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Track Kieron

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Crucial Fact

  • His favourite word is public.

MLA for Range Lake

Won his last election, in 2023, with 55% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters February 27th, 2024

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you for allowing me a second time to speak. So I -- apologies if I missed anything, but the $1.187 million for in-territory child and family supports, can the Minister just explain that a bit more? Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters February 27th, 2024

Thank you, much. Yeah, I think we just go back to, like it's much like the medical travel discussion we've had. Like, there's an issue here we need to solve because this is just going to end up costing the taxpayer more and more as time goes on, not less and less. And there's an additional cost to staff morale and productivity within the health care system that needs to be looked at as well. And I know the health Minister is here listening, finance Minister's here. I am confident we are going to move forward as an Assembly on this and look at health care sustainability as we move into budgets that are not primarily in term of supply and are actually operational budgets. So I look forward to what's coming in May and June when we get a real picture of what measures are being put in place to control the use of agency nurses and hopefully to ban them in the future. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters February 27th, 2024

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's arising from this supplementary appropriation or the $5.5 million total? Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters February 27th, 2024

One is too many. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that that's the sentiment I'm hearing from health professionals in my riding. And what they're looking for is accurate numbers and cost analysis. So in their words, we have been successful and we're seeing how we can compare if we've been successful in recruiting and training nurses. And these questions are not kind of to -- yeah, I guess we could put a spin on it and say, like, we're excoriating the department for relying on agency nurses and privatizing our health care system, which is probably more exciting for question period than it is for Committee of the Whole. So I won't do that. But what I will say is we need some transparency around this so the public knows where their money's going, and they're getting good value for money. And our hardworking health care professionals can see that as well. That's what they're asking for. So I think the Minister's made a commitment, and I'll -- I appreciate that.

Can the Minister tell me how much of this sup -- or the $2.3 billion, or the global total of 5.5, how much has that been to pay union dues to the UNW for the use of agency nurses? Because I understand that's a component of these contracts. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters February 27th, 2024

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I'd hazard a guess that the health Minister's probably only too happy to let the finance Minister sub in for questions here. But she's welcome to entertain this discussion as well; I'm sure we'd appreciate it.

So the issue, I think -- and I'm hearing this from nurses in my riding that, like -- so this is a morale issue in addition just because they're -- the prevalence of agency nurses. So can we get the Minister to commit to a very clear cost analysis of that $5.5 million that tells us exactly -- like, the equivalent position -- staff positions that it is. I appreciate they don't work the same way as full-time health personnel in the system; they do work differently. So can the Minister just commit to giving us an accurate staffing numbers, how many bodies are coming through this contract that's equivalent to the staffing -- the staffing numbers that we currently employ in the health system and getting real costs to those numbers. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters February 27th, 2024

Thank you. The media stands corrected because I think there's a news -- well, there was a news article recently of $5.2 million. That's what the public is -- and my constituents have seen and have brought it forward. So a $5.2 million expenditure is barely equivalent to 42 nursing positions at staff wages. So how many agency nurses are we getting from $5.5 million? Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters February 27th, 2024

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I thank you for that explanation; that's satisfactory.

Okay, let's talk about agency nurses. So this is 2 million -- 2. -- just over $2.3 million. So what's the total amount that's going to be expended on agency nurse contracts? Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters February 27th, 2024

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the funding for diagnostic laboratory services, chemotherapy drugs, radiology services, what do these increases represent? Is that more client usage, or is that replacement of equipment? Can the Minister provide more substantiation. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters February 27th, 2024

Thank you. Nothing further.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters February 27th, 2024

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I note under the agreements, some of these contributions seem very low. $4,000, Canadian chronic disease surveillance system agreement. $4,000 for epidemiology support for substance use agreements. I'm not sure what you can do with that. So I'm assuming this is multi-year agreements that are just kind of paying out. It just seems quite -- or a very limited amount of contributions. So could the Minister just explain how this money is flowing and if there's a larger pot that we're not seeing. Thank you.