Revised - It was a mixed bag for Health and Social Services Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee Monday at the legislature.

The most significant event was the passing of historic Bill 38, the Health Authority Act, at approximately 2:42 p.m.

As expected, the Liberals and the NDP voted in favour of the act, with only the Yukon Party MLAs against it. In the end, the bill became law by a 10-8 vote.

“It’s pretty unbelievable, to be honest,” McPhee told reporters later.

“I couldn’t say this in the House (Monday) because I probably would have started to cry, but when I stand in front, I’m the point person. My job is to bring the bill and to debate it.

“I am acutely aware of the hundreds of people that stand behind me that brought this to fruition, that brought this piece of paper to say we want health care to be different for Yukoners, and we think it needs to look like this, and we’ve brought this together as a group,” McPhee said.

“And we have listened to Yukoners through Putting People First, and we have said that this is the first step on that journey.

“And it’s my responsibility and my honour and my job to stand there and to debate that and to defend it and to answer every question there is about it and I’m proud to do that,” the minister added.

Not surprisingly, Opposition Leader Currie Dixon had a very different take on the proceedings.

“For the next one to three years, there’s a lot of work to be done by the Department of Health and Social Services, by the minister, and I expressed my lack of confidence in the minister to do that work effectively,” Dixon said.

“I think it comes as no surprise that we have grave concerns about the conduct of the minister over the past number of years. This is the same minister who faced a motion calling for her resignation that passed the legislative assembly just a few years ago.

“We have seen health care become one of the central challenges and biggest crises in the territory over the past year and a half or so. And to say that I don’t have confidence in the minister is probably an understatement.”

McPhee was asked about Dixon’s assertion that he has no faith in her ability to carry the act through.

“For some reason the Yukon Party, and this is not new, is focused on me. I’m focused on making sure that health care is approved for Yukoners,” she replied.

NDP Leader Kate White also weighed in on the passing of the bill.

“The way the Yukon political system or the Westminster system is set up is to be confrontational between government and opposition parties, but I fundamentally believe it doesn’t have to be that way,” she said.

“I don’t love anybody 100 per cent of the time, but working together for the common good of Yukoners has always got to be our priority. And that’s what you saw the Yukon NDP do during the working of the Health Authority Act,” White said.

“We flagged our concerns early on that there hadn’t been enough information for employees. The minister and her officials then organized more than 20 meetings over a month span, which is incredible.”

The francophone community’s concerns were also addressed, she said.

Then the unions of the affected employees had to buy in on the deal.

“That started a really, I would say, intense back-and-forth towards that memorandum of understanding that was signed (with the unions) last week,” recalled White.

“I think what we just saw in the passing in the mechanisms of how that went, was probably not as smooth as the Liberals had hoped for.

“But there are rules that we all understand, and they made a decision and it didn’t work well for them, but the division was still called and the NDP, we look forward to doing the work that we need to do to make the health authority successful.”

White was asked about Dixon’s comments that he has no faith in McPhee to put the act into effect.

“I disagree … it’s gonna really involve a lot of different players coming together to try to figure out that path forward,” White replied.

McPhee reacts to online survey by the Yukon Medical Association

McPhee was questioned about the Yukon Medical Association’s online survey that stated that 41 per cent of Yukon doctors are planning on closing their practices within five years (see Monday’s Star).

“Not something that is a surprise,” the minister said.

“First of all, (I) have been meeting with doctors in smaller groups and in larger groups since I became minister, building on a relationship with the Yukon Medical Association.

“I was pleased that when we first knew that the survey was done, that Alex Kmet, the president of the YMA, committed to our working together going forward,” McPhee said.

“Part of what the survey concentrates on is the idea of wrap-around services and clinics where there are teams of individuals providing medical care. This is something that is not only contemplated in Putting People First, it is what we hope to achieve ultimately through the health authority.”

Dixon raised his concerns about the section of the survey that stated only seven per cent of the survey’s respondents feel the government supports and values physicians’ contributions to the health care system.

“That’s a perilously low number,” he said.

“The fact that the vast majority of Yukon doctors don’t feel that the current government supports them or appreciates them is a huge problem.

“And so you start to see a pattern emerge of of health care workers feeling like this government doesn’t support them,” Dixon said.

Yukon Party taken to task for MLA’s emails to YG employees

McPhee was also asked about emails from Yukon Party MLA Yvonne Clarke sent to government employees regarding the authority’s creation (see Monday’s Star).

Premier Ranj Pillai, in an April 9 letter to Dixon, said that he had multiple concerns including:

• “I am concerned that members of your caucus are using employee e-mail addresses of Yukon government employees, for partisan purposes;

• “I am concerned that members of your caucus are distracting Yukon government employees while they are at work;

• “I am concerned that these e-mail addresses may have been acquired through her former employment.”

McPhee replied, “I know that we had complaints at the (HSS) department from employees who have received an email. I think it went to their work email address as far as I understand, and that they were concerned about receiving something that was of a political nature while they were at work, and they should be free from that.”

Dixon, however, defended Clarke’s actions regarding the emails.

“She had sent an email to a number of folks that were her constituents or members of the Filipino community making them aware of the bill that was before the legislative assembly, and asking if they had any questions and pointing them to their union if they had any specific questions about things related to union members. I think that’s just the course of an MLA doing good work,” said Dixon, who answered Pillai’s letter on Monday.

“For the premier to allege that she obtained the emails in some sort of inappropriate manner is completely false. I mean, every government employee’s email is available on Google right now.”