That's very parliamentary language, I must say. Holy moly, or something like that. Mr. Chairman, I think the Minister knows he has very receptive members on the Social Programs committee and I am sure they could make room on their agenda to address this issue as soon as he could wind up somebody to walk down the hall and deliver the document to the committee. In all seriousness, Mr. Chairman, I don't think a June or September deadline is one that the Minister should be working toward. I have communicated a couple of issues on the supplementary health benefits to the Minister and he's been indicating to me for months now, I think as far back as when he became Minister, about this review, so I am dying of waiting here breathlessly. I would suggest that the co-payment issue should be separated from the supplementary health benefits if that's what's causing the delay here. The phrases such as the not-too-distant future or whenever it's deemed appropriate or if there are resources called for, those things are the phrases that alarm the minds of astute parliamentarians, I would say. The fact of the matter is, Mr. Chairman, the people who are calling me are having to fork this money out today, right now, out of their living expenses. So I don't think we have a whole lot of time to waste and there are no indications that I have seen so far that say this is going to be resolved. I don't know what sort of options the Minister is going to put forward. Now while we are waiting for them, I wonder if the Minister could indicate whether or not in his package he would have resolved some of the issues he was talking about like the one about he can't be giving rebates to some people whose insurance money is coming from somewhere else, those sorts of major issues. Are we to expect that those would have been resolved by the time they come to the committee? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Sandy Lee on Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
In the Legislative Assembly on February 18th, 2003. See this statement in context.
general Comments
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
February 17th, 2003
Page 149
See context to find out what was said next.