Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In most cases, we as MLAs are the ones who get the notices. It seems to be that in order to get any action, you have to go directly to the Minister. Yet the Minister is limited because once the money is allocated, it is the responsibility of the health boards to administer and carry out those programs and services within their mandate. It seems like it is double jeopardy. On one hand, we can make an issue out of it in this House, but on the other hand, the health board does not have to abide by any recommendations or decisions made by ourselves as Members of this House.

There is no criteria or no mechanism that can force a board or force an issue on anybody that is not really legislated to have to come forth before a committee such as this and answer to what their responsibilities are. Is there a possibility of looking at some sort of a mechanism where there is more accountability put forth by health boards and the board of directors themselves, that they are answerable to the decisions that they make and also to the public that they represent in some sort of a public forum or public review process, such as we have here?

This is committee of the whole where we are able to put everything on the table, put their budgets out there and have them answer why it is they are running a deficit or why is it they are not administering a certain program. Is that something that could be looked at? The problem is becoming more apparent that we do not have the tools or we do not have the authority where we can have the ability to question them or how they are spending their money at this time.