Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things we would have to do is review the contract that was awarded to Sun Life before we would go down that path, but I will commit to have a further review of this to see what some of the problems are and see if they can be resolved sooner. The understanding is that a meeting was held with the Pharmacy Association on Sunday and the Sun Life automatic billing system was one of the major topics. Again, the information we have is they will have a newer system in place by 2008, although the association would like that sooner and we understand why.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the service levels that we are performing to are improving daily. Yes, we have some outstanding files that we're working on and trying to improve. Yes, during the amalgamation process some of our existing employees, from September until now, have had to wait longer than is expected. We're tightening up those time frames and going to change our processes to make sure they get the information in an adequate amount of time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the fact is that the dollar value of the project remains the same, the community remains the same, the purpose of the facility remains the same and we’ve informed Members. As we said, a tender was issued in error; it was withdrawn. We’ve gone back to Cabinet, a letter’s been sent to Members, and a final decision. If the project changes in the sense of a higher dollar value, or changes the community again, that would have to come back for a vote in this House. The rest of the steps we’ve proceeded with and followed. Whether Members disagree with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've tried on a number of occasions to answer why. The Member obviously doesn't like the response. Yes, I am aware that the record of employment sections that require us to have that available to the employee in a matter of days. So the fact is yes, we know we've failed in that area and that's why we're doing this work, is to change the way we do things, to make sure that a file when it starts gets processed through the departments and comes to HR with the accurate information so we can give that record of employment to the employees that are moving on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the decision that the Department of Health and Social Services arrived at to proceed to replacement instead of renovation was something that then had to follow through the process. The process wasn’t followed, so we pulled the tender back. The issue was brought back to the FMB table. A letter was written to Members. But the fact is that when you look at our documentation and requirements, the scope of the project, the $3.1 million was identified, that was transferred already and voted on by this House. The decision then for whether renovation or whatever...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think all departments as we enter this next phase of business plan preparations come forward for a request for forced growth. There is going to be, I guess, quite a competition between departments as for their request and what gets approved, because ultimately the requests far outweigh the resources we have and we’ll have to make some decisions based on that. We had recognized that NGOs delivering programs on our behalf are impacted and that’s why in a number of organizations, for example, we laid out the third-party accountability framework, which...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would have to speak to the Minister of the specific department and deal with them through the Minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we proceed forward from a day-to-day basis as all the rules and policies are in place, those organizations requesting multi-year funding can go to the department they are receiving their funding from and on that basis that department would review that situation and proceed from there. If it requires any other decision items, that would come forward to FMB. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this comes up from time to time. For example, in some of our smaller communities where we have some trained staff in the communities, whether it is to do with work with heating systems and homes or repairing vehicles, if there are no other contractors available in that community, then they are asked to do that type of work. That is where this provision comes from. Because it is available to all employees, it is as well used in the larger centres. What we would look at, for example, is if there is competition in the community or potential conflict with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ultimately, it comes down to the Minister being responsible, whether it is a contract clerk further down the system that got a phone call that said this is the decision made. We need to issue a contract. There is a chain of command there. Ultimately, I will be responsible for that decision that was made, as well as the decision to pull it back when we knew we had to go through a number of other steps. That was done. I will pull together some information on this and be prepared to show the Members. Thank you.