Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize the grand chief of the Tlicho region Jackson Lafferty. Good to see you here. Also Bobby Overvold. Good to see you here again. And also Marc Whitford, the North Slave Metis Alliance president. And also Dottie Tetso and the newly elected Joseph Tobac. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Tina Apples from Gameti and Elizabeth Romie from Whati. And also, I would like to -- earlier I said Scott Tetso. It's Dottie Tetso, sorry about that. So I like to.

Thank you. Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you again there, Mr. Speaker. I too want to recognize Mr. Bob Overvold. Welcome to the Assembly. And Marc Whitford. Mahsi.

Thank you. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. I was a little bit nice again. I'm going to go to the Premier one more time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're just so lucky to have so many dignitaries in the audience today.

I'd also like to recognize the Yamoga Land Corporation president Joseph Tobac who, when I travelled to Fort Good Hope, he was the deputy chief at that time. As well as Bob Overvold who was, at one time, the deputy minister of the department, so I want to welcome him. And, of course, Marc Whitford, president of the North Slave Metis Alliance. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Returns to written questions. Replies to the Commissioner's address. Petitions. Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills. Reports of Standing and Special Committees. Tabling of documents. Minister of Justice.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents: Northwest Territories Coroner Service 2023 Annual Report; NWT RCMP Policing Priorities 2024-2027; and, Territorial Police Service Agreement - RCMP Annual Report (2023-2024). Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Justice. Tabling of documents. Minister of Infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Implementation Update and Close Out on the Report on the Review of GNWT Procurement Policies and Practices October and Northwest Territories Power Corporation; and, Northwest Territories Hydro Corporation Annual Report 2023-24. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Tabling of documents. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Plain Language Summary for Bill 15, Northwest Territories Indigenous-Led Conservation Fund Establishment Act; and, Statement of Consistency for Bill 15, Northwest Territories Indigenous-Led Conservation Fund Establishment Act. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Tabling of Documents.

Colleagues, I wish to table the Terms of Reference for the Electoral Boundary Commission 2025. Thank you.

Tabling of documents. Notices of motion. Motions. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS access to health care and addressing the effects of trauma is a priority for the 20th Legislative Assembly;

AND WHEREAS the financial outlook of the Northwest Territories is dire despite the efforts of the Government of the Northwest Territories through its fiscal strategy;

AND WHEREAS sustained shortages of staff have reduced access to health care services in NWT communities and placed increased operational demands on full-time staff leading to burnout;

AND WHEREAS the Auditor general of Canada indicated an emphasis of matter in the 2022-2023 Public Accounts concerning the financial performance of the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority;

AND WHEREAS the continued use of agency nurses in the health care system is financially unsustainable;

AND WHEREAS the total consolidated debt of the Government of the Northwest Territories has reached $1.74 billion in breach of the Fiscal Responsibility Policy;

AND WHEREAS it is more important than ever for the government to improve the financial and operational sustainability of the Northwest Territories health care system.

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that the House call on the Auditor general of Canada to conduct a performance audit of all aspects of the management of the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority in its delivery of health care services, including medical travel and the recruitment and retention of nurses, doctors, and allied health professionals, and to prioritize this investigation;

AND FURTHERMORE, that the Speaker formally transmit this motion and the content of our proceedings in relation to this motion to the Office of the Auditor General of Canada for their consideration.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. To the motion. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think this motion speaks for itself, but I will add some facts to it.

When the NTHSSA, the health authority, was first established in 2016, it inherited an accumulated deficit of $51 million. In 2020, that deficit had grown to $94 million. As of March 31st, 2024, this year, the accumulated deficit stands at $272.9 million. Mr. Speaker, from that escalation, from the amalgamation of the authorities to now, we are on an ever increasing track of financially unsustainable model of health care delivery in the Northwest Territories to the point where our own public accounts are being noted as -- or this area of spending and deficit are being noted as almost tanking the entire government's fiscal situation. We need to get to grips with this, and I don't think we know how.

We have brought numerous independent third-party reports over the years. We have brought deficit reduction plans, strategies, working groups, committees. Your committees, Mr. Speaker, have looked at this over many years, and it's -- it's a persistent problem that is showing no improvements of slowing down. And not only that, if it wasn't just the value for money for health care, it's the quality of health care that Northerners are -- that Northerners have access to.

And we see the issues with administering health care leading to programs or services shutting down. Perhaps most well-known is the obstetrics and birthing services. I think Inuvik struck -- the Inuvik hospital struggles with this. The Yellowknife hospital struggles with this. Agency nurses are being deployed because we can't obtain the specialized nurses that can do this work. And no one knows why when we ask these questions. And I know there's a problem in Canada, but there's a bigger problem here. And we need to get to the bottom of it. And I think, just as the Premier spoke to when he was telling the House and the public about the new health care sustainability unit, we need someone from outside of the authority to find the solutions to make things more sustainable. And this motion calls for our auditor, the Auditor general of Canada to do the same thing. And I think -- I agree with the Premier, but I think it's even better to have someone completely outside of the GNWT to do this work. And rather than hire someone and use taxpayer dollars to get yet another review, let's get our auditor, who we don't pay for, but does expectational work, high quality work, and can really give us some recommendations that we can put into practice and start to solve this crisis of health care.

We know it's not getting any better. We know that there's lots of effort that this government's trying, that previous governments have tried. So the motion here is not to scold anyone. It's to bring that expert eyes of the auditor general to bear to solve this problem, because there are so many different -- it's a multifaceted problem, and I don't think -- I think having that resource of the auditor general, with all their expertise, is the right way to go here.

And I look forward to the debate today, and I look forward to continuing to work with our Cabinet colleagues, and Members on this side of the House as well, to solve this problem over the coming years of this government. But I think if we have this help from the auditor general, it's going to be a lot easier. And where my mind goes is, you know, first to the people of the Northwest Territories who need access to medical care, especially as things -- you know, as our economy slows down, as costs continue to increase, as it gets hard -- as climate change continues to create struggles, our health -- as people age, we're going to need more access to health care. We're going to need a stronger more robust health care system to weather the storm of these challenges, and we know it's breaking. So we need to do this for the sake of our residents. We need to get a clear -- clear answers forward from an independent unimpeachable source of expertise. And our workers need this too.

I have many nurses, doctors, allied professionals, who live in the Range Lake riding, and they've been talking to me since the election, and they're not happy with the direction that health care has taken over the years. They're not satisfied that we're doing enough as a government to solve the problem now. And we brought a lot of advocacy to their plight and to try to help the quality of -- the quality of life of workers and make it more attractive, more meaningful, for recruitment and retention in the health care system. But it's just not working. So if we have this -- again, this help, this expertise, that can tell us how we can make the system better, it's going to be a benefit to everyone in the Northwest Territories for generations to come. And this can be the government that finally, finally, sets health care on the right course for the Northwest Territories. And that's what I hope this motion will achieve, and I ask my colleagues to support it. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Motions. To the motion. Member from Frame Lake -- oh sorry, Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the seconder of this motion, I certainly echo the comments of my colleague from Range Lake. Mr. Speaker, I know the Minister's aware of this issue. I know this is a national issue. I know through briefings and dialogues we've had with the Minister that, you know, she is going to be looking at ways we can improve this system, and I certainly appreciate that and I have every confidence in that. But, Mr. Speaker, this is a tool. It's a tool that we have in our toolbox that we can use. As the MLA from Range Lake has said, it's a tool that comes to us without a cost attached to it and can help us create what we need, which is a roadmap. And if this is a tool we have that we can use to help create that roadmap to success, to assist us as government, to move forward and get where we need to be with our health care delivery, then I think, Mr. Speaker, it's only proper that we use that tool. So thank you.

Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. To the motion. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am rising in support of this motion today. In my October 24th statement, I asked the Minister to acknowledge the significant issues in our health care system publicly and put forward to address -- put forward a plan to address these issues. Today I'd like to publicly acknowledge the issues myself.

Mr. Speaker, I have been speaking to health care practitioners for many years now. I certainly spoke to numerous practitioners during the election period. This collection of practitioners have come to represent a concerningly wide breadth of professions and a collective of individuals across our health care service spectrum. To name a few, Mr. Speaker, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, countless different nurses, a number of different doctors working in various roles in our system, people who have worked in management, people who have worked -- and many people who are working on our frontlines. All of these are people whose opinions and perspectives I deeply respect and have listened to with significant concern because they have come to me in desperation and told me that they are on the verge of leaving, or have already left, their positions in our health care system because of significant issues with how the system is being managed. In particular, the overwhelming message I have heard from practitioners is that they feel their voices are not being heard by decision-makers.

I'm going to share one or two of these voices in the House today in their own words. Both of these are people who have left our system to work elsewhere. I quote:

I remember when the unfolding of the new hospital was happening, and we would have meetings about the changes, and they would tell us that our feedback wasn't welcome because the decisions had already been made. Our supervisor asked once, so what do you guys think? And everyone was silent, staring at them. So I said, does it actually matter? Will telling you what we think impact this change in any way? And this person couldn't answer, and everyone got up and left the meeting. It was such an angry and uncomfortable place to work because people have no control over their environment or their role.

Mr. Speaker, the next voice is from a doctor I met with who illustrated for me, in stark terms, that they felt there was a lack of respect for physicians in our system, that they were seen as a problem to be managed by senior management, that they were entitled, overpaid, not working as hard as they should be. This person was concerned that over time, we're going to hollow out the core of our local physicians and replace them with only locums. Mr. Speaker, this person said to me, with I think a lot of sadness, that Yellowknife is a fabulous place to work. They loved the community. They loved their colleagues. In some ways, they felt we were ahead of many southern jurisdictions and so leaving was not an easy decision for them to make.

Mr. Speaker, the fact that so many practitioners' frustrations with these problems had become so great that it caused them to either leave the system, or move somewhere else or leave a career that they care about entirely, speaks to the seriousness of the issues they are speaking to.

What stands out to me also is the breadth of these voices. We're not talking about a problematic unit or a difficult group of individuals. The issues that I've been hearing about have been coming from widely across the system.

The thing I found so perplexing when considering these issues is how fundamentally simple the problem seems. We clearly need to look at how we're managing the system and ensure we are doing a better job of including practitioner voices fundamentally in decision-making and work to do whatever we can to improve employee morale in our system. Perhaps this is a simple statement to make, but it seems that implementing this change effectively has proved to be a significant challenge in our system. So I am of the opinion that we need outside help to achieve it.

There are experts in this kind of organizational change, and I think we need to employ this kind of expertise to help us understand how we can make changes to our management systems to address these issues that so many practitioners are asking for. I believe this work will need to go beyond superficial efforts like an occasional town hall meeting or meetings from time to time to talk about how things are going. I think it will involve fundamental changes to how decisions are being made in the system. It may require structural changes within the system to ensure sustainability of the shift. It will necessarily be a significant change to the workplace culture in our health care system. Making this shift and assessing these systemic issues, in my opinion, needs to be a key focus of an audit of the system, if not the main focus.

Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of reason for hope. I studied making changes such as those I'm speaking to in school and would encourage people to take heart in knowing that making these kind of significant workplace cultural shifts is something that a large number of people have expertise in. It is the focus of their careers, and these kinds of change management and organizational management experts can help us make this change. This is something which absolutely can be done. It has been done in thousands of organizations, and it can be done in ours.

I also think there is comfort to be found in knowing that, as I said the other day in my statement on system sustainability, leadership and organizational management theory tells us that the best way to be effective in our decision-making is to consider the perspectives of individuals throughout the organization. So I think making the cultural shift I've been speaking to will open us up to a huge wealth of information as to how we can begin solving the various problems we have in this system. I know that wealth of knowledge exists because I've spoken to so many of these people myself, and I've heard their ideas firsthand. This is an incredibly well educated, high capacity, and passionate workforce, Mr. Speaker. This is a formidable resource to have at our fingertips, and we owe it to ourselves and the residents of the NWT to listen to and implement their ideas for how we can best deliver health care effectively in our territory.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Member for Range Lake and the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake for bringing this motion forward. I think that, as I've illustrated in my comments today, we have heard from a plethora of voices in our system that changes are needed. They are calling on us desperately to take action. I think this is one of the actions that we can take. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. To the motion. Member from Yellowknife Centre.