Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that contribution agreements with the health and social services authorities be immediately amended to include a performance component clearly indicating that funding is contingent on compliance with the Child and Family Services Act. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The motion is in order. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Again, one of the things we found through the Auditor General’s report is there’s great difficulty in keeping the health and social services authorities to account. They have contribution agreements, but they don’t have performance agreements as a separate agreement or within the contribution agreement. Committee felt that in order to get the accountability from the authorities that is required by the department, there needed to be a performance component in the contribution agreement and that’s what this motion speaks to. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. Mr. Yakeleya.
Also along with Ms. Bisaro’s comments, I guess you’re looking at a situation where the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. Even though they’re doing the same service, even in the accountability framework, who do you report to? Who are you accountable to? We didn’t know this until the Auditor General did the audit. They brought up all these issues. So some of the issues we’ve raised with the Minister, the government. People are telling us stuff in the communities who have to deal with child apprehension or dealing with Social Services. They are telling us real stuff, things they have to deal with. I’ve dealt with it myself also in our small communities. Our health boards are being told one thing and the department another thing. So I guess it’s realigning the package together. Mr. Abernethy did talk about something they are already doing, which hopefully will help with this situation. This is a long-term solution we are talking about which would make a big difference in our communities.
We’ve got to put the hands together and this is what this motion is saying. Right now they are like this. I hope that they’re slowly coming together. I like this motion and the key component here is the performance aspect of this motion. I hope that the Minister is working on this within the life of this government.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Contribution agreements already require the health and social services authorities to comply with applicable laws and policies and that every payment is conditional of the fulfillment of the authority’s obligations under their agreements.
This clause, I feel, is specific enough to cover what the committee is asking for in the committee’s proposal, but obviously more is needed. What is needed is better enforcement and better monitoring. I’m concerned, or rather, realistically, withholding funding from an authority is not necessarily the answer. My focus and the department’s focus is on the patient and the resident and the client. It needs to be that.
I think withholding funding from the authority would just create a reduction in delivery of essential programs to clients, so I’m not sure withholding funds is going to get us to where we need to be. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called The motion is carried.
---Carried
