Kevin O'Reilly

Yeah, okay, thanks. Look, I'll cut this short. I think that this is probably better financial management but it still reflects our overspending on not overspending, over budgeting of capital and we just we, for a whole variety of different reasons, just can't get the money out the door. We can't get the work done, whether it's COVID, whether, you know, there's no contractors available to do the work, whatever, you know, supply chain delays, maybe there's not enough folks in procurement services to get this stuff out. I have no sense of that. But I think this is just a reflection of, again...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I move that the chair rise and report progress.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So is all of this stuff in compliance with the fiscal responsibility policy? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. It's one last one maybe, and the Minister already touched on this, but for I guess 20232024 oh, well it looks like for 20222023 we've gone now from an operating surplus to probably an operating deficit. How is that going to be in compliance with the fiscal responsibility policy in light of the capital estimates that are also before the House? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Yeah, thanks, Mr. Chair. So I think now that I've got this up in front of me, I can see where some of these money so there's a lot of money being carried forward for some rather large megaprojects, things like the Fort Providence transmission line, the Whati transmission line. What does this do to the scheduling of these projects? And, you know, say the maybe the greenhouse gas reductions that these projects were supposed to deliver as part of the energy strategy, how does this affect the scheduling of all of this stuff? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, so how do we make up that $42 million deficit? Is it shortterm borrowing that we have to incur to cover that and yeah, I'll start there. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Yeah, okay, thanks. Look, I don't want to prolong this; I just think it should be spelled out in the bill. I trust the Speaker and so on, but I just don't know why we don't write this stuff out in the bill itself as to which parts are going to come into force right away. But I do support bringing the changes to the mandate and the authority of the Integrity Commissioner into force right away, just for the record. And I want to thank the commission for their work in bringing forward a number of matters that are contained in the bill. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Okay, thanks, Mr. Chair. So I don't know, which parts of the bill, then, are immediately going to come into force? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Yeah, thanks, Mr. Chair. In my first term, or last Assembly, I really didn't want to have to do this either. But it's actually enshrined in the Constitution of Canada, and it's not something that we can necessarily change ourselves unfortunately. But there are some Quebec members of their national assembly that are refusing to swear an oath of allegiance to the King. And it's going to be very interesting to see what happens with that because, as I understand it, the Quebec legislature can still somehow allow them to sit in the chamber, even if they haven't sworn this oath of allegiance.

But...

Merci, Madame la Presidente. I don't think I really have much useful that I can add but I do want to thank the mover and the seconder for their leadership on this issue, for the work that went in to putting together this motion and bringing these issues forward for discussion in the House. Merci, Madam Speaker. I'll be supporting the motion.