This is page numbers 4777 - 4802 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 3rd 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 strike. View the webstream of the day's session.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Finance.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Member could explain a little further, I am not sure what has changed with the communique going out that, if folks wanted to return to work, then they would not be asked to do other tasks that are not within their own personal job description. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Let's fast forward now to Tuesday when the Minister said in this House, and I quote, "I think that this is one of these situations where we show due respect on both sides of the table, and we hope that would bring the temperature down." Imagine my surprise when I saw the government waiver that was handed out to unionized workers yesterday. How does that action square with his statement earlier in the week of bringing the temperature down?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Obviously, we would like to see things cool down a bit. However, providing information to employees, somebody has to provide employees with information. We have provided them with the information upon a lot of employees' requests about the waiver. If you have read the one from last week, we have encouraged them to speak to their union representatives, and this waiver is part of that process. I don't think it is inflaming anything. It doesn't really matter what we say. At the temperature things are at, nothing is going to calm it down, anyway. This is just providing information, Mr. Speaker. Somebody needs to keep the members of the public service informed.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

I would like to provide the Minister of Finance with some information: it is further inflaming the situation. I don't understand what the government is thinking they are going to accomplish by handing out these forms, except to make everybody more mad. There is a sort of an impugning of intention here that the picket line is going to be aggressive and that there needs to be some kind of indemnification for the government. Does the Minister not see that, in fact, this is fanning the flames, and why would he want to do that?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

The ministry is not fanning the flames. We are providing information. People want information. They need to know, to have the information to make an informed decision, and they know the consequences of the decision they are going to make. We need to give them that opportunity. This is just part of the process as we prepare for what we are hoping is not going to happen. We will do our darnedest as we are going into mediation, I told committee that the other night, to reach an agreement.

We have all seen the emails from a lot of people out there who are concerned. There are some emails saying, "Well, that is going to decide where I go on October 1st." That is fine. That is part of the process. Every four years, we hear that, but I am hearing from people who are wanting to know, "How am I going to pay my mortgage? How am I going to look after my three children?" We are going to use that as a backdrop as we go into negotiations to try to find a deal that works for them, for us, for the union, and especially for the people in the Northwest Territories. That is what we should be thinking about.

I don't believe we are fanning any flames. We are providing people with information. Members always want information. They stand up, asking me questions, "Can you provide more information?" I say, "Yes." Same situation, we are providing information.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not surprisingly, the Minster and I have a difference of opinion here about providing information that undermines the union's position in ways that are completely unnecessary. They have the right to strike. The norm is for unionized people, they don't have to be on the picket line, but they are not usually welcomed back with open arms for crossing the picket line. I stand by my position that I think that this inflames an already very volatile situation. I would like to know what the purpose is of handing out these waiver forms. What is the purpose? Thank you.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Absolutely, the union has a right to strike, and they have served a strike notice. We respect their position. That doesn't mean we have to agree with it, but we respect it. People out there also have a right to go to work, and they have a right to have the proper information to help them make an informed decision. That is all we ask of each other. We want to have the right information to make an informed decision. We are giving them that opportunity. Unfortunately, it might be perceived differently by some, but we have to give people the right to choose. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recently, actually probably ever since I have been elected, I have had a number of constituents come to me and ask questions about medical travel. I have been trying to get the information out there as best as I can. Sometimes, I may not be doing it properly. I will have some questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services. The first question I have is: there seem to be some different forms of medical travel. Can the Minister please explain how GNWT staff have a different per diem rate than non-insured residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, medical travel is not an insured service under the NWT healthcare plan. The GNWT provides medical travel benefits through Medical Travel Policy to eligible residents if they have no other sources of benefits in an effort to ensure that transportation expenses are not an economic barrier to accessing ensured health services. However, the Medical Travel Policy is only one of many policies and insurance plans that provide medical travel benefits to residents throughout the Northwest Territories. When patients are eligible for benefits through an employer or third party, those benefits must take precedence over the GNWT's medical travel plans.

With respect to the GNWT employees, GNWT employees have a negotiated benefit called Medical Travel that provides terms and conditions that determine how much individuals get when they travel on medical travel. They are not covered by GNWT medical travel. They are covered by an employee benefit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

I greatly appreciate the Minister's answer. It helps to clear up a little bit more as we move forward. I have noticed, though, that the federal government medical travel differs from the GNWT medical travel. Is there a reason that ours is different than that? If there is, can the Minister explain why the differences are?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

As I indicated, medical travel is not an insured service under the NWT's healthcare plan, and if an employer has a benefit, those benefits will take precedence. The federal government does have a benefit program around medical travel. Theirs will take priority over the GNWT plan. Many of our residents have access to medical travel benefits through their employer, whether it is the federal government or the GNWT, private businesses.

Employer benefits generally surpass the benefits offered under the Medical Travel Policy and are subject to different decision-making criteria, which are dictated by the employer in the plan that is in front of them, usually through the collective agreement or policy documents or purchased through third-party providers. Those employers have a program. The employees are to use those programs. If the employer doesn't have a program, then they can come to the GNWT program.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you to the Minister for his answer. It is my understanding through federal employees and their families that they have to pay for their costs for their hotels, their per diem, up front for medical travel. Is there a possibility that the government can cover these costs and get reimbursed through vouchers from the federal government instead of having the families foot these costs?

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Mr. Speaker, many employers such as the federal government authorize and coordinate travel from within their organization for their employees or their dependents to ensure that their benefits are applied as intended. In such cases, the Territorial Authority Medical Travel office does not have any involvement in their travel, does not process any of their authorizations, or have knowledge of their travel plans.

It is possible that a person may receive employer travel benefits but not actually qualify for coverage under our own medical travel policy. However, the NWT Health and Social Services Authority Medical Travel office does not have the authority to interpret collective agreements or administer benefits on behalf of an employer or other third-party insurers. I know some employers actually provide the opportunity to provide travel advances. We don't dictate, we don't control, we don't even approve medical travel for some of the third-party providers, so we would not be in a position to fund in advance because we have a completely different program.

The short answer on this one, Mr. Speaker, is: no, we don't.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would hope that we could be able to do something, but I understand we are dealing with different benefits there. Previously in this House the Minister has talked about the Medical Travel Policy being reviewed. Can the Minister please advise what the status of this Medical Travel Policy review is? The status of it right now. Thank you.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

I met with committee last October to provide a bit of an update on the Medical Travel Policy review and to get feedback and advice from the committee members to help inform the final changes that need to be made. The feedback from committee was received in November. Thank you very much for getting that to us. We are working to revise the policies. It has already started. These policy revisions will be completed this spring in 2019 with the intent to implement the changes during the remaining months of this term. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

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

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I talked about the breaches that we have been hearing about now and then with the Health and Social Services system. I would like to ask the Minister what has been done to put safeguards in place to prevent future breaches. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the honourable Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh and I came into this Assembly at the same time in October 27, 2007. In 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012, we received reports from the Privacy Commissioner who said this government badly needs a Health Information Act. In 2013, when the Member was the honourable Health Minister, he moved and did first and second reading of the Health Information Act, which was passed in 2014 when I was a Minister. This act is a huge step in the right direction. Prior to this act, the only time health and information breaches became public is when things happened to be faxed to media and they did not escalate to the degree that they did.

Since the Health Information Act has come in, we have an obligation and responsibility to train staff to provide indication to our residents when there are breaches, to notify those affected. We have been able to learn from each of the breaches that has occurred. We are continuing to make improvements.

In 2015, when the act went live, we came up with a health information guidance manual. Based on what we have heard and what we are learned from these breaches, we are doing a major upgrade to that progress manual, the compliance manual. We are continuing to train staff, and we will continue to do so.

I understand one of the committees recently had a meeting with the Privacy Commissioner on her report. I'm looking forward to any more recommendations that come out of that, so that we can continue to work together to strengthen our response to privacy breaches and make sure that our public is informed and breaches are not occurring. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Mr. Speaker, the Health and Social Services system is huge, as we all know. There are hundreds of employees, maybe 1,500, 1,600 employees. I would like to ask the Minister if there are designated employees only who handle confidential health records.