Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The standing committee on finance reviewed the Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 3, 1991-92 at its meetings in Yellowknife on March 4th and March 9th, The committee was pleased that the Minister of Finance and his staff were available to answer the questions at that time. During our meeting on March 9th the committee agreed to recommend this bill to the House for consideration. However, the committee did have several concerns with this bill and, as has been our past practice, I will speak to the major issues. Members of the committee may have comments on the details of this bill while we go through it in committee of the whole.

Mr. Chairman, in total this bill represents a further appropriation of $6,296,500 for the current year. However, this figure is somewhat deceiving. In reality, the total supplementary appropriation of O and M is $21,165,500. This is offset, as the Government Leader said, by a reduction in the capital of $14,869,000. The reduction in the capital appropriation occurred primarily because of the expenditure management plan implemented by this government, which put a halt to virtually all capital construction.

As we noted during the last session, the committee remains concerned about the size of the supplementary appropriations that are coming forward. It is a serious issue. If this bill is passed, the total supplementary appropriations for the current fiscal year will be close to $90 million.

The committee recognizes that a large sum of the money is still under dispute as to where the federal government would look after the health services. The committee would like to give its full support to cabinet in their efforts to get a satisfactory resolution to this dispute. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.