Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said earlier, the board of management met in August under the direction of, I believe, Mr. Patterson, or one of the... it wasn't me, it was a previous Minister, to approve the new applications. Just about all the communities are now funded through the contributions from alcohol and drug programs. One of the reasons why this board met, was the direction they got back in April 1992, when their funding was being cut, to meet once more to approve the applications and that they would also meet with the department officials to give the directives on the criteria, how the communities could be funded from the contributions and grants from alcohol and drug programs.
It was felt then, according to the information that I have, Mr. Speaker, if you can give me a few minutes to... the Financial Management Board, April 1992, directed the department to consult with the ABC committee on deletion of the board of management. A letter was prepared for the Minister's signature in the spring of 1992, but was never sent as Mr. Whitford wanted to talk personally with the chairperson of the board before this was resolved. Mr. Whitford resigned as Minister. Mr. Patterson, as the next Minister, apparently had discussions with the chairperson of the ABC committee about the future of the board. No correspondence exists on this, although meeting notes from the acting deputy minister indicate that Mr. Patterson was considering reinstating the board to fulfil the policy function. Mr. Patterson resigned before the matter was resolved but he apparently had an informal agreement with Mr. Koe that the board should be eliminated.
Although the money for the board was eliminated from the department's budget in April 1992, the grants and contributions directive still required the board of management to review applications for new funding. In 1992, all continuing contribution arrangements were continued on the basis of 1991 approvals. The board of management were notified to that effect, during a teleconference meeting of April 29, 1992. A board meeting was held on August 12, 1992 to review new requests for funding, as the department had no authority under the existing directive to approve new funding without board review.
In February of 1993, the Member for Thebacha asked the Minister of Social Services -- which is me, the third Minister -- to bring appointments up to date and to bring the board together to review 1993-94 funding requests. I agreed then. Finally, on March 30, 1993, a new grant and contribution directive was approved by the Financial Management Board, allowing the department to approve all alcohol and drug contributions. Up to November 1, the Member for Thebacha asked again about the Alcohol and Drug Board of Management.