Thanks, Mr. Speaker. This is the budget session and we have all seen how difficult it is to maintain our levels of services just like other governments, especially watching the performances of other provincial governments in trying to stave off huge debts. Like other governments, we have been forced to live within our means, Mr. Speaker, through a combination of spending cuts and some small tax increases.
Last June, Mr. Speaker, when she was an ordinary Member, Ms. Mike made an observation. She did not believe Mr. Pollard should be both Finance Minister and Minister of Economic Development, since she believed there was a conflict. Economic Development Ministers like to spend money and if you are a Finance Minister you like to hang onto it. I did not feel there was a huge difficulty at that time, but I began to see some difficulties. We have heard the Minister of Finance's commitment to a balanced budget, as our Finance Minister, and his efforts to achieve that have been greatly appreciated by both the Members of the House and also the public.
Wearing his other hat, however, just one week ago, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Pollard went uncharacteristically wild. He talked about borrowing $250 billion to build an infrastructure to support mining. Yellowknife people, of course, are delighted that the Minister has shown such an interest in the sector of the economy which is very important to this region and there is no doubt that it will continue to be that way. The point I am making, Mr. Speaker, is that Mr. Pollard, after the weekend, goes somewhat wild. Since it is Friday, I would like to remind Members that this weekend he will be in Montreal, and I will be looking to see how restrained he will be on Monday when he returns as our Finance Minister to continue with the budget debate. Thank you.