Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, most Members will be aware that for the first two years of the program, Health and Social Services and Education, Culture and Employment were granted base funding of $3 million for the Healthy Children Initiative. We found a way to top that up with some extra money, which I believe was about $350,000 a year. This funding, was not available to us past March 31, 1999, into the new fiscal year. There was some concern among agencies that there would be some reduction in funding. Added to the concern about the decreasing dollars, in some communities we received a dramatic increase in numbers of applications, so there were more programs applying for funding than we had seen in the past. Therefore, there was much more competition for the

available dollars.

The budget has not yet been introduced, Mr. Speaker, but I am confident that we will find a way to address the shortfall expected in the program. I believe we will find a way to carry on the program with the same dollar amounts in the next fiscal year as what we have had in the past. One of the sources of the funding will be Phase 2 of the National Child Benefit, which will be coming into place on the 1st of July, and it will provide us with some money to put into the program. We are actively looking within the department for other sources of funds which we can reallocate to ensure that the program can continue at the same funding level. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.