Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the residents should be comfortable in knowing that their Minister of Health and Social Services and this government is working hard to look at our system and make system changes so that we make our health care system sustainable. We were also successful in obtaining $15 million from the federal government over the next two years. I have spearheaded bringing together western provincial Ministers of Health so that we look at group purchasing. I am also working with all of the chairs of the health authorities, because we now understand very clearly that sustainability for the health system is for the entire health system.
The deficit at Stanton is not a Stanton deficit; it’s a system deficit. We are redesigning business plan models so that we have the right sized budgets for every authority. We are reviewing the physician staffing model so that we use our physician resources better. We have also introduced the accountability framework so that all of the authorities now have a written contract in a way that they have not done before.
Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is our people expect us to be efficient and effective in our delivery of health care services. Our people have no tolerance for reducing essential service, so we are working very hard every day to make our system sustainable. Thank you.