Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I agree with the Members who have spoken that the goal of this motion is to give the message to the government that greater authority must be transferred to regional health boards. However, the fact remains that not every regional health board is in exactly the same state of development across the territories. I think that is pretty clear from an earlier motion that this committee brought forward, where we directed the government to ensure that a regional board was established in the Deh Cho region. I think that we have to recognize that what we want to say with the motion is that the decision about when the board takes on the responsibilities should rest with the board.
That is the intention of our motion, but we have to recognize that not every board is at exactly the same level of preparedness, right now, to take on all those responsibilities. It shouldn't be us saying to them you have to take it on if they are not quite ready. If they need another year, if they need another six months to get ready, it should be their choice as to what timing it is for them to take on specific responsibilities. That is why I had suggested earlier and was prepared to move an amendment to replace the word "able" with "prepared". I think that would then make it very clear that it wasn't to be somebody assessing whether or not they were able, it was the board determining whether or not they were prepared to take on the responsibility. I think that would deal with the difference states of readiness that the boards are in across the territories. I would urge Members to vote against this particular amendment and if it fails I will immediately make a motion to replace the word "able" with the word "prepared."