Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, because this is parks, they have a very short season to get a lot of this work done. I would think that that would be the reason for some of the carry-overs. There are some projects that need to be done when the weather warms up. Again, I have committed to trying to find a little bit more information and share that with committee. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If I could redirect the question through you to the Minister of Justice?

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, if you go back a few years, last year, I believe we had $126 million in carry-overs; 2016-2017, we had about $137 million in carry-overs; 2015-2016, we had $6 million in carry-overs. As far as the lack of capacity of the department, I believe the department has capacity. I can't speak on behalf of the Minister. If they feel that they are challenged for capacity in delivering some of these programs, then it's a conversation we need to have at the Cabinet table and as an Assembly when we debate the next round of the operations budget. The Member had asked...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, if the Member sends me an email, we can provide him with a bit of an update, but all he needs to tell people is that the work was not completed, therefore the requirement for a carry-over. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the funding will support reforestation, as the Member said, as well as efforts intended to maximize forest growth over the five years of the funding. One hundred and twenty hectares will be selected for forest regeneration, and 60 hectares will be selected for thinning. The funding is going to be administered by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and will be set out in the profile below. The total program cost is about $1.333 million over the next four years. Thank you. Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, other than knowing that the contract has been awarded, I am not sure about the exact size of the building and that. For $217,000, it should be larger than a phone booth. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we are trying to get as much detail into our answers as possible. They might seem a little long sometimes because we have committed to committee, in the spirit of consensus government, that we are going to try to get as much detail to them as possible as we deliberate the supplementary estimates that are before us.

I think the short answer to the Member's question, the indication that I got from the Minister of Health and Social Services, is yes, we will have that discussion.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I take the Member's point. My understanding is that original dam was built in the sixties, when people used to come in in their shiny airplanes and tell us what was good for us, then went ahead and did it anyway, but things have changed since then, and I think our government has evolved since then. It is respectful to consult, and I would think that that is what we would do.

The $200,000 is to build a business case; $150,000 of that is coming from the federal government, I must add, so $50,000 of our money. That is to develop a business case, and if talking to...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we do track why some of the projects are carried over, and there were a number of reasons that that could be. I think I shared some of those in our briefing with committee. However, I believe we shared all of the briefing information with committee as to why most of these projects were carried over. If not, I will go back and have a conversation with my department and we will share the proper information with committee, but I think we have shared a great deal of information as to why many of these contracts or why many of these projects were carried over...

That is correct, Mr. Chair. It is a $1.2 million carry over to do the work this year, from my understanding. Thank you, Mr. Chair.