly to find the dollars to support the Canada Winter Games bid. We were going to find those dollars, but no official dollars have actually been allocated into our budget. I can say that the federal government has announced they're going to invest in social infrastructure and I had an opportunity to meet with the Minister responsible, and we talked about some of the needs that we have in the Northwest Territories. Seniors' housing was one of the issues that we raised with them, and it's also one of the pillars that were identified. We don't have a lot of detail on how those social infrastructure dollars are going to be spent or what the criteria are, but we are working closely with the federal government so that they can inform us so that we can apply for it accordingly. But as I said, we're looking for pretty much any avenue we can to find a way to meet our needs and we do need to think outside the box on this one. We're going to have to seek partners in every area to help us meet this 259-bed shortage by 2026.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister look at the possibility of a P3 arrangement to provide this kind of care for seniors? Thank you. Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

I’d like to remind Members that they direct the questions through the Speaker, please. Mahsi. Minister responsible for Seniors.