I’m happy to advise the Member that in fact the Department of Health and Social Services is one of the few departments that actually reduced their top management. We reduced the positions at headquarters by 13 per cent in the last round. We went from two ADMs to one ADM, and we have reduced a director position by one. That went unnoticed, but we did all of that in the last six months.

The second thing. While I support — and I do…. There’s no question that a midwifery program is the way to go in the future, but there has not been any evidence to suggest that it is replacing some regular medical services that pregnant mothers in Canada still undergo. I do personally believe that birthing is way too medicalized, and the more midwives we could have, the better. But that’s not how the system is being implemented right now. Midwifery continues to be an extra service to the core service. There’s no evidence to suggest that it’s saving us money right now.

But I will continue to review that and work with the Member, and I will look in every nook and cranny

for every penny I can find to support such a program.