Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Minister. Your amazing reputation as someone who truly understands the difference between health and health care precedes you. My line of questioning will be about the problem you've inherited in a government that has chosen health as part of this strategic review and that now has a reputation for having put many community organizations and programs at huge risk. Given that all of the grants and contributions are now sitting somewhere where the Prime Minister's Office can look at them, we are particularly concerned that the ideology and other interests are not exactly.... Or perhaps “strategic review” is just code for the Prime Minister's Office getting to pick and choose. All of this means that community organizations and programs have never been more insecure.
In fact there is a reputation in your department, Minister, for things being promised year after year, going through the proper channels, going all the way up through the department, and then being killed on the desk of the previous minister. This has created huge insecurity, and it means there are tons of programs out there right now for which people do not know whether or not they will be getting money on March 31. So I would like to go through a little checklist, and maybe you would be able to say yes or no to whether these people would be able to expect their money. It seems to me everything in your estimates that has the word “grant” or “contribution” has big brackets, with millions of dollars now missing because of the strategic review, as it is there on page 138, grants, “(4,873,071)”, with a big bracket.
I think you must be upset that the healthy eating program is gone. The aboriginal wellness program is gone. The centres of excellence for women's health seem to be on some lifeline, having maybe extracted one year. The centres of excellence for children's well-being we still don't know about. The Health Council of Canada still does not have any funding after March 31. HIV/AIDS groups across this country don't know if they're getting their money or not. You got a terrible report on the national pharmaceutical strategy.
What are you going to do to make the people who actually do the work in the communities feel secure that you as the new minister understand the importance of these things like women's health, children's health, and particularly research? It is astounding that in the name of increasing efficiency and effectiveness, granting councils can end up with less money when their only job is to get money out the door. I would like you to tell us how you're going to make the community organizations feel more comfortable about what their life after March 31, 2009, or March 31, 2010, will be like.