Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question is in reference to the funding for the health authorities as well.
I appreciate that the department has capped their growth at 3 per cent. But when I look at the figures that are presented to us in the budget, I see that funding for hospitals is actually going down from the Revised Estimates last year to this year. My concern is that if the total amount of money that health authorities and hospitals — and health centres, I guess I should say — are going to be receiving is going down — although health centres are going up a bit.... But if money is going down for hospitals, how has forced-growth costs been considered in the grants to the various hospitals and health centres?
We’ve acknowledged many times in our discussions, in regard to every department’s budget, that fuel costs, for instance, are going to be a huge impact on forced growth in every department. There’s been some forced growth worked into many department budgets, but we know that fuel prices are going to be going up over the next year, farther than they already have.
I find it really difficult to understand that a hospital or a health centre’s been given a 3 per cent increase to their funding, but the total amount they’re receiving is going down. I’d like an explanation, if I could get one.