This is page numbers 39 - 60 of the Hansard for the 19th 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 going.

Topics

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT currently has 2,800 housing units. How does the territorial government plan to ensure that housing is available for every NWT resident as a human right? Thank you.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Unfortunately, all needs of any social issues, education, housing, legal support, all of them, our needs are greater than our resources. We are not denying that. However, you need to take care of the basic needs. That is Maslow's hierarchy that says food, clothing, and lodging. Take care of those first, and then you look at the higher needs.

This government is committed. We have been going down to Ottawa. I went down when I first was elected. Our Housing Minister just returned from Ottawa talking about housing. We need to keep advocating. I can't guarantee that we will have a house for every person by the end of this Assembly. I would love to make that commitment, but I have a feeling I couldn't fulfill that.

What we need to do is work closer with our federal government, making them understand the needs of the territories are different and more intense than the needs of the south where they have other options, their cost of living is cheaper, their resources are more plentiful.

We need to work with Indigenous governments. That is what we have done in the last Assembly and carrying forward so that we work in partnership, where there is a community housing program that the GNWT puts in either labour or materials and the community government, either Indigenous or community, can put in a portion, as well, either labour or things. Those are ideas we need to keep forward.

We need to work in partnership. We don't have the answers ourselves, but together, all working together with Indigenous governments, community governments, the federal government, and the territorial government, perhaps we can make it a more humane world that we live in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. As the second question was a clarification, I will give the Member for Kam Lake another question, her final supplementary.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I absolutely agree with Madam Premier's comment about how we need to leverage our partnerships, especially with people here in the Northwest Territories, and go to the federal government. How has our government worked with Indigenous governments to make sure that the NWT is getting its fair share of the federal government's very ambitious national housing strategy, which is offering $40 billion to Canadians for housing? Thank you.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Again, in the last Assembly, it was more of a little bit of competition, feed the money through us. That didn't work very well for us. I try to learn. We are politicians. I think one of the Members had said we are not God. Absolutely, we are not God. The best thing a politician can be is humble enough to admit when they need help. The worst politician, in my opinion, is somebody who thinks they have all the answers.

What we are committed to doing: we have already been talking with our Indigenous governments. We are talking about having a strategy, not only around housing but all of the issues that impact Indigenous people. We are working on that now. We are working on the strategy. We just put the feelers out.

I have had one meeting with our intergovernmental counsel. I have had three meetings with Indigenous governments since I have been here in the last few months. Even though some people think I am not doing a lot, I am doing a lot. We brought forward the idea of going to Canada together with a united front. I have talked to them seriously about divide-and-conquer. When we all go individually, it does not work best for us. We have agreed that we will be doing that. Not all the governments have been approached, yet. The ones that have are in agreement that we need to have a strategy and go forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Question 29-19(2): Stanton Territorial Hospital Issues
Oral Questions

February 7th, 2020

Page 47

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thought you might have forgotten me. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. As I said yesterday, and again today, there have been a number of issues related to the new hospital building. Also, last we heard, there was a shortage of nursing staff.

Today, let's start with the nurses. In June, there was a 13-percent vacancy rate, equal to 37 nurses. What is the vacancy rate now, and particularly, what is the net gain of nurses in the last six months when you account for those who have been hired and those who quit? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. It is very hard to forget you. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As of December 31, 2019, the vacancy rate across the NTSA, which is all the regions, all positions, was 12.3 percent. This represented 178 of 1,450 positions. The vacancy rates for some specific job types across the NTSA include 25 percent nurse practitioners, 15.5 percent registered nurses.

As of December 31, 2019, the vacancy rate across the NTSA, which is all regions, for frontline registered nursing positions was 17.1 percent. This represented 55 of 322 positions.

As of December 31, 2019, the vacancy rate across Stanton for frontline nursing positions was 10.3 percent. This represented 19 of 185 positions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

I appreciate that answer from the Minister. It is a surprising answer to me because it was my understanding that the Stanton nursing workforce was 280 individuals. The Minister is saying 185 full-time equivalents is, in fact, the total number. There is some mismatch there, which we need to get at, which is: what is the total workforce, and what is the vacancy rate within that? I realize the Minister may not have that information to hand. Let me move on with whether the number of new hires has allowed nurses to reduce their overtime and to plan for holidays and vacations. Has overtime cost gone down?

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Yes, efforts are under way as part of the overall recruitment process to ensure that Stanton hospital has enough nursing staff to cover holiday leave and reduce the demands of overtime. As summertime approaches, that is what the department is looking to now.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you to the Minister for that. I know that was a point of unhappiness as last summer holidays came around. There were not enough nurses to allow people to take time off. There was a commitment by the previous health Minister to expedite the recruiting system and to get job offers into the hands of nurses more quickly. Are you able to say whether, in fact, that system has been expedited?

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

At this time, I am not aware. I will commit to getting back to the Member on whether or not the efforts are in place.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Finally, I want to talk about the heat regulation in the building. It seems to be a significant problem, and it affects both patients and staff. What actions have been taken to figure out why some of the rooms and hallways are so cold and how to make them warmer?

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

The Member is correct. During the months of December and January, it was extremely cold here in Yellowknife. The building was not maintaining temperatures, parts of the building. Cold air was being sucked into the building. Metal doors on the exterior of the building were frosting. In order to resolve these issues, Dexterra investigated and resolved air supply issues. Additional investigation is scheduled for spring of 2020. An additional heater was added in the emergency entrance. There was resequencing to the two sets of sliding doors. Those are a number of the issues that were done, and I respect that the staff up at the Stanton hospital had to go through this. I went up there and was able to speak to some of the staff, not all of the staff, but just to reassure them that this is something that the department is looking into. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Monsieur le President. I just have one question, and it's for the Minister of Justice, if I may. In response to an earlier question, she did commit to consulting with the standing committee in looking at how the public would be engaged in the future around regulation making. That is great, but she did not say anything about co-drafting and whether she would be consulting with standing committee on that. I just want to remind her that, in the last Assembly, the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment developed a whole report around co-drafting, with lots of recommendations, ideas about how to improve that process going forward, including the involvement of standing committee. I would like to know from the Minister of Justice whether she is prepared to work with the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment moving forward in looking at how Indigenous governments are going to be involved in co-drafting of regulations. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Justice.

Caroline Wawzonek

Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South

Mr. Speaker, I did not speak specifically to co-drafting in terms of how that would look and what commitments might be made. Quite frankly, the reason is that, if I make a commitment in this House, I am going to take it very seriously, and I understand that co-drafting and the involvement of the Indigenous governments, the involvement of the intergovernmental council, involves EIA, involves Cabinet, involves more than just the Department of Justice, and so I was not prepared to stand up and make that specific commitment here. Nevertheless, I can certainly commit to working with standing committee, making sure that I am personally briefed and aware of what is in that report, and so, to that extent, we will move forward, but that is about as far as I am prepared to go today, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Minister of Justice. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I have questions for the Premier. Mr. Speaker, the last five months, basically, we had nothing going on in regard to short-term planning for any kind of jobs that we could create or what's happening with any projects going on because, once you leave Yellowknife and you head into the Delta, we have nothing going on in the Sahtu, nothing going on in my riding. What are her plans on the go-forward to stimulate the economy and jobs in the short term? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker

The Speaker Frederick Blake Jr.

Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Honourable Premier.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have heard a number of times from the Member that nothing is going on in this Assembly since we have been elected. I want to remind the Member that this Cabinet has only been elected since November, so it's only a few, it's not six months that I have heard many times. We might have been campaigning six months ago, but the Cabinet has only been around since November. I take offence at saying nothing is going on. We are working on our mandate commitments based on the priorities of the 19th Legislative Assembly, but I need to say that the priorities are only what is extra. Day-to-day business within government programs goes on every day. Whether we are here sitting in this House or whether we are back in our constituencies or whether Ministers are upstairs running their departments, day-to-day government business goes on. There are projects in his riding. I believe there is a bridge going on. I hear there is a health centre being built right now. So there are projects that go on besides the extra things that we have identified as our priorities, besides the extra things that we decide as our mandate. If we did not even have priorities or a mandate, this government would still provide services to the residents of the Northwest Territories.