Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I just want to make a few brief comments on the Auditor General’s report on Justice and corrections that was tabled, and there was a press conference last week with the folks from the Auditor General’s office.
The work of any of the departments in our government, including the Department of Justice, is an ongoing work in progress. We all know that none of these departments is everything they can be, but anything that we’re trying to build and trying to improve is a work in progress.
We elect Members of this Assembly from amongst ourselves to represent us on the other side of the House to take on responsibility for various aspects of the work that this government does. Many of them are not just representing one area; many of them are representing many areas. So, in the Minister’s comments yesterday, he mentioned we cannot support change by ourselves, it takes support by our leaders, our communities and other
service providers and it also takes the support of Members on this side of the House.
The spirit and intent with which the Auditor General’s report was delivered, I believe, was to point out and identify things that can be done differently and that can be done better. The way this report was received by our Minister of Justice, I believe, was in that same spirit and intent. It was received humbly and it was received with dignity and admission that there’s more that we can do.
Sometimes we do have to stop and celebrate some of the things that have occurred, some of the things that Members on this side of the House are very interested in such as a Wellness C
ourt. That’s
something that we, together with the Minister of Justice, worked towards and we made progress on during the 17th Assembly and we need to celebrate
that as well as another specialized court, a Domestic Violence Treatment Court, and some of the healing programs that have been initiated out there.
Mr. Speaker, we have many challenges before us in all areas of work that we do as leaders and as legislators. When criticism is necessary, I think it should be constructive criticism. I think that we, at the same time, need to admit that no one on this side of the House or on the other side has a magic wand. It is a work in progress that is building on the work of former Ministers of former governments of former leadership in departments and we advance the goals and the outcomes of these departments as we work together.
I would like to say that I appreciate the work of the Auditor Genera
l’s office and sometimes it isn’t
always good news, but I would be reluctant to politicize it, as sometimes the media does, by referring to it with words like “scathing” and that somebody should be taken to task. Mr. Speaker, we need to advance the cause of justice together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
