Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today in my Member's statement I talked about the priority one candidates in the GNWT, or employees in the GNWT. I would like to ask the Minister of Human Resources, would the Minister re-examine all the programs, policies, and initiatives that are designed to increase the number of priority one employees in the GNWT to ensure their efficiency? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Human Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I get to the question, I would like to just correct an answer that I made yesterday. I said yesterday there was about 32 per cent Aboriginal representation in the public service. Today currently we're actually at 30.8, so it's actually less than I had indicated previously. I've been with the Department of Human Resources now for about six months, and I have actually already directed the department to begin looking at a number of the programs that are available. For example, the Aboriginal Management Development Program is targeted at senior management in the public service, but we know there are a lot of individuals, Aboriginal individuals, at lower levels who want to transition up but going from an officer level to a manager level may not be appropriate. So I've already asked, or rather directed, them to begin work on seeing how we can broaden those programs out to meet our needs.

I've also directed the department to do some research for me on the effects of affirmative action since it came into place. Have we actually got any results by having an Affirmative Action Program that is more passive and based on hiring as opposed to something that is more active? So I've already asked the department to begin that research, and once I get that information, I'd love an opportunity to sit down with committee and go through some of the details.

We have a number of programs out there that are available where affirmative action applies, such as regional recruitment, the corrections training. Some departments are doing some very specific things. We are looking at these programs and, once we got more data, as I said, I'd love to sit down with committee and have a heart-to-heart on how we can move forward to improve the results around affirmative action in our government.

I'd like to thank the Minister for that response. I would like to know if the Minister is prepared to re-examine the role of the Advisory Committee on Aboriginal Employment in the GNWT, I don't know if that is the exact right term, and then try to give that committee a greater role in ensuring that the priority one candidates continue to increase in the GNWT. I think that's a very good committee, so I'd like to ask the Minister if he's prepared to give a greater role to that committee.

The Aboriginal Employees Advisory Committee is made up of Aboriginal employees of the GNWT, and their role is to provide some guidance and advice to the Minister and the department on how to have a more responsive system, a system that is hiring more Aboriginal people, where appropriate. I do believe they have a pretty solid role; I think they're doing some good work. As we move forward and get some of the statistical information and have a better sense of where we are and how we have actually responded over time, I will have a conversation with committee and we can talk about the advisory committee and whether or not its role is appropriate or not, but I think we need to do a little bit more work first and have a discussion with committee before we make any of those types of decisions.

I recognize that the Minister of Human Resources is not solely responsible for the Affirmative Action Policy. I would like to know if the Minister is prepared to have a regular role, maybe during Committee or anything, on a regular basis conferring with other Ministers of other departments to ensure that each department has a human resources plan that also has the contents of what is needed in order to increase priority one hires in the GNWT. Thank you.

This is a conversation we do have at the Cabinet table. I regularly share the information on where we are with respect to affirmative action. That information is available to the Ministers by department. I also continually push the different programs and opportunities available to the individual departments, like the Regional Recruitment Program and things like the Geographical Hiring for Non-statutory Jobs. I am happy to continue to push this as a priority. I'm happy to help move this Government towards a public service that represents the population that it serves.

We do have challenges, Mr. Speaker. There are some departments that are doing better than others. There are some departments that are doing worse than others. Some departments have a significant number of statutory requirement positions where they need individuals with specific skills, which is why we must work closely with Education, Culture, and Employment. The initiative that Education, Culture, and Employment is currently pursuing, Skills 4 Success, will help us focus in on the types of jobs that we need to train and work towards. I think it needs to be a partnership between education as well as all the departments. I know the departments and the Ministers are eager to have a representative workforce as well, so we are working on those things.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask if the Minister would consider developing a new strategy for increasing priority one employees across the GNWT public service, including the development of a human resources plan by each department. Thank you.

We do have the strategic plan, the 20/20, for the Government of the Northwest Territories, which is focused on building a public service that is responsive, respectful, but also representative of the population we serve. I will commit to working with each of the departments to try to find priorities and activities we can do within the individual departments. As far as individual human resources plans, I believe much of that work is already begun, or has existed in the past. We will look to see if we can revitalize any of that, but also need to focus in on: what is it really going to take to develop a workforce that is representative of the population? Our workforce isn't currently representative of the population. I think the number of individuals who identify themselves in the workforce is not 50 or 51 per cent Aboriginal. I think, once again, we really need to work closely with Education, Culture, and Employment, target those jobs that are out there, and move forward with Skills 4 Success, and the government has to be a partner. We are a partner on Skills 4 Success, which will help us develop the workforce and improve our rates here in the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Can the Minister tell us the status of the development of the prescription drug monitoring program and when we might expect to see a recommendation that could be shared with the Social Development Committee? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have developed a steering committee, as the Member mentioned in her Member's statement, to review options around prescription drug monitoring, and we've asked them to come back with recommendations on best approaches that would be appropriate here in the Northwest Territories. We do know that the most effective monitoring method needs to be consistent with the department's emerging suite of e-Health tools, such as electronic medical records. At this time, there have not been any final recommendations provided by the committee on how to improve or implement a prescription drug monitoring program. However, it is still our intent, and we are still moving forward with that work to help curb prescription drug abuse here in the Northwest Territories and help us advance the design of a monitoring program. However, given our current fiscal environment, it's not possible to state with any certainty when this will be able to move forward, but we are committed to moving forward and we are committed to getting that work done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister for that answer. I appreciate that the electronic component is a significant dimension of this program. Can the Minister give us a brief description of how the linkage to the pharmacies across the Territory would be achieved and how we will partner with the pharmacists in ensuring that the system works across the territory? So to have their buy-in, not just the technology.

As I indicated, at this time we don't actually have any recommendations from the committee. The membership on that steering committee does include the NWT Pharmacy Association, and we already collaborate with pharmacists across the territories on a number of initiatives. They are a critical and a key component to making this a reality here in the Northwest Territories. We will continue to consult and work in collaboration with the pharmacies across the Northwest Territories to ensure that a program, when it is put in place, is both effective, efficient, and responsive to the needs of both clinicians, pharmacists, and most importantly the patients.

Mr. Minister, this question has to do with the project rolling forward. Obviously there will be a presentation of plans when those are available, and I'm wondering if there's any chance we can see them in the coming year's budget.

The budget is before the House. We are going through the budget. Hopefully we'll do Health and Social Services in the next couple of days. There is no money for the implementation of a prescription drug monitoring program in this budget, but we do have the steering committee. We do fund the work they're doing within existing resources, and that work is going to continue. We are still moving forward; we are still quantifying what a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program will cost. We are looking at how to incorporate e-Health and electronic medical records, and we are working with pharmacies to find out how we're going to make that linkage with them to make sure that the information is readily available but not contravening things like the Health Information Act.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My last question deals with amalgamating this initiative into the work of the new single territorial board. Can the Minister comment on whether, and how, the creation of the new board will affect delivery of the electronic medical records system? Thank you.

Moving to a single authority should actually help us move this forward in a quicker manner because we will be able to work as a system as opposed to a fragmented group of authorities. With respect to planning for the system-wide EMR, it began years ago and implementation is well under way. Four authorities are currently using the EMR, representing a significant portion of the NWT populations; that's Yellowknife, Hay River, and Fort Smith, and system-wide resources have already been identified to help move that forward. We are hoping in 2016-17 to bring the Tulita, Sahtu, Deh Cho, and Beaufort-Delta in as well.

This is a huge step for us and this is an ability for those involved in a circle of care of individuals to actually see the records, so that individuals will know what has been prescribed for an individual as long as they are in the circle of care so that they don't over-prescribe. It doesn't link in the pharmacies, which is a key component of the prescription drug monitoring program. That is something that we need to do as well, and as I've indicated, the steering committee is going to provide us advice and guidance on that. We will cost it out, and we are working closely with the Pharmacy Association. Unfortunately, as I've said, given our current fiscal environment, I'm not in a position where I can actually say when we will be able to roll that out. Needless to say, though, we are still doing the work so that we can have a business case to present and discuss when appropriate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As mentioned in my Member's statement, my question is directed to the Minister of the NWT Power Corporation with respect to the pilot project that is, I would probably say, completed and producing results here in the community of Colville Lake. As you know, it's a small-populated community similar to a few others in our NWT area. Visualizing and seeing the results, having spent a couple of years in my growing up days there and seeing and reading by candle light now to solar powered-generated LED light bulbs is really a vast and significant change here and contribution should be given to the previous Assembly in doing so.

So my question today is, after realizing the repeated benefits, are those benefits going to be reviewed and applied to other similar communities of that size? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Power Corporation.