Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have a number of questions, but before I do, I have to correct the record because Mr. Webber has misled the committee here.
There's been no cut by the Notley government of any spiritual specialists. I've just quickly Googled it. There was a decision to cut a specialist position at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, which was made by the director of that centre. It was not a decision of the Notley government whatsoever.
As a matter of fact, I'll quote, “Alberta's Health Minister said [the centre] reassured her office that patients seeking spiritual guidance or comfort in the TBCC will receive it.”
In her quote, Minister Sarah Hoffman said, “Access to spiritual support can not only be crucial on a personal level to a patient, it can also have a meaningful effect on the patient's recovery and well being.” She added that Alberta Health “will be following up with AHS to monitor the transition” to ensure that spiritual services are provided.
I just wanted to clarify in case anybody was misled by Mr. Webber's comment.
What is true, though, is that the Conservative Party, which Mr. Webber is a member of.... One of the first acts of the Harper government was to eliminate the federally funded national secretariat on palliative and end-of-life care when they first took office in 2006. That cut the budget $1 million to $1.5 million from that secretariat. Over the last 11 years we've been without that funding.
I think it was you, Ms. Roussel, who referenced that it would be your advice that the government should re-establish a national secretariat to coordinate a national palliative care strategy.