It speaks again to the accountability factor. I know it was spoken of earlier, and we’ve had some discussions in the House earlier in this session about the $11.5 million that’s built up in deficit at Stanton and the fact that it’s been done before. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s done again. It’s just like taking an eraser and erasing that $11.5 million. To me, that’s not good enough. It absolutely isn’t good enough.
Somebody has to be accountable. Whether it’s you, Ms. Minister, or the management at the hospital or the department or somebody at the Department of Health and Social Services, somebody has got to be responsible for budgeting the authorities. If they’re chronically underfunded, let us know. These are our front-line health care providers. They need to have the resources to run.
When you spoke earlier of them coming forward and it’s an accepted practice to hand in a balanced budget, that’s one of the biggest jokes I’ve ever heard if we allow them to build up these multi-million-dollar deficits. The budget they hand into the department is not worth the paper it’s written on, Mr. Chairman. Now we have a situation at that hospital where FMBS has been paying the payroll for the last six and a half months. That’s $26 million.
I’d like to ask the Minister: where is this amount going to be budgeted for?