Caroline Wawzonek
Deputy Premier
Statements in Debates
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I was a bit hesitant to commit my colleagues but certainly to when there's a strategy that's underway being developed for electronic health records, it is common practice that we would as the Ministers appear in front of the standing committees with that type of information. So I'm relatively confident that my colleague won't mind me making that commitment on her behalf. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, may I direct that to Mr. Courtoreille, please.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there's four different funding pots through the federal government that were brought together on this one, relating in some part to the response to COVID19 and to a restart and arising also from recognition around immunization, virtual care. And all together, they are being used to advance the longer term need to have Health and Social Services assist and or not transferred entirely but do make better use of virtual care, electronic medical records, and then the management of public health information in that environment. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We have the right page out now but let me, if I may, I'll ask Mr. Courtoreille to answer it, since he has that page.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, so two parts to that. And with respect, first, to some understanding as to what was happening over the last year or so, a few comments.
Firstly, that the ISSS or Office of the Chief Information Officer were being relied upon to do things like deliver the QR code, the vaccination records, the updates to health and social services systems in response to COVID. So the fact that we're all able to download those vaccine records as quickly as we were is thanks, in part, to the work that went on in that office, which was not a small thing and it was certainly not...
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I am here to present Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 1, 20222023. This supplementary estimates document proposes a total increase of $83.6 million, comprised of the following items:
·$64.7 million for infrastructure expenditures funding for projects that were not completed in 20212022. This amount is fully offset by lapses in appropriations in 20212022;
$9.9 million to support priority health information systems. This amount is fully offset by revenues received from the federal government and other funding partners;
$5.3 million to support...
Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, to the deputy secretary, please.
I do, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So I don't have the number or the 125 number in front of me. So I just want to be clear that I'm not going to speak to a specific number. And I know that it does seem like that there may be some different numbers where we somehow have managed to operate it on once again with these different documents.
But the crux of it, and the point of the question, as I understand, is really, again, how are projects that are not seeing carryovers, what is happening to them and where are those decisions.
So projects don't necessarily get they're not getting cancelled. We're not doing...
Yes, Madam Chair.