Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all know we're in a health crisis and getting to see a doctor is harder and harder. And there are many steps we can take but one I would like to speak about today is giving our pharmacists, who go to school for many years and quite frankly often know the drugs they are prescribing better than the doctors themselves, the ability to prescribe basic medications. This is a recommended practice by Health Canada. All ten provinces will be able to provide this service in 2023, including the Yukon. But here in the Northwest Territories, we are falling far behind in what our pharmacists are capable of doing. There is a recommended list of minor ailments that Health Canada recommends pharmacists can prescribe as well as the limited ability to renew certain prescriptions. They estimate that this reduces emergency room visits by 35 percent, Mr. Speaker. Emergency room visits are vastly more expensive than a visit to the pharmacist.

At this point, Mr. Speaker, almost every other jurisdiction in Canada has done this. I will have questions for the Minister of health of when we can introduce changes to our Pharmacy Act and give a long-needed power to our pharmacists to help their clients. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.