Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this month Hay River was in the midst of a serious physician shortage. We had one physician in the community, one physician to service not just Hay River but all of the South Slave communities served by the regional health centre, one doctor to manage the workload usually allotted to five full-time positions. The number of scheduled appointments was limited, and walk-in appointments, which are hard to get on a good day, were either limited or sometimes cancelled entirely, so, as you can imagine, the emergency room turned into the walk-in clinic.

Mr. Speaker, this shortage has further eroded public confidence in our healthcare system. It is unacceptable, and we have to take steps to ensure it does not happen again.

This situation also makes it harder to attract staff to Hay River. What doctor wants to work somewhere when they think they might be put in a position to be on call for days on end to do the job of five people? I understand that it's tough to find full-time doctors and even locums, and I acknowledge that there is a doctor shortage all across rural Canada. However, Mr. Speaker, there are things we can do to attract more full-time physicians to Hay River, and we need to start doing them.

First, we need to break down the barriers that isolate Hay River from the rest of the territorial health system, including those barriers that prevent authorities from sharing resources like staff and physicians.

We need to make more land available for development so there are actually homes for potential physicians. Mr. Speaker, while the availability of land does not sound like it's related to the healthcare system, it's a practical consideration that has become a real issue.

We have to shore up our electronic records management system so that, when a locum works in Hay River, he or she does not return south and tell everyone that it's difficult and time-consuming to simply find information about patients.

We have to fix administrative issues so doctors are not frustrated when they tell a client to book an appointment to see them in two weeks and then they never see them again because it's impossible to book appointments.

We need to support our residents who are attending nursing school or taking pre-med courses at university by offering them summer jobs. That has not happened in Hay River in years.

Mr. Speaker, these are just a few of the examples of things that need to change. They are not insurmountable challenges, but, when you add them all up, they stack the deck against us. I will have some questions for the Minister of Health at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.