Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The plan for spring break is going to be very similar to the plan for Christmas. Thank you.

We know that the CPHO has said, when we question whether the vaccine is going to loosen or take the border controls away, that she is not commenting that far. Has the department started consulting with the regional school boards or surveying if we will have a large amount of vacancies in September due to some of them not being able to travel for December and for their spring break? As we know, a lot of the teachers in our communities leave the summer and go back home to their families throughout Canada.

COVID has really changed a lot of things, but there are few who have been upended as much as teachers and students. There are things like the tourist industry, but schools across the world have been feeling this. I understand and I appreciate the sacrifice that teachers are making because not everyone is from here. I'm lucky that my family is in the territory. I don't have to go outside of the territory to see them, but that's not the case for everyone. Most of our teachers are from outside of the territory. A lot of them are young, and this could be their first time really away from their family. It is a big sacrifice, and I appreciate that.

The territory always loses teachers. It's tough to get teachers here, and it's often difficult to keep them. It's a different way of life, especially if you're used to a big city. You come up, and you're living in small communities. It can be difficult, and the weather, a lot of different factors. We often lose teachers at Christmas. Sometimes teachers just don't come back after the Christmas break, and often teachers don't come back after a couple of years. We fully expect that there will be turnover, as there always is, and we don't have any hard numbers at this point about how many teachers will not be returning. I have heard anecdotally that teachers have said that they won't be, but I can't point to any statistics. However, I would assume that it might be a higher number than normal.

One of the questions that I have for the Minister is: Trying to plan for the future, we don't want to plan in August or in July or June. If we do have a low uptake of teachers who are coming into the territory or applying for jobs or recruiting because of all of our restrictions, say if our border restrictions are still in place, is there a possibility that we will get more e-learning or Northern Distance Learning-type classrooms for some of our kids that could potentially have a teacher but have the kids in the classroom and the teacher may be on the screen with some support?

The last thing we want to do is move toward more distance learning. Our goal is to fully staff all the schools with all the teachers and have in-person instruction. We've been lucky, more so than the rest of Canada, more so than many places in the world, that we've been able to have so much face-to-face learning, and we want to keep that going. Staffing has already started for the upcoming year, and so hopefully we're making these moves early so that we can attract more teachers. There is a lot of planning that has to be done. Everyone who is involved in education, the teachers' association, the school boards, are all aware that this is a concern. It has been brought to my attention, and I take it seriously. I have these discussions with the department, but our hope is that we are going to continue to be able to attract teaches to the territory.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to start off by saying my thoughts and prayers are with the family for the highway tragedy that happened at the end of December. The department is aware and shares some of the Member's concerns about the safety of Highway No. 3, especially the section between Yellowknife and Behchoko, which the Member knows is the busiest highway in the Northwest Territories, for that stretch of the highway. Like the Member said, I may not have the numbers with me. I know the numbers of vehicle accidents along the highway are high.

I do want to say, though, that the number of vehicle collisions on Highway No. 3 between Yellowknife and Behchoko has declined 76 percent between 1999 and 2019, despite a 225-percent increase in traffic. If the department has the numbers, then we can provide that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would be one of those frequent travellers on Highway No. 3 because I represent Behchoko and the communities, and obviously, I see a lot of semi tractor-trailers on the highway. Every time I am on the highway, there are big trucks on the highway. Speeding is the number one cause of these accidents, especially during the winter road season when it opens up, which is today, so there will be a lot of tractor-trailers on Highway No. 3. There will be very busy traffic, up to 6,000 loads, I believe, going up to the mine sites. These tractor-trailers don't slow down when there are vehicles parked on the side of the road with flashing lights. I do have a witness who was involved in this, as I spoke to in my Member's statement, first-hand, on December 31, 2020. My question for the Minister of Infrastructure: What are the protocols in place for these truck drivers when it comes to approaching a parked vehicle with flashing lights on the side of the road? How is it enforced?

I want to thank the Member for suggesting to look at speed limits for trucks and maybe even lower them. We will have to consult with the general public and the transportation industry and get their thoughts on this matter. It is a possibility that reduced speed limits could alleviate some of the tragedies and accidents along the highway. It will have to be a coordinated safety campaign that would make the highways safer. I can commit to having some of this work done and getting back to the Assembly.

Just to elaborate a little bit more because I did speak to the Minister in advance because this is of high importance in my region: I am getting messages from my constituents asking if this government can lower the speed limit for these tractor-trailer units down to at least 70 kilometres per hour. Right now, as it stands, it's 90 kilometres per hour, and it's still not being obeyed or followed. What would be the process to make this happen? We had a public meeting in Behchoko on Highway No. 3 safety issues this previous Monday with all the stakeholders, and almost everyone raised this issue. My constituents would like to see this change ASAP. Can we see this in the life of this government?

The Member talked about a meeting in Behchoko that happened on February 1^st, and there were representatives from governments, industry, and enforcement agencies, as discussed, to be able to make this Highway No. 3 safer for all motorists. I fully support that work going forward and agree with the need for increased cooperation at all levels and improving public safety education for professional drivers and for the general public who use Highway No. 3.

In the meantime, we are taking positive steps to make the Northwest Territories safer. For example, like all jurisdictions in Canada, we are in the process of developing and implementing a mandatory entry-level training program for new Class 1 truck drivers, so we expect to have this work done and a program up and running by this December. We do have some concerns about truckers speeding on the section of the highway, and I can say I have witnessed it in person. The majority of the truck drivers do obey the speed limits, but there are always those who do not. We need to come up with some ways to be able to work with the communities and try and come up with ways to be able to have transport trucks reduce their speed.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.

Masi, Mr. Speaker. I am glad the Minister is receptive to looking at reducing, possibly, the speed limit for these transport operators. Obviously, that would be a good start for this government. The safety of Highway No. 3 also should be and must be a priority, no matter who or what company they are working for. The posted speed limit should be obeyed at all times, especially for the tractor-trailer drivers, who we have seen so many times speeding. We are here to provide some options and ideas, so this is one of the recommendations that has been passed on to me: Could the Minister possibly look into establishing camera units at Fort Providence bridge crossing, where there are cameras already, one at Behchoko, and in Yellowknife to monitor to speed limits? A system where, once leaving the destination, let's say leaving Fort Providence and arriving in Yellowknife at a certain time, expected time of arrival is based on speed limit? Mr. Speaker, masi.

I agree with the Member that we need to look at increasing highway enforcement patrols in the region, especially with the opening of the Tlicho All-Season Road that is going to happen in November. I will be, and the Member may be happy because we did have a discussion, perhaps looking at funding for additional highway patrol officers in the North Slave to be included in the next business plan. I think the Member would be happy to say that adding one additional person to be able to help monitor the highway is a good start, and I think that is something positive coming out from the department. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke earlier in my statement about our electronic medical record system and our eHealth system. At one point, the Northwest Territories was a leader in this area, being one of the first jurisdictions to completely shift all of our health records to electronic form. When we designed that system, we designed a patient portal, which allowed people to log in and see their health records digitally. Other jurisdictions have now caught up and have those portals open and operating, and we have refused to do this. My question for the Minister of Health and Social Services is: Why has that portal not been turned on? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department supports, in principle, the idea of having a patient portal where patients can access their health information that's held in electronic medical records, recognizing that there is information that is not in electronic medical records. We recognize the benefits of them having confidence in managing their health themselves and to make sure they're making informed discussions with their healthcare provider. It turns out that turning this feature on is a little less like turning on a light switch and more like steering the Queen Mary. It hasn't been accomplished at this point, and in the meantime, the medical record system we're using is going to be retired on December 31, 2023, so we are now looking for a new electronic medical record system. It seems unlikely we are going to make modifications to this system, but rather, we'll look at it in the context of the next system. Thank you.

I look forward to bringing up this issue in the next Assembly as it was brought up in the last, as well. I understand we are now shopping for a new electronic medical records system. I heard that was 2023. Can the Minister commit that as part of going out and purchasing a new system, an online patient portal will be part of that system?

I can't make that commitment. I can say that there is interest in this. I've already said that. It's in the four-year business plan that you've reviewed in the fall. Another possibility is to have a separate patient portal that is not connected to the electronic medical records but, in fact, include a wider range of records such as you mentioned in your statement: records from Alberta, paper records, images, and that kind of thing. Before we go down this road, we need to do a very comprehensive privacy assessment, and we need to answer some fundamental questions such as: Can parents access their children's records? If you are a caregiver, can you access your patient's records or your client's records? We need to have a very robust privacy and public engagement on this issue before we are able to decide what the best route forward is.

I recognize that it may not be as simple as turning a switch on. However, our doctors and our healthcare professionals use HealthNet Viewer daily. There have been consistent problems in this area in making sure that patient files are complete. I think that there is a bit of a misunderstanding, and our patients think that someone is monitoring their file and making sure it is robust and complete and all of the data works in there. Actually, the health system is just as siloed as many other GNWT departments. My question is: What work is being done now to make sure we are bringing all of our information into one place, whether it is the electronic medical records system or some new system as the Minister states?

I will need to return to the Member with information about what is being done right now on bringing in different sources of information into electronic medical record. I can say that I've answered a couple of questions from MLAs about records that seem to be missing from the electronic medical records for one reason and another. If the Member has a constituent who feels that their electronic medical records are incomplete, we can certainly investigate that.