Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am hearing that patients are being more or less warehoused in waiting rooms in the hospital. They're spending days on stretchers in an overcrowded emergency department. Hospital continues to be on gridlock, meaning care is delayed, tensions run high, and safety risks multiple. What is the Minister doing to address gridlock at Stanton Territorial Hospital? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since May 2024, Stanton Territorial Hospital has been gridlocked of an average of 10 to 15 days per month. So each day Stanton has an average of five patients in the emergency department waiting for a bed in the in-patient unit. For the past year, Stanton has been sitting at or above 100 percent capacity. As a result of no available beds for admission, Stanton has had to open extra beds in the ICU three to five days per month to treat and discharge emergency room patients. There are nine acute care beds that are currently occupied by patients who could be discharged to an altered level of care, such as out of territory services and long-term care, and these patients are at various stages of planning for those placements. On average, five to eight surgical procedures per month have had to be cancelled due to the lack of available beds for post-operative care as results gridlocks on numerous admissions in the ER. And, Mr. Speaker, what is this government doing? What is the Minister doing?

Well, the Minister is looking at -- you know, looking at how are we supporting our small communities and how are we supporting our regional centres? Because many of these people that are sitting in our emergency departments are medevacs that are coming in from small communities. Our hospital in the regions are at capacity as well. And so there's much work that needs to be done on the outlying to support people to -- you know, to have access to care sooner so that it's reducing the amount that's needed on in-patient care. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mean, half a month your hospital's gridlocked, that's not a favourable statistic. Mr. Speaker, the Minister talked about providing support to regional health care and health care centres to release the pressure on Stanton. So how are these -- how have these efforts in regional centres had an effect on gridlock at Stanton? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as this is ongoing work that's happening and reviewing the model of health care centres and many of these things, these things are going to take time. I understand that the hospital is gridlocked. We're holding patients here because there's gridlocks even in the south happening. So this is something that is affecting us all across the system. So what we're doing is we're working diligently. You know, we've opened up more beds in the Liwego'ati Building and therefore those patients that need to go into -- you know, in long-term care, we're getting more spaces open for that. You know, and it takes all of us to try and -- you know, and reach out to our health care providers sooner. And, yes, we hear that it's a struggle but, you know, these are the things that we need to be -- we're focusing on and trying to change the way that we're doing things and looking at the frontline services and where things are going to be needed. And those are the things that maybe, you know, in this next year are going to have to change. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Member from Range Lake. Final supplementary.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm hearing the same concerns, the same energy to solve them, but I'm not -- I'm light on details. So I'll put it another way. The public administrator's been in place for some time now. He's got an expansive mandate to solve these problems. What is the public administrator doing to address gridlock? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the public administrator, yes, he is in place, and he is working on his mandate, and there are other things in his mandate that are -- that have been higher prioritized right now, and those are the things that he's focused on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Written questions. Returns to written questions. Replies to the Commissioner's address. Petitions. Tabling of documents. Notices of motion. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, March 6th, 2025, I will move the following motion:

Now therefore I move, second by the honourable Member from Yellowknife South, that this Legislative Assembly, by virtue of Section 5 of the Elections and Plebiscite Act, recommends to the Commissioner, the appointment of Mr. Stephen Dunbar of Yellowknife as the chief electoral officer for the Northwest Territories for a fixed term commencing on a date to be communicated by the Speaker.

And, Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion today. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Notices of motion. Member from Range Lake.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, March 6th, 2025, I will move the following motion:

Now therefore I move, seconded by the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that this Legislative Assembly calls upon the Government of the Northwest Territories to develop and implement a compassionate medical evacuation policy for our emergency ground/air ambulance and highway rescue allowing for patients in critical conditions to be accompanied by non-medical escorts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Notices of motion. Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, March 6th, 2025, I will move the following motion:

Now therefore I move, seconded by the Member for Deh Cho, that the Minister of Health and Social Services appoints a person to investigate the incident of the treatment of Avery Burke, Wesley Marcellais, and Hillary Norwegian;

And further, that the Minister of Health and Social Services table before the Assembly at the earliest opportunity any recommendations that the investigator includes in their investigation report alongside a plan to advance such recommendations;

And furthermore, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this motion within 120 days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Notices of motion. Motions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.

Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. The Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh is seeking unanimous consent to bring forward his motion today. Seeing no nays, you may bring forward your motion.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues.

WHEREAS the Elections and Plebiscites Act provides for the appointment of a chief electoral officer who has the responsibility to exercise general direction and supervision over the administrative conduct of an election and enforce, on the part of all election officers, fairness, impartiality and compliance with the Elections and Plebiscites Act;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that this Legislative Assembly, by virtue of Section 5 of the Elections and Plebiscites Act, recommends to the Commissioner the reappointment of Mr. Stephen Dunbar of Yellowknife as chief electoral officer for the Northwest Territories for a fixed term commencing on a date to be communicated by the Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. The motion is in order. To the motion.

Question has been called. Does the Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh wish to close the debate? Thank you. All those in favour, please. Opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Motions. Notices of motion for the first reading of bills. First reading of bills. Second reading of bills. Consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters, Tabled Document 275-20(1), with the Member from the Deh Cho in the chair.

I will now call the Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of the committee? The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 275-20(1), 2025-2026 Main Estimates, the Department of Environment and Climate Change. Thank you, Madam Chair.