Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.
I do believe there is some merit in terms of what the member is talking about. When we look at the supplementary estimates that the minister has brought forward, one of the things that stuck out right away was the additional need for $5,200,000 for funding of the interim federal health program. Then he gave somewhat of an explanation.
I can recall when he first made the announcement, he talked about how this was going to save tens of millions of dollars, and I thought it was closer to $100 million, quite frankly that it was going to save over a five-year period. I think there's a need for us to get some clarification on this issue.
I can recall, for example, that in that announcement he said refugees will not get those extra benefits that the average Canadian is not receiving. These are the most vulnerable in society, so it's probably more applicable to refer to individuals on social assistance and so forth, and those individuals do receive benefits. Getting a better understanding of the numbers I think is really important for us as a committee, because the manner in which it's been presented to Canadians has been inconsistent.
When the minister made the announcement, he gave the impression it was going to apply to all refugees and then after a bit of embarrassment he came back and said he didn't mean the government-sponsored refugees. That seemed to be a bit of a flip-flop.