EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
I know that a lot of member or a lot of individuals and Households across Nunavut over the last few years have faced huge cutbacks in pay and benefits.
So it becomes a lot more difficult for just a family to survive.
So I was just wondering if that was something to look at if that was a possible deterrent.
Mr. Tootoo’s point is well taken and again we will try to get that other information for him sometime tomorrow.
I think we are on page 10 – 13, and if that is the case the sums of 9 million, 14 million, 23 million what are they allotted for.
It does not say in there what they are being allotted for.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you we are on page 10 – 13.
Operations and maintenance, total operations and maintenance, 23 million 828 thousand.
Mr. Chairman, for the member’s information, under compensation and benefits that includes wages and salaries and we are looking at 179 positions with a total of 9 million 183 thousand dollars in salaries for those 179 positions.
In the other expenses that are on that line that the member asked about, we have travel, which covers the headquarters and the three regions, the Baffin, the Kivalliq and the Kitikmeot.
We also have materials and supplies purchased services, contract services, fees and payments and those expenditure Items include for the member’s information contracts for foster care, group homes, safe shelters, alcohol & drug treatment, boarding homes, family violence and dental services that are not covered by Non-Insured Health Benefits.
So I hope that helps the member with some of the information on that page.
We do not have any more hands raised.
Total operations and maintenance, 23 million 828 thousand.
Chairperson (interpretation): Total expenditures, 23 million 828 thousand.
Chairperson (interpretation): On to page 10 – 14.
Health and Social Services, branch summary, health protection, operations and maintenance.
Total operations and maintenance, 1 million 961 thousand.
I would also like to know exactly what the targets are for these Items because on top it indicates health protection I am wondering what is under those Items.
Mr. Chairman, programs and services dedicated to protecting the population from threats to health presented by communicable diseases including sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, trichinosis, environmental causes which are contamination of air, terrestrial and aquatic environments are all covered under health protection.
We could move on to another Item Mr. Chairman, and I will return to that afterwards.
We are on page 10 – 14, operations and maintenance.
I would like to urge the members to pay attention please.
Mr. Iqaqrialu. Please return to your seats.
Total expenditures, 1 million 961 thousand.
Chairperson (interpretation): 10 – 15, treatment programs, Health and Social Services summary, treatment programs, operations and maintenance.
Total operations and maintenance, 46 million 347 thousand.
Mr. Havioyak: On the treatment programs there is a line there that says medical travel.
Is it under the 30 million dollars.
Chairperson (interpretation): That’s it.
We are on page 10 – 15.
Mr. Havioyak: Okay if it is under there can you give me a rough estimate as to how much you spend on medical travel.
Approximately 20 million dollars which accounts for about 20% of our budget.
Mr. Havioyak: The reason that I am asking that question is that it is quite high for medical travel.
Have the minister looked at other ways to try to reduce the numbers.
Maybe an example I would like to use is getting some doctors in the other communities that maybe in the bigger communities for example, that have a population of over 1 thousand for example.
Maybe a doctor could eliminate some of the travel or emergencies to bigger centres.
Has the minister considered these types of expenses so it could cut down on the medical travel.
Mr. Chairman, that’s a good question that the member raises.
Medical travel accounts for 20% of our budget and we are trying to get it under control.
As I said today, we were reviewing the new travel policy that I hope to bring forward in the next couple of weeks.
We think that Telehealth will help us with referrals because people will not have to be medivaced out in all cases, they can be reviewed through the opportunity of tele-health conferencing and so on.
We are looking at some economies of scale, with the airlines and Mr. Chairman, as the member has pointed out, if we could find some doctors to work in the communities, that could lower some of the costs and that is something that we would look at.
It is very difficult to get doctors to work in our smaller communities, but with the opportunity of the Regional Health Centres, maybe there might be more possibilities, for example in the Kitikmeot and the Keewatin.
With that Mr. Chairman, again I appreciate the comment.
There is a lot of work that has to be done in medical travel and I think you are going to be pleased and the members pleased with some of the work that we are doing over the next couple of weeks when we bring that policy forward.
Mr. Havioyak: The reason I asked that question is the last, I don’t know 10 or 15 years, the medical travel has been high.
The community of Kugluktuk has tried to find ways to try to reduce medical travels between Kugluktuk and Yellowknife and there were so many of them.
The Hamlet Council has said that maybe this is one of the things that the government should be looking at is placing a doctor in communities with a population over 1 thousand.
Those communities, I just wanted to make a comment on that.
Chairperson (interpretation): At this time we are on 10 – 15.
Mr. Chairman, I agree with Mr. Havioyak, and as I have said before we have been studying it and Kugluktuk was proactive several years ago in trying to address the concern.
That’s something that we are trying to do as a department.
As you know Mr. Chairman, I had announced in the House last week that we are looking at our partner the Federal Government, about recouping some of the costs that we are actually spending, under the Canadian Health Act.
One of the key pillars of the Canadian Health Act is accessibility.
For us to get access to good health care we have to use a plane.
So that is one of the other avenues that we are looking at to recoup some of those costs and also try to lower those costs ourselves by being proactive and using innovations.
So I appreciate those comments from the member.
Mr. Chairman, on the medical travel I think it would be safe to say that almost the entire amount of that, or how much of that is due to the cost of medivacs.
Would all of it be for medivacs or are there other expenses in there as well.
Mr. Chairman, that’s a good question because a lot of times when we say medical travel we think it is for medivacing someone out.
Under medical travel we have urgent medical evacuations and that’s the standard medivac and we also have the necessary referrals when we want to take someone from a community and take them to Iqaluit or to send them to Ottawa to see a specialist or see an eye doctor.
We also have the unavoidable social and family emergencies that require transport out of the community and in some cases out of the territory.
So those three types of situations make up what medical travel is with expenditures of about 20 million dollars that we are talking about.
Under health and under social services.
Maybe if I could ask the minister, if he could indicate or does he have the numbers for what their costs are for the emergencies, the medivacs that we have.
An overall number for what the cost of medivacs have been to the Nunavut Government.
We are on page 10 – 13.
Mr. Chairman, yes we will get that information for Mr. Tootoo.
Again, I guess this is basically taken as notice I guess.
Just to follow up what I was getting at, or was hoping to get at.
I think it would be fair to say that is rather a substantial number used up in medivacs.
I was just wondering how and who was doing that, how those contracts were awarded and who does them and how often are we going out and looking.
Is it the most economical way for us to be proceeding in doing that.
So I guess that’s what I was looking at getting at with the numbers.
I would like to thank the member for clarifying that.
Under the travel policy that we are bringing forward that I was reviewing today in draft form, we are looking at the contracts that are in place, for example for medivac services.
We are also looking at economies of scale and in some regions the Health Boards had signed off some agreements with the airline companies, for example, here in the Baffin they did it with First Air.
We are trying to look at all those issues to see where we can save some money.
As I said before the medivacs are something that we have to pay for.
There are opportunities of lowering those costs, for example, telehealth or tele-medicine, and recouping some of the costs from the Federal Government, for which I have written Alan Rock, the Federal Minister of Health.
I am hoping to meet with him again, it seems like it will be at the end of this month and discuss it further with him.
So there are opportunities and we are looking at them.
When that draft policy comes forward, the members will have an opportunity to discuss with us how we do those types of contracts on medical travel, system wide or Nunavut wide.
While we are on the Main Estimates, I would like to ask a question about my constituency issue that is also Nunavut wide.
It is in regards to the children or teenagers who are in critical situations and they are sent down south.
In my community, it has created a problem because of the lack of funds.
There is one child who has been sent down south and before that the parents of this child were told that they would be given the opportunity to go see their child at least once a year.
But to date the parent gets a phone call from the child but the Health and Social Services workers are saying that they don’t have the money to bring the child back up north.
What kind of plans do you have for those types of situations.
Mr. Chairman, I had an opportunity over the past year to work with the member specifically on some issues dealing with children and care.
I said earlier that we have 2.4 million dollars that we are spending right now to place children out of the territory for care and that care could be around professional needs and so on that the child has that we are not able to deliver in Nunavut.
We have looked at opportunities where we could repatriate these patients, some of our children from Nunavut and bring them back here to Nunavut instead of having them out of territory.
I don’t understand the point the member made about where the social worker said that they had no money to fly the child back.
That’s something that I would like to be able to look into on behalf of the member and maybe again, if the member had something in writing to me on a specific case then we can deal with that one.
Unless he has already given it to me in writing and I am already dealing with it.
Mr. Puqiqnak (interpretation): I know exactly what the situation is.
I did write a letter to you.
As a member I will write you another letter.
As the Minister of Health and Social Services, it’s very easy to talk to you but it is very hard to talk to employees of the Health and Social Services.
We do not have any problem talking to you it is some of the employees that you have that give us the problem. Possibly you should write a letter to your employees and with your response it sounds very simple when we are talking face to face but when you go to the community there are a lot of barriers that we have to go through with your employees.
I do not know what the problem is.
There are many unnecessary barriers created by some of the employees who do not deal with you on a day to day basis.
We are now on 10 – 15. Total operations and maintenance, 46 thousand 347.
I would like to thank the member for his comments and my staff have noted the comments regarding the serious nature of the dealings of the member with some of our staff and we will follow that up with him.
I apologize, do you have any other comments to make.
Mr. Chairman, I am not sure if it falls under this area or not but in the minister’s response to Mr. Puqiqnak he talked about the care of patients or children within Nunavut.
Just wondering, the facilities that we have I know that there is a home here and there are other group homes in other communities.
I am just wondering if we have adequate facilities to serve the needs that we have.
You talked about repatriating some of those services, do we have room and facilities to bring those people back to Nunavut.
Mr. Chairman, I will just go through it.
In Iqaluit we have the adult group home and a children’s’ group home.
In Rankin Inlet we have a children’s group home and an adult group home.
In Baker Lake we have a children’s group home and we also have a child abuse counselling centre.
In Cambridge Bay we have a children’s group home.
So in every region we have a children’s group home, but we still have several children in care outside of territory.
If we could repatriate those children and bring them back to Nunavut that would be about 2.5 million dollars that we would be spending here in Nunavut in one of our communities.
I am looking at our options for that right now but that also means new infrastructure, building a home.
We talked about here in Iqaluit we talked about for example, we have to upgrade it and change the halls and add wheelchair accessibility and so that’s a capital budget Item.
So that’s something that we are looking at and we want to repatriate those children and those clients and those patients of Nunavut that are currently being looked after in southern localities.
At the same time Mr. Chairman, I want to make sure that I am clear that the care that they are receiving in the south is good, it’s excellent.
We are not concerned with the care that they are receiving, we just want to bring them back to Nunavut and have our people in Nunavut taking care of our own people.
Mr. Chairman, I too, I am not questioning the quality of the care that these children are receiving or anyone that we have in care in the south or anywhere.
What I just wanted to know was the minister indicated on repatriating these services, I know that for every child that we bring back into one of these homes and that type of environment usually these individuals require constant attention and caring.
Almost like a one on one basis for care.
When I say not only the infrastructure in place but also the human resources that are going to be necessary that need to go along to ensure that they receive the level and quality of care that they need.
Mr. Chairman, the complex needs of our residents and a lack of training of professional personnel here in Nunavut, and again at the community level to meet those needs of those children I guess are the major factors in any decision made to obtain programs and services outside of Nunavut for these children and in some cases adults.
The program being run at St. Agnes in Chesterfield Inlet I think is an excellent program where some of the members had an opportunity and Minister Havioyak and I had a chance to tour about a month ago.
Some of the work that they are doing with Nunavummiut is the type of program that we would like to bring forward in Nunavut.
So I appreciate the member’s comments and it is something hopefully over the next several months as a government and as a department we can work on and maybe have some good news for the people of Nunavut.
Well I guess the thing is we don’t have the resources in place to look after these individuals and prior to them coming back we need to ensure that we do.
Now if that means importing people, hiring people to move into communities to work in these facilities is that something that we would do if that’s the direction that the department wants to go in.
I think that’s first and foremost and that has to be looked at they need to ensure that the level of care is still going to be there.
Thank you Mr. Chairman. Just a comment.
Chairperson (interpretation): Mr. Picco would you like to respond.
Hon. Ed Picco: Just to agree with what the member had said and that’s something that we are working on.
As I said some of those people that we are talking about, some of those patients are actually Housed in Nunavut and where we don’t have the capacity we have had to place them in out of territory.
So that’s the kind of capacity we need to develop here in Nunavut.
We are now on page 10 – 15.
Operations and maintenance, 46 million 347 thousand.
Total expenditures, 46 thousand 347. 10 – 16 is just an information item.
Mr. Nutarak (interpretation): My question is very brief.
Seventy five, 75, 75 in three different years.
Perhaps due to the barriers of the rules they did not go up any higher, 10 – 16 detail of work performed on behalf of third parties.
Informational item.
Chairperson: Mr. Picco, 10 – 16.
Mr. Chairman, very observant of the member again.
On that program that’s a stacked agreement with the Federal Government, we receive funds from the Federal Government for the pre-natal and nutritional development funds.
When that agreement was signed it was signed off for a period at that amount, 75 thousand dollars.
That funding or activity is provided by Health Canada and the funds are directed directly to communities for the deliver of programs and the work that we are doing at the community level with the pre-natal nutrition.
Chairperson (interpretation): 10 – 16 is an informational Item. Mr. Iqaqrialu.
Since we have heard that the Nunavut population is increasing at a rapid pace.
What is the funding for funding for teen pregnancies.
The educational program for teen pregnancies is quite small. So I just want the member to be aware of that.
We are now on page 10-16 it is an information Item.
Chairperson (interpretation): Turning the page to Health and Social Services distribution of funds.
Information Item.
Baffin 21, Keewatin 18. So they are pretty close under other expenses.
I would like to get further clarification why they are quite even. They are almost the same figure.
Chairperson (interpretation): Who will be responding to the question. Mr. Picco.
I will go through it maybe in some detail. I think it needs a detailed answer. I will try to keep it short.
Under the headquarters, and you need to factor it in because it counts in the money, there are 78 positions.
In the Baffin there are 287. Kivalliq 151 and in the Kitikmeot 76.
Now the costs, I think this is what the member was trying to get to, for example the travel in the Baffin, 7 million 910 thousand, and in the Kivalliq 7 million 727 thousand, materials and supplies in the Baffin 2 million 727 thousand.
Materials and supplies are more in the Baffin 2.6 million as to Kivalliq 90 to a hundred thousand.
Purchased services for the Baffin is only 1.4 four.
The contract services are five in the Baffin but more in the Kivalliq, eight.
Then the total would be 21 and 18 so they even out.
For example, why travel is so high in the Keewatin is because we are sending people directly out of Keewatin because we do not have a health facility there.
So many the people then would go from Arviat directly to Winnipeg and so on.
Whereas here in the Baffin they would just go from Lake Harbour to Iqaluit in most cases because we have the hospital and only in extreme circumstances would we send someone from Iqaluit to Ottawa.
So I hope that gives some explanation on the differences on the budget presented by region.
Chairperson (interpretation): We are on 10-17 information Item.
Going back to page 10-3. Health and Social Services program summary.
Detail of expenditures, operations & maintenance, total operations & maintenance 115 million 932 thousand dollars.
Hello Mr. Iqaqrialu.
First I would like to ask a question.
The deficit, the figure would get close to 20 million dollars.
How are we going to pay that deficit.
Mr. Chairman the deficit is presented, as the members know, on March 31 last year based on the audited statements of the three health boards.
That amount came forward and has been eliminated through the good offices of the government of Nunavut as indicated by the Finance Minister Mr. Ng. As of March 31 the books were cut off for the three regional health boards as for accounting practices.
Hopefully sometime in May or June we will know if we have another deficit or actually we might end up in the positive side of the ledger when it comes to health expenditures for this year.
We have had to put some restriction on spending and try to make sure that we had cost benefit analysis in place for the three health boards.
We think we are going to do quite well or maybe better than we actually thought in the beginning.
So the short answer is that the deficit has been eliminated with the support of the member and the other members of this House.
Maybe lastly when we come to terms with budget, I just want to reiterate the smoking cessation program.
I do not see it under this budget. So I am going to agree. Because I do not see it under this item.
It has not even been mentioned in the pages.
Chairperson (interpretation): Total operations and maintenance, 115 million 932 thousand.
Chairperson (interpretation): Total capital 4 million 300 thousand.
Chairperson (interpretation): Total expenditures 120 million 232 thousand.
Chairperson (interpretation): Total Department for Health and Social Services has been concluded.
Chairperson (interpretation): Also Tabled Document 68-1(3) Department of Health and Social Services is also concurred with.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members and to thank my staff and you for the vigorous debate on the health budget.
It is a very difficult being the Minister of Health and Social Services and I would thank the members for being co-operative and helping me try to help the people of Nunavut to better in health and social services.
Chairperson (interpretation): Thank you too.
Thank you for being present.
But you have to realise the answers for yes or no Mr. Picco.
What is the wish of the committee. Mr. Barnabas.
Mr. Barnabas (interpretation): Mr. Chairman we have to deal with Public Works, Telecommunications, and Technical Services.
I am wondering if the Minister could do his opening comments for the budget and then we can report progress because it is not quite 6 o’clock yet.
Department of Public Works, Telecommunications & Technical Services: Minister's Opening Remarks
Hon. Kelvin Ng: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I have been appointed Public Works Minister for 10 minutes.
On behalf of Minister Thompson thank you for the opportunity to introduce the introductory remarks on the 3-year business plan and 2000-2001 budget for Public Works, Telecommunication and Technical Services.
For 2000-2001, Public Works and Services has a total budget of 87.5 million.
The new budget has an increase 14.6 million over our budget for 1999-2000.
This increase is mainly due to new staff housing and office space leases, decentralization funding and additional costs associated with the amalgamation of the Health Boards.
To update you on our staffing levels, Mr. Chairman, the Department has a total of 212 funded positions for the new fiscal year.
The regional offices are virtually fully staffed, and we are currently focussing on the staffing of our Headquarters Office.
Inuit employment remains a key goal for the Department.
The Public Works and Services’ budget consists of 79.8 Million for operations and maintenance and 7.7 million for capital projects.
The operations and maintenance budget includes:
1.3 million for the Directorate
3.0 million for Corporate Services, which is responsible for policy and strategic planning, financial management, human resources and records management
5.4 million for Technical Services, which provides planning, design and management services for government projects and develops technical standards for government departments
57. 7 million for Operations, which includes:
leasing and administration of office space, staff housing and other facilities leased to the government;
centralized purchasing services for all government supply and service requirements;  co-ordination of the annual sea-lift resupply for the entire government; and