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Legislative Assembly briefs Speaker shuts Hawkins down Laura Busch Northern News Services Published Friday, February 15, 2013
"This matter you brought up is before the conflict of interest commissioner," said Jacobson. "I'm shutting your statement down for the day Mr. Hawkins, it's before the courts." Hawkins had previously raised concerns about members bringing family members to the Deh Cho Bridge opening on Nov. 30 without paying for them beforehand, as is government policy. He also tabled a letter written to Financial Management Board chair Michael Miltenberger on Jan. 7 regarding the incident. Government underfunding health care: Dolynny This week, the committee of the whole began examining Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger's 2013-14 budget in detail. On Monday, Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny opened the debate by outlining his concerns over how little the GNWT is spending on health care. This budget sets aside $360 million for health, or 24.8 per cent of the overall budget. However, $100 million is spent on medical travel annually, meaning the government is only spending 17.9 per cent of its budget on "true health" - much less than other jurisdictions in Canada, which spend an average of 42 per cent of their budgets on health-care delivery, said Dolynny. "If you doubled the budget on health care, we'd be back within a year or a year and a half saying we need more," responded Miltenberger, adding this government should be proud it is not bankrupting itself by overspending on health, which is happening elsewhere in the country. GNWT should stand up to feds on environment: Bromley Devolution of lands and resources negotiations are "muzzling" this government's ability to stand up to the federal government on its "rampage against environmental protection," said Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley on Tuesday. Last week, the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board staff was cut in half by the feds, from 12 workers to six, despite the fact seven new mines are expected to come online in the next five years. Aside from the environmental implications, these cuts to environmental monitoring may hold up projects important to this government because there simply are not enough workers to complete environmental assessments in a timely manner, said Bromley. After question period Tuesday, Bromley announced his intention to bring a motion before the legislature calling on the GNWT to send "a strongly worded letter" to Ottawa, condemning the federal government's recent changes to environmental protection legislation. This motion was expected to be heard Thursday. More funding for nurse practitioners needed: Bisaro Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro pushed Health and Social Services Minister Tom Beaulieu to provide details on when his department will complete a business case to provide more funding for nurse practitioners in the territory, on Tuesday. Currently, funding set aside for physicians - who are in short supply, especially in small communities - can't be transferred to pay nurse practitioners' salaries, despite the fact nurse practitioners often fill the gap left by a lack of physicians, she said. Last June, Beaulieu assured her a plan to alleviate this problem was in the works. "If last June the minister was promising us a plan to deal with this lack of flexibility, why has it taken this long to get to a point of no solution?" she asked. "I don't know why it's taking so long," responded Beaulieu, adding he will give the department until April 30 to bring him a business case.
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