Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Perhaps what has been missing is a formal recognition that it is necessary to have health and hospital boards assume the leading role in the management and delivery of health programs and services. This need was summed up during the standing committee's consultations by the representatives of the Baffin regional health board, who pointed out that:

"The question of the future of health boards should be resolved quickly. There is a definite need for such boards which are responsible for a wide range of complex issues. For the health system to work effectively and efficiently in the most cost-effective manner, the decisions should remain in the control and management of the health boards. Decentralization should continue to the regions and down to the community level where appropriate."

The Standing Committee on Agencies, Boards and Commissions agreed with the importance of addressing this matter directly. To some extent, the significance of health and hospital boards has been intuitively accepted since the health transfer. However, in reviewing proceedings in the Legislative Assembly and its standing committees, the principle has not, to date, been formally acknowledged.

While boards should take the lead role in decision-making about the management of health care facilities, programs and services, the standing committee believed that this will not succeed without a carefully established partnership with the Department of Health. Within that partnership, the department should be responsible for over-all coordination of the territorial health policy and fiscal appropriations. It also has an important role to play in providing technical consultation and support. Certain monitoring and control functions required under the territorial Financial Administration Act will need to be carried out by the department, but always remaining mindful that the boards should be recognized as the legitimate management authority.

The Standing Committee on Agencies, Boards and Commissions is of the opinion that it is important to formally recognize principles surrounding the primacy of the role of health and hospital boards in the management of the health system.