Robert Bouchard

Page 11, Department of Justice, operations expenditures, services to the government, not previously authorized, $651,000. Total department, not previously authorized, $651,000.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Next I have Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Next on my list I have Ms. Bisaro, then Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister Miltenberger. Mr. Aumond.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. On my list I have Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Moses, Mr. Menicoche, then Ms. Bisaro. So, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m just wondering if there’s a direct correlation. When I look at the housing expenditures, is that where all the positions are going?

Mr. Speaker, I’m glad to hear that we’ll maybe get some updates in the business planning session.

Has the Premier and his office and the Cabinet come up with this bigger plan of how this thing is going to roll out, considering the housing needs, the office space needs and how exactly these positions will be decentralized?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to discuss an issue that I’ve brought up in the House before. It’s a priority of the Assembly to do decentralization, to put jobs out in the regions from a priority of this Assembly when we started. Now I’m going to be questioning Cabinet and the Premier today about how and the timing of this.

Mr. Speaker, you well know that this session is very short before we go into the summer break, but then when we come back in September we’ll be looking at business plans of departments of how these departments are going to be run and operate over the next year. In that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 69 (2) and have Bill 26, An Act to Amend the Elections and Plebiscites Act, moved into Committee of the Whole.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be voting in favour of this motion. It does bode a lot of questions and brings up a lot of issues we have with medical travel. Obviously, there are a lot of financial pressures with medical travel. The budgets are growing on a steady basis and this would include some more pressure to that. One of the things I indicated on why I would support this is if it was done on a hardship basis. People would have to prove that there’s a need. There has to be a hardship. I wouldn’t want to see us doing this with every medical travel situation, but if families or people or...