Sandy Lee

Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. No, it would not have an impact on the work that they do. Thank you.

Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, May 17, 2010, I will move that Bill 8, Social Work Profession Act, be read for the first time.

The program we have now for providing for a casket is for the indigent only, which means people on income support. There is a very specific amount of money that is allocated for that. The problem is when the families want to go with something more costly, because they want to, as the Member said, do the best for their families. We currently do not have a program that would do that. Lots of back and forth that goes on is that staff are clear about what they are able to purchase. It’s the people who want to do more and we do not have programs for that. If the Member wants to pursue that and work...

Mr. Speaker, this issue has been discussed in and out of this House since 2003. You will hear very frank input in the report that we have submitted today. I know people are very concerned about these programs and whenever you are making changes, it is difficult. It is difficult for us to talk about what we need to do. We need to be clear about what we need to do. We need to be able to find a way to help those who are currently excluded. We need to be able to do it in a way that minimizes the impact of the changes. We need to do it in a way that we have a sustainable health care system where...

The Member is right that we have lots of people in our communities who have a permanent, twenty-four hour medical and health staff. Their services are provided by communities outside. We have to rely on medical travel to do that and obviously the people who live in these communities are entitled to good service and quick access. So, no, we don’t expect people who aren’t well to be waiting in pain. We do have a policy in place to do that. I know the medical director team in the Beaufort-Delta is reviewing the response policy and I will get back to the Member with the details of that. We are...

Mr. Speaker, we have a proposal before us and we have an opportunity to work on that. I believe, as I’ve stated already, this is a difficult issue and it does take some courage and resolve on our part to make changes, Mr. Speaker. We cannot say that cover the working poor, cover those 2,200 people, find the money to do it, raise taxes, go without. We can’t continue to say that, Mr. Speaker. The Members here have an obligation to listen to everybody as well. I keep being told that I need to listen to everybody. Yes, we are listening to everybody and we have to make decisions. We are here to...

This is an important issue and I’m not sure if we want to talk about who sent what e-mail and when. I can assure you that I do have a chronology of the invitation from the pharmacy association and our response was prompt and swift. Having said that, Mr. Speaker, the pharmacy association is welcome to give their input, but the fact of the matter is, yes, they’re a front-line provider.

The Supplementary Health Plan we are suggesting is in place in every other jurisdiction in Canada. That’s what all the other pharmacists and pharmacies do use. So, Mr. Speaker, as a front-line provider, that’s not...

We are investigating the situation to see, in fact, exactly what happened and obviously we want to make sure that all the steps that were to be taken were taken. But first of all we have to have the facts, because this just came to light in the last few hours. Thank you.