Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the Member for his good advice. It's always been my view that whenever we spend money and we make commitments, we have to keep the big picture in mind all the time. It's important to me that Members know that we're not only getting a reduction in the overall grant that the government gives us to operate but that specific programs are being reduced and we're being given notice by letter, weekly, of the different programs. The EDA, as I said, the young offenders, these are some of the ones that are being reduced at this time. The interpreter program was reduced by a little over a million dollars just recently. All these are going to have some staggering implications for this government and our respective constituents and our ministries.
I understand what the Member's saying. It's simple enough to say I will do that, that I will support the recommendation that the committee has made to find $300,000. I won't take it from corrections but I will be supporting the suggestion that at least $300,000 be allocated from the resources of this government, perhaps through the community action fund, for victims' services. It has to be remembered that it's in the context that, at this time, we know what our funding sources are and the amounts we're being funded. In a month, the picture might change substantially. We have to be very cautious about the commitments. We have said from the beginning that we have to stop, as a government, trying to Band-Aid social needs in the communities. That we have to empower communities to tell us how existing resources should be allocated and reallocated. That's what the social envelope committee does. The whole rationale behind the community action fund, is to let communities themselves directly tell us how the resources should be reallocated and if there's specific budget for the community action fund then how should that be divvied out.
I don't know if that's close enough to what the Member was asking for but I will be supporting it. Whether or not I am able to deliver $300,000 is another matter. Thank you.