Legislative Alembiy

ium‘! Do you know we are going to be able to open thirty beds in the Sanitorium for disabled people and it is going to cost this province nothing because the staff is there, the supplies are there, and they are putting thirty new patients in and we are getting half the cost from Ottawa. We are actually going to save money in the overall cost of

the Sanitorium. Henry W. Wedge: T.B. patients?

Honourable M. Lorne Bonnell: Not TB. patients. We are going to put in dis- abled patients.

Henry W. Wedge: We had Rehabilitation there and it didn’t qualify.

Honourable M. Lorne Bonnell: Rehabilitation qualifies under the Medical Care Plan.

Henry W. Wedge: The reason is that you closed the Re-Hab Centre. Honourable M. Lorne Bonnell: We didn’t close the Re-Hab Centre. Henry W. Wedge: Well you are turning it into a Special Care Centre.

Honourable M. Lorne Bonnell: No, we are not; oh no we are not. You just about closed the Re-Hab Centre when you were Minister by letting Dr. Gencheff go. You near ruined this province. That’s what you did as Minister of Health, don’t you . .

Henry W. Wedge: (Remark inaudible).

Honourable M. Lorne Bonnell: For $500 a year you could have kept Dr. Gen- cheff here but you let him go.

Henry W. Wedge: . . . trained to take over his place.

Honourable M. Lorne Bonnell: Sure you trained someone to take over his place, but it will be three years before people in this province will have some one to look after

them. Some Member: He must have been a Minister without Anything.

(Laughter) .

Honourable M. Lorne Bonnell: The honourable Minister of Health Mr. Clark and myself have signed agreements for Riverside Hospital for approximatel 260 patients, for thirty patients at the Sanitarium, for all the patients at Sherw Hos- pital, and we are in the process of signing an agreement so that all the drugs that are given from Riverside to our out-patients can be shared by the federal government and the province rather than costing 100% provincial dollars. In this way we will save many, many thousands of dollars per year to our Island economy and our Provincial

Treasurer.

Now, Mr. Speaker, these are just some of the things that I was able to correct in the different Departments which I have the honour and the pleasure to administer.

Honourable Robert E. Campbell: You did more in seven months than they did in seven years.

( Applause)

Honourable M. Lorne Bonnell: Well I didn’t want to say it, but that’s what I thought.

Henry W. Wedge: When did the Infirmary come under sharing with Ottawa?

Honourable M. Lorne Bonnell: The Provincial Infirmary came under sharing with Ottawa way back under the Unemployment Assistance Agreement. Way back when you were still Mayor down in the Town of Summerside.

Henry Wedge: No, no, no. Honourable M. Lorne Bonnell: Oh sure thing!

Henry W. Wedge: 1963. .294—