Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m not really a big general comment kind of person in Committee of the Whole, but I just wanted to make a few comments on Health and Social Services. It’s a big department, it’s a tough department and I have to say that I am pleased with the general direction that the leadership and the department are taking things. I see some innovative things. I wish there was more that we could do to inspire people to be more caring about and taking personal responsibility for some of the challenges that we face. As a government, we try to fix things and sometimes I think we have to find a balance between trying to fix things and maybe getting on the front end and try to prevent things and try to denormalize things such as the degree to which people consume alcohol and are involved in other destructive behaviours. That’s always the balance, that’s always the struggle. But overall, whether it’s medical, social, the leadership that the department is providing on these fronts I am generally happy with and as we had in committee the other day, one of the leaders on the front line overseeing the
Community Wellness Initiative, these are good things. As my colleague Mr. Bouchard said, we need to give communities a say in what they feel are the things that will make the most impact for them in achieving wellness.
So a long ways to go. Like I said, a challenging, big department, it covers so many areas, but I think we have, as a government, devoted a lot of resources to this area and we hope to have good results as a result of those investments. We’ll carry on with making our comments and having our input where applicable. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.