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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my statement this morning -- or this afternoon, sorry, can the Minister provide us with an update or whether she's aware of the lack of accommodations in Yellowknife and, Mr. Speaker, how this may impact -- how this impacts people if they have medical travel.

Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. There's kind of two questions in that there so I'm going to give the Minister ability to answer one or two. Thank you. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I -- as I've been recently briefed, it seems that Yellowknife is experiencing a rise in tourism right now and which is putting additional pressure on an already strained system. NTHSSA is working with its partners right now to identify solutions on this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. I'm glad the Minister's aware of that. I'm glad they're working on something, Mr. Speaker. But what is the -- is there a contingency plan -- and at risk of asking two questions -- and how is the Minister informing residents so they can make informed decisions? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. There was two questions again. Minister of Health and Social Services, you may answer one or both. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, NTHSSA is working to secure alternative accommodations at this time, including the securing hotel rooms to hold every day for unexpected patient arrivals or discharges at the hospital. NTHSSA is also trying to use other contingency services to accommodate the overflow. There are also right now, as I was just recently briefed, so there's some work that's going on and asking for practitioners and staff to be considerate of booking nonurgent medical appointments to Yellowknife right now, working with Indigenous Service Canada to advise NIHB patients travelling for dental to consider booking nonurgent appointments and travel at another date, preferably in the summer when there's no northern lights. Work is also underway to develop some public communication to support residents to make decisions about booking nonurgent dental appointments.

One of the things that I will say is that as the Minister right now, we have many of our regional -- and I come from the same region as Denny, so we have many people who are getting on a plane, arriving here, and they may not have accommodations. So if you have dental appointments that are nonurgent of checkup, I would suggest, you know, it's -- spring break, if you're travelling, maybe rebook your appointments in places where you're travelling to. We know there's a big hockey tournament coming up in Whitehorse. Many Beaufort Delta residents head down there. Try getting a dental appointment in there. Because there may be risk that you may not have an accommodation when you arrive here, or it might be not up to the standard that you would like. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Colleagues, remember, no personal names, titles would be better. Thank you very much. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If it happens, we live in the same community I guess. The Minister mentioned a communications plans. So is there any details on how that will roll out, how we're going to let people know in Inuvik that this is certainly happening and that they may want to consider doing, as the Minister stated, booking the nonurgent appointments at another time. Can there be a little more detail on what that communication plan will be, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I apologize, yes, we live in a small community and we know each other by first names.

Right now it's actually just in the works, and the teams are working on it. And what I'm hoping to have is something to share to all MLAs because dental is not just in our region; it's -- people are travelling from all regions and they will need accommodations. So it will go out to all MLAs. It will go out on my social media, and I encourage MLAs to do that as well. And as the plan comes up, I will share with the MLAs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Did I hear somebody's name? Okay, I thought so. Please refrain from using personal names.

Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first I'd just like to quickly seek unanimous consent to return to item 5 on the agenda.

The Member from Mackenzie Delta is requesting to move to item 5. Can we wait until after we finish the oral questions and then -- when we finish oral questions then we'll go to -- back to item 5. Thank you Member for Frame Lake, sorry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of health.

Mr. Speaker, I think my statement spoke for itself so would repeat what I said. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister of health commit to defining and publicly communicating what access to health care will mean once we achieve the reforming primary care goal? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned yesterday there, I will be getting more of a briefing on the information that is -- there's lots of work going on right now and behind, and as we are ready to present to committee with a lot of this information and so when we -- once I have more of those details, I'll be able to share more of the framework and a lot of the details around this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will take that as somewhat of a commitment that the Minister does want to go forward with what I was asking. I'll just continue with my questions, Mr. Speaker.

Will the Minister commit to establishing and publicly communicating the parameters and milestones that we'll need to achieve to maintain access to health care once we define it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the strategic framework is currently being developed, as I mentioned yesterday. The -- developed to provide clear direction and performance benchmarks for this initiative and will be expected to be completed in 2025. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker; I appreciate that. And I hope that as part of that, we will be establishing and publicly communicating a timeline for achievement of the overarching goals the Minister communicated yesterday. Can she just confirm that establishment of the framework will, indeed, come with a timeline for achievement of the overarching goals? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will have to go back to reviewing more of the documents more in detail, and I will have that information for committee when we are able to present to them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is continuing from my statement from March 3rd, adequate supports for seniors. So this is a question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister say whether the senior home heating subsidy program can be reviewed to better assist our elders? Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.