With regards to the second meeting on the negotiating mandates to take place on the 24 August, I must strongly insist that unless the Department is in a position to address the concerns noted in the provincial submissions as put before your committee at the previous meeting on Tuesday, 17 August, it will render this second meeting premature and will not advance provincial concerns regarding the Bill.

Therefore, I fee that unless you are firmly assured by the Department that they have had ample opportunity to fu1ly address all provincial submissions and will be in a position to respond at this proposed meeting on the 24^th it would be preferable to postpone the meeting until such time as the Department is able to provide a response to our concerns as agreed to at the previous meeting.

Yours sincerely