Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to return to a topic I have raised in this House before which continues to be of great concern to me. It’s a matter of government red tape and how frustrating and problematic it is for small business. It’s nothing but a roadblock and a burden on our industry.

Red tape restricts small business activities, creates more paperwork and leads to frustration. Of course, we all recognize the need for regulatory regulations and reporting, but there must be clear and reasonable requirements. I also empathize with small business owners and employees who must deal...

Just changing subjects but in a somewhat related manner, the Minister has mentioned that, I guess it sounds as if it is the department or Stanton that purchases items on behalf of other authorities, does the Minister’s office support any type of mark-up if it is Stanton, by way of example purchasing medical equipment and then selling it to an authority, do they support any type of mark-up on any particular product that is resold? Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I did follow that particular issue up. In essence, take my word for it, really, was a short answer to the long letter or long reply. I am asking if the Minister is very confident that they view this and they are able to stand by it, then it should be no trouble providing some factual detail. That was the follow-up information that I asked for some time ago, perhaps maybe a month ago or more. I have yet to receive it. It is difficult getting back to people when they ask these questions and then you disappear for such a lengthy time or what the Minister says is basically they...

Mr. Chairman, that is fine. If it is just evergreening, are we talking about office equipment? It says medical supply. That is fine. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t...

Seeing how I have the mike, can the Minister provide me some, maybe, examples of what they would define as medical equipment under this evergreening process? Are we talking about beds? Are we talking about those specific programmings? Thank you.

I’ll take the commitment on providing the breakout of how that statement is met through funding and how that’s budgeted under what titles. Thank you.

Thank you. Pointing to page 8-28, the last bullet. Programs to enable individuals with special living requirements, yada yada yada.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank Mr. Yakeleya for bringing forward this motion and also extend my appreciation for letting him allow me to work with him on this particular motion and seeing the development.

I believe that the best investment that this government can make in any program is education. We can put them in health and we can put them in wildlife programs, we can put them in business programs, but the absolute best programming that we can put our dollars in is a good, solid education that will enable the next generation coming behind with the knowledge and attitude to go...

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister’s effort in trying to answer the question. But, really, other than meeting with them, it doesn’t sound as if anything’s really come of it. What’s stopping the Program Review Office, as a lead Minister as well as, of course, a departmental Minister where the Program Review Office sits, what’s stopping the Minister from launching the program review team on this type of initiative, engaging small business to ensure that we’re helping them fulfill their paper requirements by dealing with the red tape problem? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The way this Minister and the previous governments have been managing the health system is supplementary appropriation. That is how they are managing the funding problem.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister seems to hearken quite clearly about you have to do zero-based budget review. She is the one who has a deputy minister who said they did this. So they should know on what positions cost and they should fund them properly. They should know what all of these items cost and fund them. That is the issue.

Mr. Speaker, how many unfunded positions are not accounted for? How many...

Well, Mr. Speaker, financially, it’s like the government wants to run this ship to the ground. I mean, 10 out of 11 budget years a deficit and we’re not even including the one that’s just past, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with all this so-called review that they don’t care about how much money they spend, what has the management learned and done? In other words, what management and financial controls have been put into place to ensure that we have that so-called zero-based budget review that was done, that it was not money out the window and a waste of time? What are they doing to plug the leaks...