Mr. Chairman, this recommendation was also brought in by the Standing Committee on Agencies, Boards and Commission's report with regard to reviews. It is also one of the issues that was discussed by the Public Accounts committee. The point is that those reviews are going on right now. Perhaps this government should recognize regional governments and that they develop those boards based on, not the different situations at the community level, but at the regional level.
The other thing is most regional boards have superintendents or doctors as the chairmen of those boards. I don't know why that is. I think all the boards are at different stages. I think if there had been a statement suggesting that all the boards will administer their own finances, hire their own staff -- accountants, doctors, nurses, et cetera -- I would have preferred that. Whether or not those people serve as chairpersons of those different boards, the expertise will be there. The regions can operate just as effectively with a doctor sitting on the side advising them. I don't have problems with the report itself, but I believe the Standing Committee on Agencies, Boards and Commission's report, recognizes there are too many differences in the way boards are functioning. Some boards have to give some authority for hiring, some don't. Some boards have advisory capacity with budgets, others don't. All of these different situations exist.
The way the recommendation is drafted suggests that as soon as they are ready...And it is not going to be the regions that determine that, it will be the government that will determine that. If they are ready to take on responsibility for finances, then they will be given that. Not all of the regions will be consistent. The Deh Cho doesn't have a board. That hasn't affected my health one bit. The point I am trying to make is that those boards should be getting more autonomy. That is the direction this government should be going in.
This recommendation suggests all of these different boards are at different levels. Let them earn their autonomy, instead of me making a political statement saying that all of those boards should be the same. They should have responsibility. They should have autonomy. That is the direction we should be in by the year 1995. But a vague statement like this suggests that by 1997 we won't have anything.