David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Ms. Melhorn. Will that information be provided in hard copy, as well, for the committee?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Minister, and thanks for your questions, Mr. Hawkins. We will now move to Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the Minister of Finance and it has something to do with the budget address that was presented to us earlier today. An omission from that, I do believe, was travel and that the government was going to go department by department and reduce 25 percent of the overall travel budget. Having gone through the draft mains the last two-and-a-half weeks, it was very difficult for me to get a firm handle on which departments were spending what in terms of travel. I know there was a 25 percent reduction, but the real numbers were very hard to...

Oh, sorry, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member’s statement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Minister, for the response. Yes, it was very difficult as a regular Member to arrive at what the real numbers were, so if the Minister can ask the deputy ministers and the other Ministers of the departments to allow us to see what the real costs are in terms of travel, I think that would be beneficial for us. I know there’s a 25 percent reduction. I don’t know if that goes far enough. I don’t know the real numbers, so it’s very hard to make a decision of what we should do with that, Mr. Speaker.

I guess my final question is can we get the real numbers? I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government spends approximately 35 percent of its total budget on administrative overhead. In the next four years, it is my goal to see this number reduced and to get more money on the ground, in the communities and into some tangible, real benefits for the people who call this territory home.

We’re very quick to point fingers at Ottawa for our financial difficulties. I will be one of the first to stand up and say that we do need firm commitments from them to go forward. However, some of the responsibility, Mr. Speaker and my fellow colleagues, rests with us. We...