Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to say I appreciate the Standing Committee on Social Programs’ belief that they wanted more answers on the review of the Child Family Services Act. They wanted some money. They wanted some commitments from the Department of Health and Social Services. They wrote to the Minister and the department three weeks ago. From where I sit, I see this is the last week we have to approve the budget. The timing of this is very suspect. To bring a response back to the committee in the last week at the 11

th

hour when we know our backs are up

against the wall, there is little room for concessions, there is little room for negotiations. It leaves a lot to be desired.

I think that the Standing Committee on Social Programs is owed a better way of doing things than what has transpired here. To take three weeks to get back to them, we have been through this process before. The Minister has been here a long time. We know how things work around here. We know we get bogged down. We know we don’t have a lot of time left, so what is the department’s answer? We will hit them with this response. We know it is not what they want, but we will hit them with it on a Monday during the last week of budget session. Well, to me, that is not good enough.

I think you should have been back to the Standing Committee on Social Programs much earlier. There should have been more time to talk. There should have been more time to negotiate. Your budget has been deferred. Who knows what is going to happen from here, Mr. Chairman? You have to answer questions and you have to compromise and you have to work with the standing committee. I don’t see a lot of flexibility left in this process right now. There is some frustration here.

Again, I think if responses were given back to standing committee in a more appropriate time frame, I think we could have avoided this. I am supporting my colleagues on the Standing Committee on Social Programs to get some more information and to get addressed what issues they wanted in that letter. Thank you.