Question has been called. The motion to amend the motion, all those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? The motion has passed to the motion as amended.

---Carried

Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I MOVE, seconded by the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, to amend Motion 52-20(1), Strengthening Support for Nurses and Healthcare Workers as amended, by adding the words "the employer's" between the words "practices" and "bargaining" in the first clause, such that the clause reads:

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the Member for Monfwi, that the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly undertake a comprehensive review of health care management practices, the employer's bargaining structures and labour policies, in consultation with nurses, labour unions, independent professional associations, frontline healthcare workers, and other key stakeholders to identify and recommend measures that:

(i) reinforce workplace protections for nurses and healthcare workers, including improved work-life balance initiatives, competitive compensation, and mental health supports;

(ii) address management practices that contribute to low workplace morale, fostering a supportive and collaborative working environment;

(iii) strengthen recruitment and retention strategies for nurses and health care staff through focused incentives and stable workforce planning; and

(iv) increase accountability in the administration of health care in the Northwest Territories to ensure that policies reflect the realities of frontline work and lead to real improvements in working conditions in all health care settings including hospitals, health centres and health cabins.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. The motion to amend the motion is in order. The question before the House is now the amendment debate must be on the amendment and not the main motion. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? Opposed? Abstentions? The motion's passed as amended, to the motion as amended.

---Carried

Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. To the amended motion. Member from Great Slave.

I don't have anything further to add, simply just that these amendments are to clarify what I have previously stated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was going to let this one go but I think to be true to myself, I had mentioned in committee -- and this is when we talk about trying to figure out ways to work collaboratively -- I felt that this type of direction to the standing committee is actually a disappointment, a waste of time, in my perspective, because you don't need the House of Members referring it to yourself. And if this work already going on in the committee or work that's anticipated to go on in the committee that's known, it seems unusual the House would have to refer to itself. It's not a direction of government. And in my sort of -- I'll call it straw poll of around the room of support for this initiative at large, it seems unusual that if everyone supports it, why are we going to the House to pass a motion to say we're sending it to ourselves in committee? It just seems like the weirdest experience that I've seen in my -- what am at here? 16 now? Something like that. No, longer than that. No, not yet, almost. Anyway, that's how frustrating and exhausting this is getting, this process.

So Mr. Speaker, this is -- this motion in some ways is confusing in the sense of I think it's misplaced because the committee's already agreed that this is going. So I mean, I think -- I don't know what to say; it just seems wrong. Thank you.

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

We are debating the amendment. Okay, sorry, to debating the amendment. To the amendment.

Question has been called. All those in favour of the amendment as presented? Opposed? Abstentions? The motion has passed.

---Carried

Members, please return to Motion 52-20(1) as amended. To the motion as amended. Member from Monfwi.

Mr. Speaker, I do support this motion because, at this time, we are having difficult times to retain and to hire nurses and other medical professionals in small communities. This motion is good. It will help meet the needs and to support the nurses and other professionals, other health professionals, to help these nurses and health professionals who wants to make -- who wants to live in the small communities, make small communities or make NWT their home. So I do support this motion. Hopefully it will help alleviate lots of problems that -- the challenges that we are facing and I'm sure the nurses are facing as well, you know, it's -- in small communities. I'm worried about the small communities because if we don't have any nurses in small communities, we're going to conform to having more agency nurses. And I think this motion is really going to help the nurses meet their needs. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Monfwi. To the motion as amended. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's been a long day already, so I'm just going to be very brief. I spoke quite extensively to my concerns about issues in the healthcare system and ways that we can go about solving them, and one of the key things that I shared at that time was listening to healthcare workers, listening to our frontline workers. And so I think that that is ultimately the aim of this motion. I think the motion speaks for itself. I'm in support of it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I too stand in support of this motion. There's just -- there are a lot of nurses who live in my riding of Range Lake, and since even before we were elected, they were sharing their concerns with me at the doorsteps on the campaign trail. It's clear that what is going on in the health authority is just not working. It's not working for nurses. It's not working for physicians. It's not working for allied healthcare professionals. I think that we've heard a lot of these concerns. We've heard about agency nurses that are continuing to be a costly short-term solution that depletes morale and precious treasure, a hospital that's under gridlock half of the time every month, health and safety issues where staff are still waiting for the proper security procedures to be implemented with no idea when that's coming. We have a dedicated recruitment and retention unit called the health recruitment unit, the Department of Finance. It's great at recruiting nurses. Problem is they don't stick around. The retention is very poor.

So these are all issues that we know about. I know the Ministers are aware of it as well, but we really need to dig down and see how we can better support nurses and really come to the same conclusion that this is a problem and that we need to address it as a government. Because if it continues, it's going to continue to drag down the quality of care that Northerners have come to expect from their nurses, their doctors, their health centres. And this is mostly what I hear about, it's in Yellowknife where we have a nice hospital and a nice -- the Liwego'ati Building as well. We have a lot of resources here compared to the smaller communities. So the issues -- and these are issues in Yellowknife. So the issues that I hear from my colleagues from the smaller communities are nowhere near as -- or sorry, are beyond the pale of what, you know, folks are putting up with here in Yellowknife. And when you see and you hear stories of, you know, people who are otherwise -- preventible deaths happening in smaller communities, when you hear challenges of paramedics who, you know, don't have the regulations and the legislation to properly do their jobs as they join other jurisdictions. You know, there's a whole spectrum of healthcare workers. And although nurses are near and dear to all of our hearts, all the allied workers as well and healthcare workers, really need to be represented in this work that's being referred to the standing committee so no one is left out of their concerns because, you know, we hear from lab techs too. They've been short staffed, running short for years. That just adds to more and more frustrations, more and more backlogs, and less quality of care. So, again, we need to be able to dig down as an Assembly into these problems. We need to be able to talk to the people on the ground. We need to be able to talk to people in management. We need to be able to talk to the people across the aisle so we can -- across the floor so we can come to a set of clear and meaningful recommendations that support nurses and healthcare workers of the Northwest Territories.

I was pleased to help inspire this motion and draft a lot of the language in it. It does show that this is an area of mutual concern from a whole lot of Members, and we need to work together to solve these challenges. Again, Northerners send us here to solve problems, and this is a problem that is in desperate need of solving. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. To the motion as amended. Member from Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As this is a motion that is going to be directing standing committee to do work, it is essentially -- the committee could do this work without this motion so there's really not a purpose for Cabinet to vote on this. I don't want to begin meddling into the inner operations of standing committee. So Cabinet will be abstaining for those reasons. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Hay River North. To the motion as amended. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this case, I appreciate the Premier's statement because if you saw exactly what I see, it's weird. So it's weird that we're collaborative in that sense that -- so seeing the issue that he's pointed out, and I agree, it just seems weird. That's it, Mr. Speaker.

With respect to the motion, what I want to say is this: I wish there was more of a collaborative process. I'm not going to speak against the motion; it's very difficult to do that. I mean, there's everything in here I like. The only thing I didn't like is the process on how we were told this and, of course, the final process of instructing committee when committee could do this anyway, as I pointed out, committee's already on this, so it's just a bit unusual. However that said, I have been an advocate for the nursing and healthcare community since I came here, not to mention my previous years, so I mean I can't imagine me not supporting this in some way. As a matter of fact as I finish, Mr. Speaker, maybe we should create a HEP, maybe a healthcare employment policy that changes the narrative for this because we have so many other problems we need to solve. That said, I'll be voting in favour. Cheers.

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