Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I look back over the past seven months since our election, I am overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information we have had to deal with in such a short period of time. Since October, we have dealt with 18 pieces of legislation, 30 formal motions, 75 petitions, 85 tabled documents and there were 450 oral questions. In amongst those smaller items, we have examined, reviewed and all but passed a $1.25 billion budget.
I think I speak for all the new Members when I say we are all looking forward to the summer; especially looking forward to letting events and the business of the last few months sink in, as it relates to where we have been and where we are going.
When we first arrived in November for orientation sessions, we knew we had a lot to learn. At this point in time, we have learned most of what we should have, but we still have a ways to go. We certainly aren't as polished as our veteran leaders, the Members across the floor, but we are working on it.
We are now much more comfortable in the House, in our standing committees and in carrying out the business of the Assembly in general. At times, I have looked across the floor at my fellow Members with a bit of envy, as most of these Members had previous experience and already know how the system works. I know they haven't had an easy time, for the most part, as Cabinet Ministers, but at least they have had a fairly easy time dealing with us rookies, given the difficult time with the fiscal situation we find ourselves in, albeit we are glad they didn't have a group of more experienced new Members to deal with.
We now know, for the most part, how the system works and I believe, when we come back in the new session, that the Members across the floor will have a more experienced group of Members to deal with. When it comes to the budget process, we will see that the budget will be much more scrutinized and hopefully better distributed to the smaller communities.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.