I want to follow up as well to a Minister’s statement made by Mr. Lafferty, ECE,

directed to Mr. Ramsay. I just wanted to ask Mr. Ramsay, based on some of the results with the apprenticeship and occupational certification that’s done through ECE, the department has issued 23 certificates of qualification and eight certificates of competence to journeypersons in the Northwest Territories. Today there are 424 apprentices in the Northwest Territories. Has the Minister of ITI done any work with the Minister of ECE to ensure that once these guys get their papers that they’re not just kicked out the door, that they have a job and place for them once they’ve gone through their certifications?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m just going to follow up on some remarks made by my fellow colleague Mrs. Groenewegen. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay. It’s in regard to his Minister’s statement that he gave earlier where he mentioned that mining has brought significant economic opportunities to our territory such as jobs in the mines. Then he goes on further and says that he wants to benefit all Northwest Territories residents.

Back in January we had a leadership meeting in Inuvik and he had mentioned and had some questions in regard to the recruitment process that some of the diamond mines came up to Inuvik, did some recruitment, did some promotion, however, we didn’t see much follow-up on that. I do understand that he’s in new MOU discussions with some of the mines. I just wanted to ask the Minister what progress has been made in those discussions or since the meetings in January in getting the people of Inuvik, who have gone through some training, getting them possible jobs at the mines.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Seeing as it is Valentine’s Day and February is Heart Health Month, I would like to do my Member’s statement on cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death in the Northwest Territories along with cancer. One of the leading

high-risk behaviours that contribute to cardiovascular disease is tobacco use. In fact, tobacco doesn’t only contribute to cardiovascular disease but it does contribute to a high health care system, increases our health care costs in the Northwest Territories. One thing that should be duly noted is that tobacco use is also the number one preventable cause of all of these diseases and deaths that we see, not only in the Northwest Territories but in Canada and throughout the world.

Mr. Speaker, every 11 minutes a Canadian dies from tobacco use. Every 10 minutes two Canadian teenagers will start smoking and one of them will die prematurely. Tobacco use, as I stated, is the single most preventable cause of premature death and it is something that needs to be addressed.

I would like to commend the Stanton Territorial Health Authority for the work that they are doing in making their place of work smoke free and all of the premises smoke free and going along the same as throughout Canada. I would also like to commend all of the work that the Department of Health and Social Services is doing in terms of tobacco control, My Voice, My Choice, the Don’t Be a Butthead program. I think it is something that this government needs to continue to do and denormalize the use of tobacco, drugs, alcohol, all types of addictions through policies and legislation that we can bring up in this House here and make it harder for people who are addicted to these substances, get them to quit or even get them de-normalized within our society.

I commend all the work that this government is doing, and I will commend all the work that they will continue to do to fight this addiction of tobacco that is contributing to the high health care costs that we see in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a really quick question on a comment made by the Minister of Health and Social Services earlier in regard to the joint replacement surgeries. That was the one that has been on hold and we’ve had questions in this House about it in the past. With the funding being contributed to the repairs and modifications to the sterilization steam equipment and central supply reprocessing unit, does the Minister foresee any further delays in these surgeries or does he still feel that we’re comfortable and going to start performing them come April?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’d just like to reiterate comments made by our fellow Members here at the table in regard to the contribution funding to the department of the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority.

I did attend their AGM this past spring, or this winter here, and they did mention that it is something that’s recurring. As much as we have pressures and stresses put on Members and this government to look for funding and try to find funding to offset the deficit that this department goes through and these authorities go through, we also have to look at that we don’t only represent the patients, the clients, the people that are being affected by this, but we’re also representing the staff in these authorities who are given these pressures and stressors to try to find money to cut from their departments and find ways to offset this deficit.

I think we know what’s wrong and it’s something that’s been discussed. At our last Beaufort-Delta leadership meeting our Minister of Health and Social Services heard it. He heard it from not only our leaders in Inuvik, but he heard it from our leaders in Tsiigehtchic, Aklavik, Fort McPherson; you know, the communities on the coast. I think our next plan of action is to take those suggestions and put them into place, looking at our physicians. There’s a lot of money that goes into all the locums that go up there that do contribute to the deficit as well as the board structure. We need better input from our community leaders rather than decisions made in this House. The people that are there in the front lines and working in that authority, the ones that are getting stressed out because of the

financial drawbacks that they are facing. It does become a money issue, but we also have to make sure that we’re not exhausting our staff and putting undue pressure on them, so that they can go out and do their jobs and provide the services that are needed. As the Minister stated, it does provide acute care services in that region and outside of Yellowknife it does provide a lot to not only the Beaufort-Delta region but also to the Sahtu. I mean, there are a lot more people in the territory that go through that authority rather than just the Beaufort-Delta, and that needs to be looked at as well.

It is a deficit that we’ve seen for the past few years, and as much as the deficit does affect the programs, it also has a strong effect on the staff there. I know that the Minister did get a lot of recommendations from our last Beaufort-Delta leadership meeting and I think those need to be addressed with this government so that next year we’re not looking at those. Or that we make the appropriate budget item changes in the new fiscal year so that we’re not looking at this again, and that other authorities who are in surpluses can use those monies for their programs, and that we’re looking at the patterns that the Beaufort-Delta authority is going through and adjust those while we can.

I think there’s some good discussion around here today, and I think we all know that the next steps are to find solutions to those, not only in this House but with our leaders in the communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to prevention, earlier to my Member’s statement I made a comment that the departments should work more collectively together. Has the Minister of Health worked with other areas such as the Department of Justice and how can they work together so that funding is not duplicated for some of these prevention programs? Thank you.

Just one final question in regard to this new funding that might be going to the prevention area. Will there be a marketing strategy going out from the Department of Health and Social Services to all these communities and all these organizations to let them know that the new policy is going to possibly change, so that any organizations that had successful programs in the past and haven’t gone back to that pot because of the current policy, that they will be able to go back and get funding again for a successful project that they had in the past? What is the marketing strategy for this upcoming fiscal year? Thank you.

As the Minister stated, there will be more funding going into health promotion and the policies and looking at the successful projects. But in the past, I believe the department has seen a lot of successful projects. However, funding couldn’t go back to them based on the policy that if an organization had a successful program one year or they got funding for one year, they wouldn’t be able to see funding for the same project the second year. My question was to the Minister, if he’d be willing to change the policy to multi-year funding rather than just the one-time deal for successful projects. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding his opening statement earlier today dealing with prevention and promotion. It’s a great subject and a great move forward for this government to be looking into prevention and promotion to get our people in the NWT healthy and living fulfilled lives. In his statement he mentions that communities are essential in making prevention work. He also says that prevention and promotion activities are essential if we want to improve the health status of our population. I believe currently the policy for the Health Promotion Fund, which this would probably filter through, only provides funding to one project per year per organization. In order to make this successful, I believe that this government needs to provide funding to similar projects on a concurrent basis. Is the Minister willing to look into the policy to change the policy so that groups who have successful projects can get funding in subsequent years rather than just having a one-time deal?