Bob Bromley

That was very concise and clear. That’s all I had, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for that reasonable response. It wasn’t quite a commitment to the audit, but he’s willing to discuss things with committee. I think committee will take him up on that.

Our record is bad. We need to make it right. Following the passage of this budget, will the Finance Minister work with his Cabinet colleagues early in the fiscal year – by the spring session would be reasonable – to establish priority spending work plans, set up milestones, and monitor and provide regular reports to Members on the implementation of the priority programs that we add through discussion of the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just one quick question. I understand the Auditor General report may be out soon, in the next week or so. What will be the lag time for when we see it or do we all see it at the same time? Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for those comments. I guess I would be interested to know that we are offering the courses in a way that it is possible for those that wish it to complete the certification or the diploma programs in a fairly efficient amount of time. So I will appreciate that update.

My last question on this page has to do with controllable assets. I notice under details of other expenses there’s been a substantial change in that amount over the last couple of fiscal years. I wonder if I could have a brief explanation of what we’re talking about here and why the dramatically declining...

The Minister’s pretty good at putting the theory out there, but I didn’t hear an answer to my question. The government’s priorities are clear. Mineral strategy? We’ll get right on it. Fracking? Clear the decks. It’s clear what the Member’s priorities are too. Early childhood development? Talk to me in November. Renewable energy? We hope to get to it.

Can the Minister tell us, given that Members demand some modest dollars to be focused on their priorities and it becomes approved through the will of the House, how is it possible that a file lies dead for six months until November?

That sounds logical. What would it be called? A transfer of funds. Is that different than reallocation?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to ask a question on the Aboriginal language and culture-based education. I know we have, I think, a couple of programs where we produce teachers or teacher equivalents in languages and culture such as the ALCIP program. What certificates or diplomas are available, and how many graduates do we have in this fiscal year?

I will be asking for an internal audit of how the government has performed in carrying out the Members’ amendments of past budgets, and I will seek advice from the Auditor General on the propriety of taking the money that Members vote for one cost and spending it on another. This has got to stop.

Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate his comments there. I appreciate the focus he’s bringing to this, and I urge him not to stop or slow down. There are issues remaining out there, and I want to acknowledge that not all income assistance officers are like this. I do acknowledge that there are undoubtedly some people taking advantage of the system and that must be very frustrating, but we shouldn’t be making the people that really need our help – for whatever reason, it’s real – they shouldn’t be paying the price here. Thanks to the Minister for that, and I’ll look forward to more on that.

Just...

Thanks for that information. I’d like to see a distinct proposal come forward to committee and I hope it does.

Moving on, again, the cultural heritage arts organizations and projects, there is a real need for an arts centre – arts, cultural and heritage centre, really – in a number of regions. Certainly in the capital. This is obviously an infrastructure project, but I don’t know that the government would be responsible for a large role in that, but I would see the government playing a role in facilitating an effort by all of the groups and perhaps the community interested in pursuing that...