Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll provide an answer for two now and then I will rely on my deputy minister to answer the third in respect to the percentage of our funding for the police. First of all, I want to refer back to the response to the committee's report where they state that their statistics, I must say, should rely on that. If we are spending time responding to 5,000 pick ups for public intoxication, then, certainly that is to be acknowledged and that's the type of work expected of the police force, certainly we know that it is their overall goal to achieve more funding for more policing. However, I think we need to be aware, as well, that our fiscal reality, and I am going to emphasize that if I may, Mr. Chairman, is going to, perhaps, limit us as to what we can possibly do in the next coming year. We want to further that discussion with the chief superintendent so that we are on the same page. I believe we need to ascertain our position and so, like I said, we will probably need two to three months to discuss fairly eloquently with them to give them some certainty that this is an issue from both their and our prospective. So, with that Mr. Chairman, I would like to call upon your permission to allow the deputy minister to respond to the Member's question about the funding we provide under the RCMP agreement. Thank you.
Roger Allen on Standing Committee On Social Programs Committee Comments
In the Legislative Assembly on February 28th, 2003. See this statement in context.
Standing Committee On Social Programs Committee Comments
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
February 27th, 2003
Page 432
See context to find out what was said next.