Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the opportunity to update the Members on this capital project.
In May, when the new public administrator of Stanton was appointed, one of the tasks he was given by me was to look at the master development plan and report back to me on it. What I found out when he came to me is that they are working on a $200 million plan for Stanton. Obviously, that was not a workable plan. I sent him back to work, and he and the deputy minister and the planners went back to work.
They came back in September with something that’s more manageable at $50 million. It will address all the seven areas we have asked them to address: emergency, ICU, diagnostic imaging, rehab, medical daycare, the aboriginal wellness and spirituality centre, as well as working out the issues surrounding the specialty services. We have a much more workable and affordable plan, and I’d be happy to share that information with the committee and the Members.
Secondly, the Member is aware that at the wishes of all the Members here, we are doing a different capital planning process, where only projects with a very specific plan are making it into the capital plan. That’s what’s reflected in this year’s budget. But with this new plan for Stanton we expect that it will make its way back into next year’s plan as we move forward.