Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do have some general comments about funding to the Department of Health and Social Services, and specifically to our health care system. Obviously, I think nationally we are engaged in a debate, as was referenced earlier, about the ever-increasing amount of money being spent on health care. In fact, health care costs seem to be spiraling out of control and people around the country are wondering when we will be able to get a handle on this because we can see that the future may, if we go the way we are going now, consist of provincial budgets that are just primarily health care spending, and then whatever is left over.

I would like to reference specifically a report released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information that does confirm that health care is steadily gobbling up a larger proportion of provincial budgets. I know this year our Health and Social Services budget is around $200 million, and this seems to be growing from the last few years. Can the Minister indicate how he proposes to deal with this problem of health care costs ever increasing? Thank you.